The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth

di William Wordsworth

La prefazione in inglese:

Poetry, according to Wordsworth, must be concerned with the ordinary, everyday world and the influence of memory on the present: the recollection of emotions and feelings. The best subjects are therefore “humble rustic life” and people in close contact with nature. The poet has a greater sensibility than ordinary men and thanks to his power of imagination he can communicate his feelings and help people to get in touch with their interior world. The kind of language used by the poet must reflect this simplicity; it has to be similar to the simple “language of men”. At first Coleridge agreed with Wordsworth’s Preface, but by 1802 he started to have doubts about his theories of poetic language, which he formulated in his Biographia Literaria. Among his criticism were his dislike of Wordsworth’s tendency to preach and moralise in his verse at the expense of pure poetic expression.

LEGGI ANCHE: Analisi e commento The Lyrical Ballds