PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLADS by William Wordsworth:
- The poems use the real language of men in metrical arrangement. It is as an experiment to check how effectively can a poet impart the intended pleasure.
- More people liked the poems than those who disliked them. This was more than what Wordsworth hoped for.
- The idea of writing a preface for his poems was given by his friends for the poems to be received well by the public. Wordsworth was hesitant but continued. To do this, he had to explain the nature of the current forms of literature which will require the explanation of the influences of society and the relation between language and human mind.
- An author is expected to satisfy certain norms in his literary work, by the readers. Wordsworth says that he might not do so in his collection of poems and wants to give reasons for his undertaking.
- The principal aim was to select themes of common life and language of common people. The reason for selecting the theme of rustic life is that, in such a situation, the feelings are mature, plain, simple, more correct, forceful, understandable and strong. The reason for selecting the language of common people is that it is the best, less influenced, simple, brief, closer to the regular feeling, permanent and philosophical. The other poets use a language far from feelings and polished superficially for the sake of a gaudy presentation.
- There are other poets who try such simplicity but end up creating something trivial which is the flaw in writer's personality. In these poems a 'purpose' is ensured, not deliberately, but it is an obvious outcome of a deeply felt or pondered over subject at hand, the result of which (the poem) has an impact on the reader's thoughts and feelings. ("For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings...")
- These poems are closely associated with feeling and not action and situation which differentiates this from popular poetry.
- The works of great writers such as Shakespeare and Milton are neglected by people for "frantic novels, sickly and stupid German tragedies and deluges of idle and extravagant stories in verse." The subjects are indeed important but the style is also important. The styles employed in popular writings involve "gross and violent stimulants" which is lowly.
- He explains about the 'style' used. Abstract ideas are not personified except when it can be used in normal language. Use of poetic diction, superfluous descriptions, many phrases and figures of speech are avoided. The kind of pleasure proposed to impart is different. One thing which these poems share with good poetry is 'good sense.'
- A poem might be written in verse or prose. Critics consider the poems written in prose to be inferior to those written in verse. But it need not be so because many great poems have been written in prose (like those of Milton). Except for metre in verse, there is no other difference between them. Thomas Gray is one of the critics who assert this concept and consciously employ verse in his poetry, an instance of whose poetry can be found to be written very close to prose.
- The language used in 'On The Death of Richard West', a sonnet by Thomas Gray is not very far from prose.
- There is no difference between prose and poetry (metrical composition) in terms of language or degree or the effect they produce because both are created by the same human beings.
- There is no distinction as prose or poetry but there can be a distinction as natural or artificial. If metaphors and figures are used appropriately, it is fine and natural, but if addition is more than required, it is artificial. The poems herein are written naturally.
- When the notions herein proposed are understood by people, they will find pleasure in these poems and these notions will influence their judgements on other poems.
- Wordsworth answers to the question, 'who is a poet?' A poet is a man speaking to men. He is one who, when compared to common people, has
- more sensibility in getting passionate at occasions,
- the ability to create passion in occasions where it is missing and
- better expressive ability
- Of instant excitements, as well as
- Post-pondering excitements.
- The pressure to express such passions will never make a poet employ a language lower than the language of common people.
- When a poet wants to express his passion, his motive is to give pleasure to the readers by evoking the same passion in them. To do this, he starts selecting the apt words which would translate his passion at its best. If he ponders over the principle explained here, he himself will find that fancy words take us away from the real feeling. This is, to some degree, a mechanical employment.
- When a poet cannot find an exact expression for his passion, he should try an alternative expression, just as a translator who does so when he is unable to translate something exactly from the original. Aristotle has said that poetry is the most philosophic of all writing; its objective is truth. Others who deal with truth are biographers and historians, who have many things to check for correctness unlike a poet who has just one thing to check which is whether his poetry is able to give pleasure to the readers.
- The poet's motive of experiencing and expressing pleasure need not be felt inferior. A chemist or a mathematician deals with his subject by taking pleasure in it. A poet, whose subject is man and nature, also takes pleasure in it. If a chemist or a mathematician does something for the society, a poet also presents an acknowledgement of the beauty in the ordinary life of Man with nature. Even pain is carried along with some amount of pleasure.
- A poet deals with a subject which is common and directly related to our existence while a man of science deals with a subject which is uncommon and indirect to reach us. A poet may rejoice his subject with people while a man of science may rejoice his subject alone. 'Poet is the rock of defence of human nature' because he binds people with diversity using the common subjects like love. If the discoveries of the men of science become familiar to common people, they can also be taken as subjects for poems by the poets. A poet must not consider admirations of himself to be subjects of poetry but that which is generally or commonly assumed.
- In dramatic poetry, the language of characters should be that of the people addressed to. Otherwise, it is defective.
- There is no difference between a poet and common men but for the degree of perception and expression which is greater in the former than which is in the latter. A poet and common men are connected only by the subjects which are common to both, such as moral sentiments and animal sensations, and the circumstances which induce them. If a poet writes for people, his language should also be that of them. If he writes for himself or other poets like him, his language can be peculiar. Metre adhering to 'poetic diction' is a little distant from the original passion while the metre known to both the poet and the reader is effective in communication.
- In these poems, metre is used but avoiding the other artificial elements which usually come along with metre in poems. Being simple is the objective but being not very simple affords pleasure.
- Metrical composition is more efficient in arousing feelings than a prosaic composition (especially with rhyme). The metre which the reader is familiar with and is able to connect it to the corresponding passion, is most effective in imparting the desired passion.
- Pleasure is derived from a metrical composition by combining in it elements of similarities and differences. Metre also enhances this effect of giving pleasure.
- Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility. This contemplation excites the poet's mind, induces pleasure and when his thought provides him with metrical output, he is overwhelmed. Such an output moves the readers who would read the poem several times while they might read it just once if that were to be in prose.
- Wordsworth says that he has taken the subjects of common life and tried to bring his language near to real language. He also admits that some poems of his may have unworthy subjects and expressions. This is because the reader either might not have thought like the poet or he might not have understood properly; or if he is right, his thought may not be common, and the objective of the poet is to impress the greater crowd.
- Wordsworth cautions the critics of false criticism of his work. He gives an example of a poem with simple language.
Dr. Johnson’s stanza:
I put my hat upon my head
And walked into the Strand,
And there I met another man
Whose hat was in his hand.
- He then gives another example with similar simple language.
From 'Babes in the Wood.’
These pretty Babes with hand in hand
Went wandering up and down;
But never more they saw the Man
Approaching from the town.
- In both the examples, the language as well as the subject is simple. But it is obvious that the second example is appealing. The reason is that the matter is lowly. A critic should not call it neither as a bad poem nor call it not to be a poem at all but just say that it is not interesting and does not excite any sane thought or feeling.
- Wordsworth requests the readers to judge for themselves individually the nature of these poems and not accept what is declared by others.
- An author may have impressed a reader by one composition but would have displeased him by another. When he reviews the author's work, he would take great care. This is the justice which can be given to the author. For a reader to judge some literary work to be worthless according to him, he must have had a wide reading of literature. Otherwise, he will end up doing misjudgment.
- Wordsworth summarises his preface by saying that he has basically explained two things:
- what kind of pleasure is present in his poems, and
- how that pleasure is produced
The work of a poet is to give pleasure to the readers. And the readers need to extract pleasure the way it pleases them. Other kinds of poetry are typical and less pleasurable. This is a new kind of poetry which is natural and more pleasurable.
- When the reader reads this preface and then the poems, he will agree to Wordsworth on grounds of what should be sought from a poem and how far it is seekable from these poems.
