Thinking Activity- Wordsworth's Preface

This blog is written in response to the thinking activity of bridge course- Wordsworth's Preface, given in the Department of English, MKBU.

Wordsworth's preface to lyrical ballads.

William Wordsworth was a great English Romantic Poet. Wordsworth and  Samuel Taylor Coleridge together launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication of  Lyrical Ballads. In the preface of Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth gave his famous definition of poetry and his idea of What is a Poet. 

Difference between classicism and romanticism.

Classicism: 

  The imitation or use primarily of the style and aesthetic principles of ancient Greek and Roman classical art and literature. The term 'neoclassicism' is often used in reference to revival of classicism.

Romanticism: 

     It is a movement in literature that lasted from about 1750 to 1870. Characterised by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity of approach freedom of thought and expressions and idealization of nature.

In classicism poets believed in the intellectual. Poets like Pope and Dryden, their poetry was intellectual. They believed that restrained was ruling the world. They relied on classical masters like Aristotle,Plato and Socrates. They believed in them and followed tham. So their poems were well made but they lacked emotions and not connecting to common people. Classical poems were more based on city and urban life. The classical poems were more focused on objectivity. 

In romanticism, there were poets like Wordsworth, Keats, Shelly. They believed that  imagination is the guiding source for creating poetry. Their poetry was highly imaginative. They believed in liberty, so we find their free play of emotions and imagination. They turned to inspiration from mediaeval poets and writers. Medievalism prevailed during the romantic period. They wrote about rustic life and rural people. They were subjective writers.

Wordsworth says "what is a poet?" rather than who is the poet?

According to Wordsworth " A poet is a man speaking to men, endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness. Who has a greater knowledge of human nature and a more comprehensive soul, who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life; habitually impelled to creative volition, passion and situation where he does not find them.

A poet not only has a more lively sensibility but also a more comprehensive soul and greater powers of imagination. He is also a man who has thought long and deep. He does not create on the spur of the moment, but contemplates and reflects in tranquillity till he passions anew and it is then that creation begins.

What is Poetic Diction? According to Wordsworth's preface.

Poetic diction is a choice of words that lends unique style for each individual poet or author in their chosen language.

Wordsworth in his preface describes his poetic diction.He says in it that " the majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purpose of poetic pleasure."

Wordsworth's poetic diction was about the common language of the common people. He believed that the language of poetry should be easier to understand for all kinds of people. The class language is only used to express that kind of feeling. His poetic diction expresses the overflow of the fillings that he gets when he is with nature and he does not fake it with exaggerating language elements or using strong language that is considered classic.

The definition of poetry.

According to Wordsworth’s definition of poetry, “ The spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling: it takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquillity.”

So the poet said that poetry is based on the powerful feelings that are reflected as memories.those emotions are too strong that he expresses it by the poetry. Expressing those emotions is not that easy, poets have to think deeper about those emotions because poets are more learned and thoughtful than other people, so they have to become more aware of their actions.

That’s why the poet says “it takes its origins from emotions recollected in tranquillity.”

Wordsworth's poem The Daffodils and his poetic creed

We can easily understand Wordsworth’s definition of poem  by his own famous poem “The Daffodils”

The Daffodils is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth and was written in 1804 and was published in 1807 in Poems, in Two Volumes.

The poem contains four stanzas, the first three stanzas are in the past tense where he sees the field full of daffodils and becomes impressed by that natural scenery.  He describes daffodils in second stanza like,

“Continuous as the stars that shine

and twinkle on the Milky Way,”

And he express his feelings in third stanza by lines’

“A poet could not but be gay,

in such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

what wealth the show to me had brought:”

The fourth stanza is written in the present tense as he lies on the couch in his house and is in the mood of seriousness and in tension he tries to remember that field of Daffodils to feel the joy and content that he felt in the past when he visited it. He express it in lines like,

“For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;”

After remembering those movements of solitude and of nature he comes back to the joyful mood and is pleased by those memories. We can see that in the line’

“And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.”

In this poem we can easily see that the poet used two tenses, for the first three stanzas he used past tense and for the last stanza he used present tense. If we see his poetry definition he says that, "it is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” as we can see that in the first three stanzas  he is overwhelmed by the daffodils. And in the third stanza he remembers daffodils when he is in deep thoughts. So that presents the later portion of definition that “ it takes its origins form emotions recollected in tranquillity”. So this poem becomes a perfect example of Wordsworth's definition of poetry.

So we can say that Wordsworth had very good insight for poetry and had deeper knowledge to understand and also explain the poetry to the other people and use the language of the common men. Provide reading of easy language and try to break the barrier of so called class of language and experiment poetry and bring in the romantic movement.

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