Aristotle, I have been told, has said that Poetry is the most philosophie of all writing: it is so; its object is truth, not individual and local, but general and operative; not standing upon external testimony, but carried alive into the heart by passion.

 

Or,

 

Poetry is the image of man and nature.

 

Exp. These lines belong to Preface to Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth. Here the poet and critic Wordsworth tells us about poetic truth and its superiority.

 

Wordsworth's conception of poetry is an exalted one. He is in full agreement with Aristotle that poetic truth is much higher than the truth of history or philosophy. While history deals merely with particular facts and philosophy deals merely with universal and abstract truth, without providing examples to illustrate those truths; poetry alone deals both with the particular and the general. The object of poetry, says Wordsworth, is truth, not individual and local truth but general and operative truth. The truth, which is the object of poetry, does not stand upon external testimony but is carried alive into the heart by passion. The poet depicts both man and nature. He aims at being true to nature, and at the faithful reproduction of what he has seen and known about man and nature. This faithful representation of life in poetry is done in order to give pleasure. Knowledge of truth is a source of spiritual pleasure. The poet studies man in his ordinary life and sees the souls of man to discover truth and promote knowledge. Thus, according to Wordsworth, poetic truth is universal and general and can be shared by all.