Critical Insights

 Sajida Parveen  • Wordsworth explains that the first edition of Lyrical Ballads was published as a sort of experiment to test the public reception of poems that use “the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation.” • Wordsworth notes that he was initially unwilling to write the preface as some sort of systemic defense of this new genre, because he doesn’t want to reason anyone into liking these poems. He also says the motives behind starting this new genre of poetry are too complex to fully articulate in so few words. Still, he has decided to furnish a preface: his poems are so different from the poems of his age that they require at least a brief explanation as to their conception.From this, readers can gather that Wordsworth lived in an era when things were growing increasingly complex with the onset of modernity. • • Wordsworth claims that just as authors have a right to use certain ideas and techniques, they also have a right to exclude other ideas and techniqu...

 Sajida Parveen  • Poetic diction refers to the specific word choice and style of language used in poetry, setting it apart from prose and everyday speech. • It involves the vocabulary, phrasing, and grammatical structures deemed appropriate for poetry, often incorporating figurative language, elevated vocabulary, and unique syntax. • Poets use poetic diction to create a heightened emotional or intellectual effect, shaping the poem's overall tone and meaning. • In the "Preface to Lyrical Ballads," Wordsworth criticizes the traditional, elevated language often used in poetry, which he refers to as "poetic diction." • Given that the common man did not speak using elevated vocabulary and figurative language, Wordsworth believed, given he wanted poetry to speak to all, that complete adherence to poetic diction needed to be dropped. • "There will also be found in these volumes little of what is usually called poetic diction; I have taken as much pains to avo...

 Sajida Parveen  • William Wordsworth, as a Romantic poet, in his Preface to lyrical Ballads, considers poetry to be superior to science. He shows that the scientist studies only the appearance of things while the poet investigates the inner reality of human soul. • Wordsworth recognizes that objections can be raised against poetry as a source of edification on the grounds that it is merely a source of amusement, a vehicle for pleasure rather than knowledge. Wordsworth counteracts this criticism by arguing that pleasure is crucial to how we attain knowledge. • He argues that pleasure is integral to science.The mention of "The Man of science, the Chemist and Mathematician" serves to illustrate that even those who study difficult or painful subjects ultimately find joy in their knowledge. For example, an anatomist might work with distressing material but still derive pleasure from the understanding and insights gained.He says:"However painful may be the objects with which ...

Sajida Parveen              • Wordsworth declared that the most important thing in poetry was the poet's ability to record his spontaneous feelings. Poetry, he said, was "emotion recollected in tranquility". • According to Wordsworth, a poet is a man speaking to men, endowed with more lively sensibility and he also say that the poet is such a human being who is overall in degree a far better human being than ordinary human being. • "He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endowed with more lively sensibility,more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature..."This heightened sensitivity gives the poet the ability to imagine and recreate emotions and events. • The poet’s imaginative power is greater than average human beings. By this, he can be “affected by absent things, as if they were present.’’ • The author defines a poet as "a man speaking to men," emphasizing that a poet is not isolated from humanity but is deepl...