Preface to Lyrical Ballads

 

In the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. priority is given to the personality of poet. Discuss this statement. Or

 

Consider the Preface to Lyrical Ballads to show that the important thing in Wordsworth is the emphasis on the individualism of the poet.

 

Introduction

 

Wordsworth declares in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads that the poet is a man speaking to men, and differs from other men only in the degree of organic sensibility and comprehensiveness of soul and not in kind. It is a healthy trend attempted by Wordsworth in bringing the poet closer to human beings of all sorts. It has been called the 'democratic' aspect of Wordsworth. At the same time, however, one cannot ignore the difference of degree between the poet and other men.

 

Difference between the poet and other men

 

The vast distance in degree between a poet and other men makes us wonder if, after all, the poet were really like all other men. The demands made on the poet, are great. He has a "more comprehensive soul" than other men; he is 'habitually impelled to create', to 'feel absent things as though, they were present, to 'conjure up passions' which are true to life without being like it. To some extent, the poet is like other men. His concern is with humanity and human nature. But it is a fact that the personality of the poet is different from that of other men.

 

Individuality of the poet

 

The Preface, while insisting what the poet differs in degree alone from other men, also stresses on the 'individuality of the poet. Indeed, his heightened powers spring from the liberty which he has achieved. He is a man who works according to his volitions. His feelings are enough for him; he needs no person to tell him when or how to work. He relies on his own being. He is a man 'pleased with his own passions and volitions'. He "rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in him, and is delighted to contemplate similar volitions and passions as manifested in the goings on of the universe."

 

Instinctive apprehension of truth: the poet's qualification

 

The emphasis is on the passionate nature of the poet, on his intense sensibility which makes him respond to the passions in others and to re-create them in himself. The passion as conceived by Wordsworth has a truth which is carried alive into the heart" and does not stand upon "external testimony". He thus acquires a greater power of expression. But it is not so much the words which make poetry distinctive, but a certain heightening of the emotions. The intensification of emotion is due to the fact that the poet lets himself slip into an entire delusion and even confound and indentify his own feelings" with persons whose feelings he describes. The poet knows because he feels. He apprehends truth as a "personal and individual acquisition", as something invisible but which is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge, the impassioned expression in the countenance of all science"

 

Conclusion

 

The poet is thus a man speaking to men, and yet different from other men in his sheer individuality. He writes when the mood or inspiration is upon him, when, after having observed some object or incident, he recollects it in tranquillity. The original excitement is stirred up in him once again, but with a difference. The feeling and emotion are now purified of accidentals. He then communicates his joy which he feels in the very act of creation. But the poet's own feelings are a rock of defence for him; he does not require to justify them. The liberty and individuality of the poet is an aspect which was stressed by the Romantics. Though Wordsworth insists on the democratic' nature of the poet, he is never blind to the ability of the poet to make prophecies. He is ever alive to the concept of the poet as a seer or a sage.

 

Wordsworth's conception of poetic pleasure is an exalted one. Equally exalted is his conception of the poet, who is to communicate the joy, and the 'over-balance' of pleasure, through poetry. However, Wordsworth stresses on the fact that the poet differs from other men ant in kind, but in degree of sensibility, passion, and power of expression.