This blog is written in response to the thinking activity of the bridge course- Wordsworth's Preface
Wordsworth's preface to lyrical ballads.
William Wordsworth was a great English Romantic Poet. Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge together launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication of Lyrical Ballads. In the preface of Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth gave his famous definition of poetry and his idea of What is a Poet.
Difference between classicism and romanticism.
To understand the difference between Classicism and Romanticism, we first have to understand both terms. Classicism and Romanticism are opposing movements and styles which influenced all the major arts like Architecture, Painting, Music, and Literature. Both have different ways of looking at and thus different ideologies. In Classicism, Intellect is the Guiding force, While in Romanticism Imagination is the guiding force. In Classicism there were certain restraints but in Romanticism, there was Liberty, Freedom, and free play of emotions and feelings.
Major CLASSICAL WORKS:
major classical works were written during the Augustan Age(1700-1740) and during the age of Dr.Jonson(1740-1800). classicism has its impact even during the modern age.
-Alexander Pope's 'The Rape Of The Lock'.
-Samuel Richardson's 'Pamela'.
-Daniel Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe'.
-Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver Travels'.
-Joseph Conrad's 'Heart Of Darkness.
-T.S.Eliot's 'Murder In The Cathedral'
Major Works of the Romantic Age :
-the publication Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge
- the composition Hymns to the Night by Novalis
-poetry by William Blake
-poetry by Robert Burns
-Rousseau's philosophical writings
-"Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman
-the poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
-the written works of William Wordsworth
It is a movement in literature that lasted from about 1750 to 1870. Characterized by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity of approach freedom of thought and expressions and idealization of nature.
To understand the difference between Classicism and Romanticism, we first have to understand both terms. Classicism and Romanticism are opposing movements and styles which influenced all the major arts like Architecture, Painting, Music, and Literature. Both have different ways of looking at and thus different ideologies. In Classicism, Intellect is the Guiding force, While in Romanticism Imagination is the guiding force. In Classicism there were certain restraints but in Romanticism, there was Liberty, Freedom, and free play of emotions and feelings.
Classicism :
Classicism defines beauty which demonstrates balance and order, as it originates in the Greek and Roman societies. Romanticism developed in the 18th century partially as a reaction against the ideas of classicism and expresses beauty through imagination and powerful emotions. The name "Classical" was given to the Greeks and Romans retroactively by Renaissance writers. Artists and thinkers of The Renaissance which literally means, 'rebirth' saw themselves as the heirs of that world following the middle ages. Its ideals continued to exert a strong influence on the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. But after the publication of Lyrical Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, the influence of classical ended, and there we find the emergence of the Romantic movement. In classicism, poets believed in the intellectual. Poets like Pope and Dryden, their poetry was intellectual. They believed that restraint was ruling the world. They relied on classical masters like Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. They believed in them and followed them. So their poems were well made but they lacked emotions and not connecting to common people. Classical poems were more based on city and urban life. The classical poems were more focused on objectivity.
Romanticism :
In romanticism, there were poets like Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelly. They believed that imagination is the guiding source for creating poetry. Their poetry was highly imaginative. They believed in liberty, so we find their free play of emotions and imagination. They turned to inspiration from medieval poets and writers. Medievalism prevailed during the romantic period. They wrote about rustic life and rural people. They were subjective writers. The French revolution had a deep influence on Romanticism and Wordsworth and thus imitated them for their writings. This led to "Liberalism in literature". The political liberalism of the French revolution inspired the liberation of individuality and the rejection of prescribed rules in Romantic literature. Romantic poets were inspired by the ideals of equality, fraternity, and liberty which were the three watchwords of the French revolution.
What is poetic diction? Which sort of poetic diction is suggested by Wordsworth in his Preface?
Wordsworth gives importance to "what is a poet?" rather than who is the poet?
According to Wordsworth " A poet is a man speaking to men, endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm, and tenderness. Who has a greater knowledge of human nature and a more comprehensive soul, who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life; habitually impelled to creative volition, passion, and situation where he does not find them.
Poetic diction simply means 'choice of words resulting in the style of the particular poet or poem. however, Wordsworth, here, deeply advocates avoiding poetic diction of the previous age. he does not support the idea of using artificial metaphors and other figures of speech or any other device to decorate the poem or to make the style higher. He rather suggests choosing a selection of language really used by men especially men of 'humble and rustic life' to make the poetry more interesting, and popular among common readers and to give poetic pleasure to all.
wordsworth also asserts that there is no difference between the language of prose and poetry. the arrangement or order of words used in the best poetry can also be found in the prose. only the use of a meter can differentiate the difference between the two. he favors the use of meters in his views. According to him, readers can easily follow the rules of the meter. it does not make interference with the passion of readers.
The definition of poetry.
According to Wordsworth’s definition of poetry, “ The spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling: it takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquillity.”
So the poet said that poetry is based on powerful feelings that are reflected as memories. those emotions are too strong that he expresses them through poetry. Expressing those emotions is not that easy, poets have to think deeper about those emotions because poets are more learned and thoughtful than other people, so they have to become more aware of their actions.
That’s why the poet says “it takes its origins from emotions recollected in tranquillity.”
Wordsworth's poem The Daffodils
We can easily understand Wordsworth’s definition of a poem in his own famous poem “The Daffodils”. The Daffodils is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth that was written in 1804 and published in 1807 in Poems, in Two Volumes.
The poem contains four stanzas, the first three stanzas are in the past tense where he sees the field full of daffodils and becomes impressed by that natural scenery. He describes daffodils in the second stanza,
“Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,”
And he expresses his feelings in the third stanza through lines’
“A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:”
The fourth stanza is written in the present tense as he lies on the couch in his house and is in a mood of seriousness and in the tension he tries to remember that field of Daffodils to feel the joy and contentment that he felt in the past when he visited it. He expresses it in lines like,
“For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in a pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;”
After remembering those movements of solitude and of nature he comes back to a joyful mood and is pleased by those memories. We can see that in the line’
“And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”
The poem 'Daffodils' is also known by its first line 'I wandered as lonely Cloud'. It is a lyrical poem, published in 1807. The poem contains Four stanzas. The first three stanzas are in the Past tense and the last stanza is in the present tense. The poem begins with,
"I wandered as a lonely cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,"
We can find that the first line is in the past tense. Further two stanzas are also in the past tense. This shows that the poet is sharing something that took place in the past, but if we move toward the last stanza the poet uses the present tense.
"For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood"
In the last Stanza, the poet comes to the present. If we observe the poem, we can find that the poet is presenting his thoughts and feelings while lying on the couch and recollecting his nature walk, as he is a Lake poet- who writes while having a walk through the Lake. So in vacant time, he recollects his emotions and feelings about Daffodils. According to his definition of poetry, it is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which took place by recollected tranquility. By the observation of the poem, we can find that this poem clearly justifies his definition of poetry.
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