neoclassical poetry

 

How does Wordsworth express his opinion against neoclassical poetry?

 

Ans. Before giving his theory, Wordsworth says about the public taste of his time in the field of literature. He brings charges against Pope and his followers. The neoclassic poets had totally destroyed the literary taste of the readers, because their poetry was based on the artificial aspects of life. Imagination, nature, beauty, fellow feeling and the soft instincts of man found no room in their poetry. The subject matter of this kind of poetry was very trivial but the style was lofty. Besides, the artificial diction, hackneyed phrases made this poetry dull and uninteresting. Wordsworth regards the trend of neoclassical poetry as something harmful for the sane readers and to practise this kind of poetic composition is a dishonourable profession of a poet. Wordsworth asserts that his poems differ from this popular poetry of the day at least in two important aspects. They are neither trivial in language nor in thought. Thus, Wordsworth protests against the triviality and meanness of both thought and language, which were used by some of his contemporaries in their poetry.