PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLAD
This blog is in response to the task of a bridge course about the Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads given by Dr Dilip Baradsir. In this blog I am sharing my understanding about the preface to lyrical ballads and the topics discussed by William Wordsworth in the preface along with how the romantic age came into existence.
Romantic Age:
Romantic period begins exactly after the neoclassical period with the publication of lyrical ballads combined work of William Wordsworth and S.T. Coleridge in 1798. Lyrical ballads was considered to be the prominent work of romantic period. It was published in four editions and its editions are discussed in my presentation which I have shared below.
Difference in Romanticism and Classicism:
What is the basic difference between the poetic creed of 'Classicism' and 'Romanticism'?We would start with the discussion of the difference between classicism and romanticism. Romanticism and classism and not just to the age or period of English literature but there are two different ideologies, two different Schools of thoughts or techniques of writing certain things. It is not about the difference of ideology but it also has a difference in their approach to life and also in their approach to look towards the art and world.
Here we see the table which shows the difference between classicism and romanticism. intellect was the guiding principle of classism while imagination was the guiding principle in romanticism. restraint was the ruling word in neoclassical while in romanticism they believed in liberty and freedom to express. In the Neo classical age writers relied on the classical Masters like Aristotle, Plato, Socrates for inspiration while in the romantic age the writers turned towards medievalism for inspiration. Classism represented urban life while romanticism represented rustic countryside life and also the class was more about objectivity, romanticism was basically about subjectivity.
Romanticism was influenced from:
Romanticism was in its full swing when Wordsworth and Coleridge started writing. The beginning of this new ideology was propelled by the French Revolution which was the agitation for the abolishment of the monarchy. This revolution was about the rights and equality of the common people. The three main watchwords of the French Revolution work fraternity, equality and liberty. Writers were also greatly influenced by it and desired to write with a free will, individual liberty and equality. It was a kind of Democratization of the society. After the French Revolution the common man was gaining its prominence, women were also aspiring, people were asking for their rights, new things were happening, women were also fighting for their equal rights. In this period Mary Wollstonecraft wrote ‘ A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ (1792)
We do find the Law of oscillation i.e. pendulum from Elizabeth and age to classism and from classism to romanticism, oscillation is a reactionary process. It is not a derogatory term. It seems like a slow and gradual development of society from the time of the Chaucer to the 19th or 20th century. The gradual development of the society to democratic society began from the time of Chaucer, the Church gradually started losing its hold on society, monarchy gradually started coming up; Commonwealth rule was the beginning of a new society where people had on voice. We do also find Romanticism in the Elizabethan age but it is different from the age of Wordsworth. In the Elizabethan age we found the place for imagination, there was nationalism, no classical rules were followed but it was different from the age of Wordsworth.
Preface to Lyrical Ballads:
In general preface is an introduction to a book, typically stating its subject, scope, or aims. William Wordsworth preface to the lyrical ballads in the Second Edition of lyrical ballads which was published in 1800 with the name of William Wordsworth. The reason behind writing the princes was to inform the people the aim behind writing the Preface to lyrical ballad was to inform the people the aim behind writing the lyrical Ballad. He wrote in the preface that it is Different kind of poetry from the poetry written in the neoclassical he was announcing the advent of new poetry. He also bought an advertisement in the first edition of the lyrical ballads published in 1798 declaring that it is an experiment of using a conversation language of middle class and the lower class people in poetry.
Reason to write preface:
We interpret that, it was necessary for him to give his idea of the process of composition of the poetry that he has initiated because he was given a concrete shape to his idea of poetry. If he would have not given us the preface, introduction to his poetry then we might have misunderstood or would have understood his ideas in a different context. He gives the subject matter of his poetry that it should have rustic life or countryside life. Imagine if Wordsworth had not given all the introduction of his poetry. We read the poem of William William Wordsworth and we don't understand the idea behind it and the reasons for writing this poem would have been given after the publication of the poem. We would feel that these are the excuses of the writer so to clear his idea of poetry he wrote the preface in the beginning was necessary.
In a preface to lyrical ballads William Wordsworth talks about what is poet, poem and poetic diction which we will discuss in detail.
Poet:
Wordsworth says that poets can create something even if it is not existing. The preface asked the question ‘what is a poet’ and inspite of ‘who is poet’.
‘He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endued with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind; a man pleased with his own passions and volitions, and who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in him; delighting to contemplate similar volitions and passions as manifested in the goings-on of the Universe, and habitually impelled to create them where he does not find them.’
The above is the definition given in the preface which says a Poet is such a human being who is more in degree, a far better human being than ordinary man. A romantic poet has an inherent capability of imagination and writing poetry. He has a greater knowledge of human culture, he has a more comprehensive soul than other human beings and he rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life he has a habit of creating.
We can also compare it in a contemporary type it must have happened with you that when we are standing in a group of a people and someone introduces and artist of any field saying that he is an artist the reaction of the people changes that shows the artist has some different abilities some different power that is not present in everyone which impresses others and the same thing is said by William Wordsworth in the preface of lyrical ballads while talking about a poet.
Poem:
What is poetry? OR
Discuss 'Daffodils - I wandered lonely as a cloud' with reference to Wordsworth's poetic creed.Wordsworth defines the poem in his preface to lyrical ballads which is as below :
‘Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility’
Definition says that poetry is overflowing with the feelings which a poet has already captured in his mind or heart. If we try to understand this definition in a practical way then It means that when a poet moves towards nature or any specific place, he enjoys nature and collects the feeling that he gets at that place. Then a poet sits in his free time, in tranquility, in rest and remembers the feeling he got during that time and then refines the words and writes the poem. The aim of Wordsworth’s poem was to write a poem in a conversation language but a poem cannot be written in the words which comes in the mind directly as in the regular life we use the words which are vulgar or can be said as a bad words so the poem should be in a simple words but in a refined word.
We would understand the definition of the poem by the example of Wordsworth's poem Daffodils. Daffodils was the poem published in 1804; the poem is in 4 stanzas; the first three stanzas of the poet are in past tense while the last stanza is in present tense.
‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’
‘They stretched in never-ending line’
‘For oft, when on my couch I lie’
After reading the whole poem we can imagine a poet reclining on the couch and recollecting his nature walk which usually the lake poets used to take, there he must have seen the spread of Daffodils and in his inward eyes, must have captured that and at present he is sitting in his pensive and the vacant mood, recollecting the view of Daffodils which he had during his nature walk. Here the past tense in the first three stanzas of the poem and the present tense in the last stanza of the poem clearly justifies that definition of the poem in the wordsworth's poem. The present tense of the last stanza depicts that the poet in his free time is collecting his memory about Daffodils and is writing the poem on Daffodils.
Poetic Diction:
What is poetic diction? Which sort of poetic diction is suggested by Wordsworth in his Preface?In general, Poetic diction means the choice of words. Poetic diction means choice of words which lends a unique style for each individual poet or author. The writing style of William Wordsworth or of romantic poets is completely different from the poets or writers of The neoclassical age. In Preface William Wordsworth mentions poetic diction which seems like attacking the writing style of neoclassical writers. He believed that speech of poetry should be organic, use of diction, ornamental language was highly unnecessary which was done in the neoclassical period. This type of writing is only understood by the city dwellers because there are more educational institutes in the city. As a result he proposes to write a poem in a language used by real men.
The controversy was raised by his one time go to friend S.T. Coleridge in ‘Biographia Literaria’ in an extensive selection of Coleridge’s disagreement with his poetic diction. He questioned what Wordsworth meant by real men? Aren't the people living in the city real men?
Controversy is explained in detail in this video:
Conclusion:
After Dryden, Wordsworth offered a proper definition, as Aristotle gave of tragedy Dryden of Play and Wordsworth of Poetry. As the romantic age was dominated by poetry. In conclusion we can say that Wordsworth overall tried to propose that real poetry is what comes from the heart. Imagination is greater than intellectuality; it helps to create art which is not even existing.
To read above topics in detail CLICK HERE
I hope my blog was useful to you thanks for visiting.
[words- 1818]
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