Preface to the lyrical ballads by William Wordsworth: summary

"Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge"

The first edition of the 'Lyrical Ballads' was obviously an experimental attempt. Wordsworth was happy to note that it proved to be popular and accessible beyond his expectations. His friends had wanted him to write a preface to the poems as it were of a different kind. They also expected to explain his aims and objectives in the preface. However, Wordsworth was unwilling to write a preface primarily for two reasons: he was little anxious about the responses of the readers to such an elaborate explanatory note. He thought that the readers might look coldly on his arguments. Furthermore, the space offered by a normal preface was too short for an adequate defense of a theory of a new kind of poetry.

But his poems were so inventive, imaginative and innovative from the works popular at that time. So, the preface became necessary in order to create a new flavor among the readers. The public was accustomed to the inane phraseology and gaudy language (extravagantly ornamental and showy) of Alexander Pope and John Dryden. The readers would find something original and unconventional in the poems of Wordsworth; this new wave required an explanation.

His chief aim in writing the poems has been to choose incidents and situations from common life and to relate them in a selection of the language really used by men. At the same time there would be a coloring of imagination thrown over ordinary events. So, that would be presented to the mind in an unusual aspects. 

He had chosen humble and rustic life for a number of reasons. 

• in it the essential passions of human heart found a free, unstrained, plain and powerful expression. 
•  in rustic life the feelings are simpler, hence are more easily understood and more durable. 
•  in the humble condition the passions of men are closely connected with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature.

Wordsworth used the language of these rustic and humble people, after having purified it of its roughness and other defects. The rustic people live in constant communication with the best objects of nature, from which is derived the best part of language. Their natural surroundings and narrow circle of social intercourse prevent them from acquiring social vanity. The simple language in which they convey their feelings, is more permanent and philosophical than the artificial diction used by the poets of the time. Wordsworth's poems differ from those of his contemporaries because his poems have a worthy purpose - that of enlightening the readers and purifying their affections.

“poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings which takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquillity” However, worthy and noble poems are produced only when the poet has thought long and deep on the subject matter. Wordsworth considers a poet as a man of more than usual organic sensibility, but also one who has “thought long and deeply”, the poet’s feelings are modified by his thoughts which represent all our past feelings; he becomes capable of connecting on thought with another, in this manner he is able to discover what is really important and worthwhile.

whenever he composes poems, he selects only noble themes and lofty sentiments in a worthy manner. Such poems will have a desirable impact on the readers’ sensibility too. Wordsworth implies that if a poet is always given to noble thoughts and worthy ideas he will never fail to compose poems of a moral and noble note.

In “Lyrical Ballads” Wordsworth adopts the simple language of common men. He has avoided the use of the artificial and hackneyed (conventional) devices of poetic diction used by his early contemporaries. He rarely used personification of abstract ideas, figures of speech, antithesis and similar devices. He tried to look at firmly at his subject and used a language which fitted the ideas to be expressed.

Wordsworth maintained and practiced in “Lyrical Ballads” his theory that there is hardly any difference between the language of prose and that of poetry. Even in the best poetry there are passages which have an order of words, which is similar to that found in good prose compositions. The only difference is in the metre, as he puts in the essay “there neither is nor can be any essential difference between the language of prose and the metrical composition”. So, the only difference is that poetry uses metre. Otherwise, the “same human blood circulates through the veins of both. They are relate with each other in their nature, function and appeal”.

Wordsworth is of the opinion that poetry is distinguished by its use of a selection of the language really used by men. Such a selection is made with true taste and feeling so that the language of poetry would be free from the roughness and vulgarity of ordinary life. The addition of metre to it becomes a further source of pleasure. He holds the view that metre and rhyme are not indispensable to poetry. There can exist genuine poetry even without metre. Metre is merely superadded. There is no need for artificial devices and foreign splendor. It is the passion and emotion that matters. A judicial choice of subject would lead to appropriate emotion.

Wordsworth observes that the poet is basically a man speaking to men. He is a person who writes not for his own pleasure but primarily to express his own thoughts and emotions to his readers. He is a person endowed with a more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness than ordinary people. He has a greater knowledge of human beings. He has a greater degree of imagination and so he can feel or react emotionally to events and incidents which he has not directly experienced.

Having a more comprehensive soul, the poet can share the emotional experiences of others. He can identify himself emotionally with others and he can express the feelings and sentiments of others. He has greater amount of zeal and enthusiasm for life than ordinary people. He rejoices in the spirit of life, in the activities of mankind and in Nature at large and takes pleasure in communicating his own joy in life to others. Moreover he has greater readiness and power in expressing what he thinks and feels.

Wordsworth agrees with Aristotle’s concept that poetry is the most philosophic of all writing. The object of poetry is truth, no individual and local, but general and operative. Poetic truth is much higher than the truth of history or philosophy. In fact, poetry is more philosophical than philosophy itself. While history deals merely with particular facts and philosophy, with abstract truths, poetry alone deals both with the particular and the universal. Poetry aims at universal truths and also illustrates them through particular instances and illustrations. It is the mirror of human life and nature. Poetry is guided by sole consideration, namely, that of imparting pleasure to the readers while giving a faithful picture of nature and reality. 

Poetry, says Wordsworth is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings which takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquillity. This definition of poetry gives us an idea of Wordsworth’s poetics. This definition highlights the spontaneity and emotionalism of poetry. He says: “Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all sciences”. This definition explains how poetry blends passions and knowledge. According to Wordsworth, poetic truth is superior to scientific truth, for it is based on universal facts of life and hence can be appreciated by all. While the scientist makes only a surface study, the poet probes into the inner reality and arrives at the soul of things. As he is a man of fine sensibility, the truth which he discovers is brimming with his personal emotions. These emotions are recollected in serenity.

Wordsworth affixes an Appendix to his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads to express his views on Poetic diction. In poetic diction Wordsworth could not agree with the poetic grounds of neoclassicism. He wanted poetry to be a medium for expressing the feelings and aspiration of common man in common language. Wordsworth wrote Lyrical Ballads to justify his theory and to see if he could produce pleasure by writing in the language of common man. He says in the preface that his poems were a kind of experimental attempt to know how far the language of conversation among the middle class and lower class in the society was suited for poetry. And also he stated that his object was to choose incidents and situations from common life and describe them in a language used by men.

The whole wave of Wordsworthian writings, both poetic and critical, was towards the simplification of life. He also makes a fresh supplication to the readers to read his poems with an open mind.