Resumo de Preface To The Lyrical Ballads

Wordsworth has defined Poetry as ?the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, originates in emotion recollected in tranquility and he has declared that ?poet is a man talking to men?.

?Lyrical Ballads? is a collection of poems penned by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published in 1798. These two poets belonged to the Romantic age and wanted to give the readers a new kind of poetry. While Wordsworth chose an ordinary subject matter for his poetry and presented it in an extraordinary manner, Coleridge opted for extraordinary subject matter which he presented in an ordinary manner.

Wordsworth?s poetry was different from that of his predecessors and cotemporaries. Hence, on the advice of his friends, he added preface to the second volume of ?Lyrical Ballads?, to make his poems easily understandable to the readers.

The Preface is divided into three main divisions.
1. Subject matter: Wordsworth chose incidents and situations from common life as subject matter. He says that he prefers rustic life because it exhibits simplicity and true human nature. A poet using his talent of imagination can turn incidents or events drawn from ordinary life into beautiful extraordinary poetry. The style of writing and the language used should be simple.

2. Function of a poet: The main purpose of a poem is not only to give pleasure to the readers but also to enlighten them with new ideas and purify their feelings. Hence it is the duty of the poet to produce good poetry. A poet endowed with an intense power of imagination and sensibility is capable of expressing his emotions and ideas precisely in his poems.

Aristotle in his ?Poetics? has said that poetic truth is higher than the truth of History or Philosophy as it supplies both particular and general truths. Poetic truth is universal which is common to all and understandable to all. Hence it is the responsibility of the poet to convey messages of love and unity, thus emphasizing oneness of all.

3. Language of poetry: Wordsworth out rightly rejects artificial and ornamental language which is known as Poetic Diction. He says that flowery language drowns the feelings expressed in the poetry. Common man could not understand the intellectual poetry of the Neo classical age which was full of logic, reason and wit. Wordsworth advises poets to use simple rustic language but he adds that even rustic language needs to be purified of the slang.

Wordsworth recommends using metre in poetry as it adds beauty to the poems. He says that unlike poetic diction which does not have standard rules, metre has got a regular and uniform pattern and is easily understandable.

William Wordsworth, a renowned Nature Poet has also proved his mettle as a critic. His contribution to literary criticism is very less but prominent.

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Notes compiled by: J.Prabha.

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