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About William Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads

 
 
Reply Thu 14 Sep, 2006 01:22 pm
As Wordsworth states in his Preface, preparing the reader for what he's going to read, his intentions as writing the Lyrical Ballads were those of creating a new kind of poetry, that filtered emotions by reason, and that used the real language of men, describing experiences that dealt with rustic life, humble individual, and using rhythms that also fitted this way of thinking. He had to explain all this in his Preface because poetry in that time was different from what he was writing. He thought that he needed to write Poetry because poetry is often more read than prose, although both can develop the same themes. Lyrical Ballads (entitled like this to give the image of folklore) contains poems that were specifically written for this, as an experiment in poetry, but some poems had already been written (like the lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey).
All this paragraph is just to make one question: Do you really think that the ideas Wordsworth stated in his preface were really fulfilled in his poetry? Because I was studying some of his poems --Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, Michael, Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, and The Ruined Cottage (within The Excursion)-- and I'm not pretty sure he fulfils what he states in his Preface. I think Tintern Abbey is the closest to his ideas, and it was written even before than the Preface, the poems he wrote for the Lyrical Ballads are not really close to his ideas. Or what do you think.
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Letty
 
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Reply Thu 14 Sep, 2006 01:32 pm
plasmakiss, welcome to A2K. I think it would be a good idea for you to give us a synopsis of the preface before we can comment. Wordsworth is one of my favorite poets.
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plasmakiss
 
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Reply Thu 14 Sep, 2006 01:46 pm
Ok..sorry, I really tried to summarize, because the Preface is really long, the thing is that he explained there that he was creating a new kind of poetry because it used real language men used, writing about rustic, humble and daily experiencies. He said that it was important to filter emotions by reason, and he had chosen that themes because in that conditions, the mind expresses better itself.
So I'm not sure he really fulfilled his ideas in his Poetry.
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Letty
 
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Reply Thu 14 Sep, 2006 04:20 pm
Well, dear. If his lyric poetry is an example of filtering emotions via reason, you must be on target. A creative genius often changes from one thing to another.

Perhaps this poem might contain both:

Poem lyrics of The Rainbow by William Wordsworth.

My heart leaps up when I behold
A Rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!

The Child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.
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