Preface to Lyrical Ballads

“[…] if the views with which [the poems] were composed were indeed realized, a class of Poetry would be produced, well adapted to interest mankind permanently […]”

Wordsworth argues that his method of writing poetry can become the basis of a new style that would be permanently popular with audiences. He hopes not only to write interesting poetry but in some measure to change the face of poetry itself.

“The principal object, then, proposed in these Poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men, and, at the same time, to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect […]”

Reemphasizing his practice of using everyday language in his poems, Wordsworth states further that he wants to go beyond the mundane by exploiting the realm of the imagination. He wants to present the subjects of his poems, which are ordinary in themselves and often taken from the sights and sounds of nature, in an unusual light that will surprise and stimulate the reader’s mind.

“Humble and rustic life was generally chosen, because, in that condition, the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language […]”

A love for nature and country life was a key element in Romantic aesthetics. The Romanticists believed that in the countryside could be found a more natural, unaffected, pure, and uncorrupted state of life than in the city. Wordsworth implies that human emotions are expressed in more direct language by rural people because they are not constrained by the social conventions of urban life. Romantic art, poetry, and music often took scenes from nature as inspiration.

“It has been said that each of these poems has a purpose.”

According to Wordsworth, one of the distinguishing marks of his poems is that they each have a definite purpose. He identifies this “purpose” with moral edification and implies that it is essential to true poetry. Wordsworth argues that if a poet expresses their emotions sincerely and reflects deeply on them, they will result in a moral purpose that will change the reader for the better.

“For a multitude of causes, unknown to former times, are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind […]”

This quote introduces social criticism into an essay mainly about aesthetics. Wordsworth believes that modern urban and industrialized civilization is exerting a negative influence on human beings, making them more attuned to sensationalism and entertainment than to poetic truth (see Themes). Wordsworth’s anxiety speaks to the Romantic preoccupation with the human imagination.

“I have wished to keep the Reader in the company of flesh and blood, persuaded that by so doing I shall interest him.”

Wordsworth again emphasizes the strongly human focus of his poetry, expressed in its use of common language and sincere emotions. Wordsworth hopes that this human focus will cause his poetry to be read and enjoyed by a large number of people.

“[…] I have at all times endeavoured to look steadily at my subject; consequently, there is I hope in these Poems little falsehood of description, and my ideas are expressed in language fitted to their respective importance.”

Wordsworth emphasizes the primacy of truthful description in poetry, which he believes is compromised by overuse of fancy diction and poetic clichés. Such conventional language can also add a note of pomposity, inflating subjects beyond their actual importance. Most essentially, Wordsworth believes poetic language ought to remain as least dissociated as possible from actual experience.

“It may be safely affirmed, that there neither is, nor can be, any essential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition.”

One of Wordsworth’s main ideas in the essay is that poetry and prose are closer in style and purpose than people realize. Both aim at expressing emotion in well-crafted language. Prose itself has a rhythm that is often poetic, and poetry can employ ordinary language as prose does. Wordsworth hopes to reform the writing of poetry, moving it more in the direction of prose.

“However exalted a notion we would wish to cherish of the character of a Poet, it is obvious, that while he describes and imitates passions, his employment is in some degree mechanical, compared with the freedom and power of real and substantial action and suffering.”

Wordsworth’s basic idea here is that art is subordinate to life. This idea serves to humble the poet and make them realize that their art is subservient to the subjects and experiences they are writing about. They must be faithful to them and not pretend as if their poetry exists on a separate plane from other aspects of life. 

“We have no sympathy but what is propagated by pleasure […]”

For Wordsworth, pleasure is the main factor in writing poetry. The poet expresses their subjects through the medium of pleasure, to make their work and message attractive to the reader and excite their sympathy with the people and emotions depicted. Even dark and painful emotions must be expressed in a pleasurable way to excite sympathy rather than disgust. 

“[The poet] considers man and nature as essentially adapted to each other, and the mind of man as naturally the mirror of the fairest and most interesting properties of nature.”

The emphasis on humans’ relationship to nature is a typical Romantic theme. Wordsworth implies that humankind is part of, and integrated with, its natural environment and that poetry should consider it in this light. This also makes poetry akin and complementary to science.

“The Man of science seeks truth as a remote and unknown benefactor; he cherishes and loves it in his solitude; the Poet, singing a song in which all human beings join with him, rejoices in the presence of truth as our visible friend and hourly companion.”

Wordsworth contrasts poetic or artistic knowledge with scientific knowledge. Both the poet and the scientist seek truth, but truth under a different guise. The scientist’s attitude toward truth is cool and analytical, whereas the poet communicates emotional truths that apply directly to human life. This quote reflects an important concern of Romanticism: exploring the limits of knowledge and the differences between science and art, reason and religion.

“[…] Poets do not write for Poets alone, but for men.”

Wordsworth emphasizes once again that poets are not a special class with their own language. Rather, they are human beings of especially strong feeling and insight who are called to communicate their ideas in language that a general audience can relate to and understand; The romantic poetic genius is only genius insofar as it draws from a well of common human emotions and experiences.