WILLIAM WORDSWORTH'S PREFACE  

 Question: 1  Why does Wordsworth ask "What is a poet?" rather than "Who is a poet?"

 Answers  :

      What's a poet ? 

 

     The poet's role, according to Wordsworth, is to be a "man speaking to men" and to connect with the common experiences and emotions shared by all humanity. He believed that the language of poetry should be accessible and relatable to people from all walks of life. 

     A poet is a man speaking to men , endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature , and a comparative soul , who rejoices , more than other men in thespirit of life; habitually impelled  to creative volition , passions and situations where he does not find them .

     

       Who is a poet ? 

       Wordsworth’s conception of a poet is an important part of his theory of poetry presented in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. In the preface, Wordsworth discussesthe definition, qualities and function of a poet.

        A poet is a simple man like other common human beings. This conceptactually revolts against the 18th century glorification of a poet as somebodyseparate and different from other human beings. However, a poet is not

‘‘ different  in kind from other man, but only in degree.’’ He has some extra qualities.

 

       A poet is a man possessing a higher sensibility than others. It helps himobserve and A poet is a man possessing a  higher sensibility than others. It helps himobserve and feel things more deeply than others can. By this he reacts more powerfully to the external impressions. 

 

        The poet’s enthusiasm, intense and keen, takes deep pleasure in theknowledge of the oneness of nature and man.

         The poet having ‘a more comprehensive soul’  shares the feelings andemotional reactions of other people accurately. He can express them ever withoutfeeling them directly.

 

         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 poet is not only a man who has a lively  sensibility, but one " who has thought long deep ."  

      The poet is not a social instrument by an individual " pleased with his own passions and volitions " he is not a mere copier , but a creator . Sensibility becomes more important than rationality. 

      The end of the end poet write poetry is to give pleasure with a purpose of enlightening 

And purifying whichis not formally conceived.   

       A poet is also a teacher . Wordsworth in a letter expressed his view - " every great poet is a teacher ; I wish either to be considered as a  teacher or as nothing ."however,pleasure is an essential condition of poetic teaching .  

 Question 2 :How does Wordsworth define poetry? Discuss this definition in relation to his poetic philosophy.

 Answer  :  

      William wordsworth  define poetry: 

   According to a well defined definition of poetry by Wordsworth that “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful passion”. Internal feelings of the poet proceeds poetry. It is a matter of feeling and temperament. True poetry cannot be written without proper mood and temperament.

     William wordsworth's definition  of poetry:  

    

        The Romantic emphasis on the individual was reflected on ideas of self realization and nature. Wordsworth thought that the individual could directly understand nature without the need for the society and social artifice, salvation is achieve by the solitary individual rather than through political movement.

        William Wordsworth was responsible for the beginning and growth of romanticism as a Movement in English. He was passionate supporter of the French Revolution. He are you against neoclassical poetry. He emphasizes the freedom of art and artist his individuality and anatomy heat supported the use of real language and real life theme in poetry his view of poem was of a man speaking to men. He was writing for and in favor of common company of nature and not for sophisticated living in mechanized cities.

Preface: The preface was written with the intention of focusing on word poetry should be. 

       In the beginning of the preface Wordsworth makes it clear that he is against the Grand style and artificial use of language. He points out that the long use of such polished language by poet turn it into a rigid poetic diction and replaced ordinary speech.

       He rejects the language used in the city and the court and prefers the language used in the field and farms.

        He dismisses the important feature of neoclassical poetry that is poetic diction and personification of abstract ideas, because they are artificial. On contrary he says a good poetry new Scorpio of powerful feelings.

        Poetry must be a truthful representation of nature. He defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”.             He has mention different stages while creating any poem.

First stage: Weight has actual since experience that excites is emotion.

2nd stage: Poet collects the previous or emotional experiences he had.

3rd stage: The emotions recollected in the first and second stage are transferred to the mind.

4th Stage: The Mind transformer is emotions into Idea or thought to be expressed in the poem. The composition of poem begins at this stage.

     Much of the philosophical part of Wordsworth's poetry is an attempt to find a rational justification for the importance which his feelings and his experience told him that nature held for man.  

    Conclusion  :

    Wordsworth's view on poetical style are the most revolutionary of all the idea in his  preface . He insists that his poems are written in ' selection  of language of men in a state of vivid sensation .' His view's of poetic diction can be summed up as : ' there neither is norcan be anyessential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition.

  Thank you .