Who is a poet?

Wordsworths conception of a poet is an important part of his theory of poetry

presented in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. In the preface, Wordsworth discusses
the definition, qualities and function of a poet.

Wordsworth defines a poet in the following lines:

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, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to common
among mankind.

From these lines and from the text we can identify the following
qualifications of a poet.

A poet is a simple man like other common human beings. This concept
actually revolts against the 18th century glorification of a poet as somebody
separate 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 him

observe and feel things more deeply than others can. By this he reacts more
powerfully to the external impressions.

The poets enthusiasm, intense and keen, takes deep pleasure in the
knowledge of the oneness of nature and man.

The poet having a more comprehensive soul shares the feelings and
emotional reactions of other people accurately. He can express them ever without
feeling them directly.

The poets 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 but 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 poet to write poetry is to give pleasure with a purpose of
enlightening and purifying which is 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. Here we see that
Wordsworth is close to the doctrine of Horace.
Poet
Wordsworth defines the poet a man of more comprehensive soul. The poet is different from other
man, because he has a more lively sensibility. And his emotions and passions are more
enthusiastic, tenderer and more powerful. He has a greater knowledge of human nature. The poet
is a man speaking to men. But the poet is not only a social instrument but an individual, pleased
with his own passions and volitions.

The poet has a greater degree of imaginative power than other men, a power of looking from
heaven to earth and earth to heaven.

The insight of the poet is higher than other people. That is why, a poet can create new ideas and
present them to us with images and symbols. The poets curiosity and interest in life is intense.
Therefore, the poet depicts human life in different ways. His responsibility is great because, what
other people cant think or see, he is to present the incredible and invisible images to the readers.
Other people also feel and think that but they dont have the diversity of their sense perception as
the poet has, that is why, the poets soul is very powerful and creative. The poet must have the
knowledge of human life and human society because his main study is man society. The poet
seeks the truth about life and nature
. His main purpose is to give pleasure by painting out the different branches of knowledge of this
vast universe. The poet creates characters and the characters are the spokesmen of his ideas.
Wordsworths idea about the poet is romantic ad democratic. He says that the poet shouldnt live
in a lofty height. Rather he must be one of the common human beings. He should feel what
others feel and accordingly he should describe the common feelings and passions. Like the
scientist or any other creative man the poet rejoices over his own invention because the purpose
of all inventions and discoveries is to give pleasure. The poet also describes the real incidents
that we are facing daily. Moreover, by the power of his creative imagination, the poet creates
significant images to sharp our senses ad sensibilities, and to enhance our knowledge about life.

Thus Wordsworth elaborately describes the function of poetry and of the poet in his critical essay
Preface to Lyrical Ballads. In both the cases he avoids classical tendencies and adopts romantic
attitude.
he Definition of the Poet in the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads

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A poet is man "of more than unusual organic sensibility." But he is also a man of thought. His feelings
are modified by his thoughts, he is able to connect one thought with another, and in this way to discover
what is really important and worthwhile. Wordsworth's conception of the poet is essentially a man
speaking to men. Secondly, he is a man who has a more lively sensibility. Thirdly, he has a greater
imagination and therefore can feel or react emotionally to events and incidents which he ash not
directly experienced. He is "affected by absent things as if they were present".

Fourthly, he has a greater knowledge of the human soul and therefore comprehends the nature of
passions that he has not experienced directly. Fifthly, he has a more comprehensive soul. Sixthly, he has
a grater zest for life than an ordinary individual. He is man who has more pleasure in communicating joy
to others. And lastly he is a man who has a greater power of expression and communication. This power
results from having a more lively sensibility and is increased by constant practice. J.C Garrod says that as
he writes, the poet relives through the whole experience once again in idealized form and the reader of
poetry in turn so as he far may lives through the secondary experience of the poet's as he reads.

The poet perceives an organic unity in nature and man. He is a general benefactor, genial friend
and companion.

H.W.Garrod comments on the poet that the poet thinks and feels in the spirit of human passion.
In the spirit of them let there be no mistake, it is vain to think that we think and feel passionately
for the purposes of poetic creation.

Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads as a manifesto of Romantic Movement

Wordsworths Preface to the Lyrical Ballads declares the dawn of English Romantic Movement.
Wordsworth and Coleridge, with the publication of the Lyrical Ballads, break away with the neo-
classical tendencies in poetry. As the reading people are not familiar with his new type of poetry,
Wordsworth puts forward a preface to this book. In this preface, he tells us about the form and
contents of this new type of poetry.

Wordsworth, in the beginning, states the necessity of bringing about a revolution in the realm of
poetry as the Augustan poetry has become clich. He painfully notices that the Eighteenth
century poets have separated poetry from the grasp of common people. He resolves to liberate
this poetry from the shackles of so- called classical doctrines. He, in collaboration with his friend
Coleridge, begins to write poem for the people of all classes. Wordsworth thinks that the
language of the Augustan poetry is highly artificial and sophisticated. That is why he suggests a
new language for Romantic poetry. This is why he suggests a new language for Romantic poetry.
This is why he suggests a new language for Romantic poetry. These attempt chiefly deals with
Wordsworths views of poetry.

Wordsworth thinks that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. To him, the
intensity of feelings is more important than the form.

To make poetry life like, he wants to use the language of common people as the common people
express their feeling unfeignedly. But he tells about a selection, because common people use
gross and unrefined language. So, he will purify the language of rustic people until it is ready for
use.

Wordsworth seems to contradict his own views as he prefers a selection to the original language
spoken by the rustic people.

T. S. Eliot, in his The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism, objects to Wordsworths view.
Eliot tells that a poet should not imitate the language of a particular class because he ought to
have a language of his own. Eliots view gains ground as Wordsworth in his later poems, fails to
use his prescribed language. His diction is, in fact peculiar to him.

But Wordsworths definitions of poetry ad the poet are unique. He maintains that poetry is more
philosophical than any other branch of knowledge. He likes the poet to a prophet who is
endowed with a greater knowledge of life and nature.

The neo-classical poets consider the province of poetry to be the world of fictions. But for
Wordsworth the province of poetry is the world of truth, not a world of make-believe.
Wordsworth like Samuel Johnson believes that only the manifestations of general truth can
please all people. That is why he rejects the hackneyed poetic style of the Augustan period.
Wordsworth differs with the neo-classical writers in his belief about the process of poetry. The
neo-classical writers think that the poets mind is a sensitive but passive recorder of a natural
phenomenon. But Wordsworth strongly opposes this view and thinks that the mind of the poet is
never a passive recorder. In his view, the poets mind half creates the external world which he
perceives. The external world is thus, in some degree, the very creation of human mind.
Wordsworth seems to establish the fact that the poets mind and the external nature are both
interlinked and interdependent. Wordsworth unlike the classicists can not separate the mind
which suffers from the mind which composes.

Wordsworth points out the common characteristics of both poetry and science. But he places
poetry over science for the fact that the large part of poetry is based on imagination. He
beautifully discovers that science only appeal to intellect while poetry appeals to heart. For this,
the pleasures of science are shared by few while the pleasures of poetry are open to all. Again the
truth of science is subject to change while poetry does not suffer from such threat.
Wordsworth breaks with the classical theory of poetry when he advocates for the intensity of
emotion. To him, reason is not at all important. This is a subjective view.

It cannot be said that Wordsworth is absolutely right in his theory of poetry. But it must be
recognized that his views are innovative and creative.

His rejection of classical doctrines leads to the creation of a new type of poetry which prefers
him emotions to reason. As a result a group of talented poets has emerged in the province of
English poetry. At the same time, he has contributed to the field of literary criticism. If Blake is
considered to be the precursor of romantic poetry, Wordsworth and Coleridge are the two early
exponents of romantic poetry. And it is wise of Wordsworth to form a ground for this new poetry
through the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads.

The poetic process of Wordsworth

Wordsworth defines poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful

feelings and its origin is in emotion recollected in tranquility. At the first
glance, the two contentions may seem contradictory. Because, spontaneity is a
forward process while recollection is a backward process. Therefore, how the
spontaneous poetry is originated from recollected emotion is a question.

There are four stages in the process of poetic creation. These are
observation, recollection, contemplation and imaginative excitement.

At the first stage, the poet observes some object, situation or phenomena of
nature. However, the poetic expression does not take place at that very moment.
Rather the observations are stored in the poets heart.

Next, in moments of tranquility, the poet recollects those emotions excited

by the objects, situations or phenomena.

Then, he contemplates on these emotions.

Consequently, after contemplation, there comes the gradual revival of the

emotion kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation. Thus
the poet is once again in a similar emotional excitement to what he experienced
when he first saw the object. Wordsworth says that in this mood successful
composition generally begins.

Thus at the moment of creation, the tranquility is replaced by spontaneous

emotional excitement of powerful feelings.
 James A.W. Haffernan points out that consciousness has a little part to play
at the moment of creation, and the poet should abandon to the resurrected passion.

Herbert Read observes, Good poetry is never an immediate reaction to the

provoking cause.

Wordsworths Theory of Poetry

Wordsworth has an exalted conception of poetry. According to him poetry is the breath and
finer spirit of all knowledge; it is impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all
science. He not only defines poetry; but also explains too the process involved in the production
of poetry. His theory of poetry is comprehensive in the sense that it tells us the qualification of
the poet, the function of poetry and recommends the language of poetry. This theory is valid
because it comes from a poet who practiced it himself in his poetry.

Nature and process of poetry

About the nature and process of poetry Wordsworth says poetry is spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings; to takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility; the emotion is
contemplated till, by a species of reactions, the tranquility disappears, an emotion kindred to that
which was before the subject of itself actually exit in the mind. In this mood, successful
composition begins and in a similar mood it is carried out to be continued.

These famous lines of Wordsworth describe the process, which leads to the production of poetry.
First, there is the emotion set up by an experience. Then there is an interval of time, during
which the non-essential elements in the experience are purged off. In the second stage, memory
plays the important role. It controls what is to be retained and shapes into beautiful forms what it
retains.
This idea of an interval between experience or observation and composition is an important part
of Wordsworths theory of poetry. The third stage is recollection, when the experience thus
purged is recalled. At the fourth stage, the emotion is gradually set up in the mind again. The last
stage is composition. Thus these stages are

a. Sensation
b. Recollection
c. Contemplation
d. Recreation

e. Composition

Emotion recollected in tranquility means that poet does not react at an impression immediately.
He allows his sense impressions of objects perceived by him to sink into his mind along with the
feelings, which it has excited. There they remain buried till their accidental ingredients have been
purged and its ideal and essential truth is left. When later the impression is recalled, the original
feeling revived with it.

Fundamental condition of Poetry

According to Wordsworth, deep emotion is the fundamental condition of poetry. It is the feeling
that matters. Wordsworth discards Aristotelian doctrine that the plot, or the situation is the first
and most important thing. For Wordsworth the first thing is feeling. It is objected that
Wordsworth emphasizes feeling and ignores thoughts, but it is not true. It is true that he attaches
great significance to feeling, yet he maintains that valuable poems can only be produced by a
man who has thought long deeply.

The Function of poetry

Wordsworth remarks The end of poetry is to produce excitement in co-existence with an over-
balance of pleasure. The function of poetry is to offer delight. The poet console afflicted and
leads men to virtue. Wordsworth stresses the importance of metre in poetry because it is helpful
in achieving poetic pleasure.

His Conception of a poet

Wordsworth considers poet a seer. He is a man speaking to men, and is different from others in
the degree of certain qualities. He is endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and
tenderness, more lively knowledge of human nature, more fertile imagination than common
people.

The Language of Poetry

Wordsworth has romantic and revolutionary views about the language of poetry. He revolts
against the artificial language of 18th century. He recommends the ordinary language that is used
in daily conservation for poetry. In his view this is more effective.

Wordsworth practice of his theory

Wordsworth had a practiced approach towards his theory of poetry. He followed to a great extent
his theory in his own practice. His poems like, the prelude, the solitary Reaper, the Daffodils etc
are based on his theory.

Wordsworths Defination of Poet and Poetry Preface as Expressed in his Preface

Lyrical Ballads

In Preface to Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth expresses his opinion about the function of a poet and
the subject matter of poetry. He rejects the classical concept in his attitude towards poet and
poetry. He holds a romantic view in both the cases.

The Neo- classical poets have expressed their allegiance/ obedience to the classical rules as set
by Aristotle. According to the rules the poets are to depend on reason and arguments. There is no
scope for any imaginative expression of feeling and emotion. Therefore, the subjects of the
classical poets dont consent the common human feelings. They are of separate type reflecting
only the lives of the Aristocratic people of the society. William Wordsworth has painfully
observed this sad picture of English poetry. Therefore he makes an attempt to extend the area of
poetry by including subjective elements and describing the natural objects that are contributing
silently to our lives and supplying different feelings to our senses and sensibilities.

Poetry

William Wordsworth says that he has selected incidents and situations of common life. He
describes them by selection of incidents and situations of common life. He describes them by
selection of language really used by men. In the past this ordinary life of the ordinary people has
never been a subject of poetry. For the first time he democratizes poetry and gives a universal
appeal to it. People living in the modern cities are very much artificial and far away from the
simplicity of nature. Therefore, they dont express the reality of human life. They suffer from
social vanity. Artificiality predominates in them. But the villagers are very simple and free from
social vanity. Wordsworth says that in Lyrical Ballads, humble and rustic life has been chosen as
the theme of poetry because the essential passions of the heart find a better soul in which they
can attain their maturity in the humble state of life. Wordsworth comments that humble and
rustic life holds simplicity, serenity and tranquility. The rustic people express their feelings and
emotion through simple, unelaborated and unsophisticated way. Their language is more
passionate, more vivid and more emphatic. The language of the rustics, according to William
Wordsworth is more philosophical and permanent than the language used by the city dwellers
and the earlier poets.

Poetry should express common human feelings and there should be no restriction in the
expression of the experiences of the senses and sensibilities. Wordsworth defines poetry as the
spontaneous overflow of the powerful feelings. It is the poets business to embody in their poetry
the general passions of men. Wordsworth avoids the use of personifications of abstract ideas and
serious diction in his poems so far as possible for making poetry intelligible to all types of
readers. The language of his poetry is near to that of prose. The incidents of life, the natural
objects around us and the common feelings of men as well as our sorrows and happiness, failure
and success should get a ready appeal in poetry without false description. Wordsworth says,
Poetry sheds no tears, such as angels weep, but natural and human tears. Another important
idea of Wordsworth about poetry is that the function of poetry is to give pleasure to readers by
presenting the incidents and situations of their lives in a fascinating and unusual way with a color
of imagination. Therefore Wordsworth agrees with Aristotle, Poetry is the most philosophical of
all writings. The subject of poetry is general and operative truth which is its own testimony.
According to J. C. Smith, an eminent critic, The nature of poetry will appear more clearly when
we have considered its end or purpose, or the function of the poet in a civil society.

Wordsworth establishes a relation between man and nature in his poetry. Therefore he opines
that poetry is the image of man and nature. It is an acknowledgement of the beauty of the
universe. Poetry, to Wordsworth, is a powerful media of supplying knowledge and pleasure to
mankind. He considers that man and nature are essentially adapted to each other. Therefore, man
has emotional, philosophical, moral and spiritual connection to nature. The poets business is to
describe human life in its very form and to establish a relationship between man and universe.
So, Wordsworth says that poetry is the first and last of all knowledge- it is as immortal as the
heart of ma.

Poet
Wordsworth defines the poet a man of more comprehensive soul. The poet is different from other
man, because he has a more lively sensibility. And his emotions and passions are more
enthusiastic, tenderer and more powerful. He has a greater knowledge of human nature. The poet
is a man speaking to men. But the poet is not only a social instrument but an individual, pleased
with his own passions and volitions. The poet has a greater degree of imaginative power than
other men, a power of looking from heaven to earth and earth to heaven.

The insight of the poet is higher than other people. That is why, a poet can create new ideas and
present them to us with images and symbols. The poets curiosity and interest in life is intense.
Therefore, the poet depicts human life in different ways. His responsibility is great because, what
other people cant think or see, he is to present the incredible and invisible images to the readers.
Other people also feel and think that but they dont have the diversity of their sense perception as
the poet has, that is why, the poets soul is very powerful and creative. The poet must have the
knowledge of human life and human society because his main study is man society. The poet
seeks the truth about life and nature. His main purpose is to give pleasure by painting out the
different branches of knowledge of this vast universe. The poet creates characters and the
characters are the spokesmen of his ideas. Wordsworths idea about the poet is romantic ad
democratic. He says that the poet shouldnt live in a lofty height. Rather he must be one of the
common human beings. He should feel what others feel and accordingly he should describe the
common feelings and passions. Like the scientist or any other creative man the poet rejoices over
his own invention because the purpose of all inventions and discoveries is to give pleasure. The
poet also describes the real incidents that we are facing daily. Moreover, by the power of his
creative imagination, the poet creates significant images to sharp our senses ad sensibilities, and
to enhance our knowledge about life.

Thus Wordsworth elaborately describes the function of poetry and of the poet in his critical essay
Preface to Lyrical Ballads. In both the cases he avoids classical tendencies and adopts romantic
attitude.

Wordsworths Theory of Poetry : The Poet and Poetic Process

Wordsworths conception of a poet is an important part of his theory of poetry

presented in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. In the preface, Wordsworth discusses
the definition, qualities and function of a poet.

Wordsworth defines a poet in the following lines:

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, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to common
among mankind.

From these lines and from the text we can identify the following
qualifications of a poet.

A poet is a simple man like other common human beings. This concept
actually revolts against the 18th century glorification of a poet as somebody
separate 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 him

observe and feel things more deeply than others can. By this he reacts more
powerfully to the external impressions.

The poets enthusiasm, intense and keen, takes deep pleasure in the
knowledge of the oneness of nature and man.

The poet having a more comprehensive soul shares the feelings and
emotional reactions of other people accurately. He can express them ever without
feeling them directly.

The poets 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 but 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 poet to write poetry is to give pleasure with a purpose of
enlightening and purifying which is 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. Here we see that
Wordsworth is close to the doctrine of Horace.
The poetic process of Wordsworth

Wordsworth defines poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful

feelings and its origin is in emotion recollected in tranquility. At the first
glance, the two contentions may seem contradictory. Because, spontaneity is a
forward process while recollection is a backward process. Therefore, how the
spontaneous poetry is originated from recollected emotion is a question.

There are four stages in the process of poetic creation. These are
observation, recollection, contemplation and imaginative excitement.

At the first stage, the poet observes some object, situation or phenomena of
nature. However, the poetic expression does not take place at that very moment.
Rather the observations are stored in the poets heart.

Next, in moments of tranquility, the poet recollects those emotions excited

by the objects, situations or phenomena.

Then, he contemplates on these emotions.

Consequently, after contemplation, there comes the gradual revival of the

emotion kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation. Thus
the poet is once again in a similar emotional excitement to what he experienced
when he first saw the object. Wordsworth says that in this mood successful
composition generally begins.

Thus at the moment of creation, the tranquility is replaced by spontaneous

emotional excitement of powerful feelings.

James A.W. Haffernan points out that consciousness has a little part to play
at the moment of creation, and the poet should abandon to the resurrected passion.

Herbert Read observes, Good poetry is never an immediate reaction to the

provoking cause.
i