Building Background

Wordsworth’s Poetic PrinciplesTo neoclassical poets such as John Dryden, Alexander Pope, and Samuel Johnson, poetry was an intellectual pursuit. They believed poetry should be an art that engages the mind more than the heart; it should be calculated rather than spontaneous, witty rather than emotional. Wordsworth thought otherwise.

In 1800, as the second edition of Lyrical Ballads was being prepared for publication, Wordsworth’s friends urged him to add an introduction explaining the principles that guided his writing. The preface Wordsworth added not only clarifies his views of poets and poetry, but also distinguishes his innovative ideas from the views of his neoclassical predecessors. Wordsworth felt that a poet is a person who is “endowed with ... more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater understanding of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind.” Yet although poets may be more sensitive and knowledgeable than the average person, neither they nor their audience need be aristocrats or intellectuals.

Wordsworth suggested that poetry springs not from extraordinary wit or learning but from the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” that the poet “recollect[s] in tranquillity.” These insights, according to Wordsworth, enable the poet to touch upon universal human truths and “s[ing] a song in which all human beings join with him.” For Wordsworth, poetry should “[connect] us with our fellow beings.” Wordsworth criticized the “gaudiness and inane phraseology” of poetry that was in fashion at the time, declaring that this “poetic” language was all too often only “artificial.” He felt that the language of poetry should be simple and natural, reflecting the speech patterns of the common person. Wordsworth was one of the first poets to think through and write down the principles of this new trend in poetry called Romanticism.

Inspirations

● The Industrial Revolution proceeded rapidly during the late 1700s. Faster production methods produced a faster-paced life and allowed for less contact with nature. In The World Is Too Much with Us, Wordsworth reacts to the growing gap between humans and nature. In My Heart Leaps Up, he reflects on the joy and comfort nature provides.

● In It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free, Wordsworth refers to Caroline, his daughter with Annette Vallon. They are walking on the seashore of the northern French city of Calais, where Wordsworth paid a brief visit to Caroline and Annette in 1802. He remarks, “Thou liest in Abraham’s bosom all the year,” which alludes to a passage in the New Testament of the Bible (Luke 16:22). It reads, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.” According to Jewish tradition, souls on their way to heaven rested with Abraham, a father of the Hebrew people. While with him, they enjoyed a state of bliss somewhere between that possible on earth and that possible in heaven.

● Tintern Abbey is the ruin of a medieval abbey located in Monmouthshire, Wales, that is noted for its scenery. Wordsworth visited there in 1793 and returned in 1798, when he wrote Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.

Literary analysis: romantic poetry

In England, Romanticismwas a literary and artistic movement originating in the late 18^th c. and lasting until the early decades of the 19^th c. Unlike their neoclassical predecessors, the romantic poets stressed the importance of the individual’s subjective experiences rather than issues that concerned society as a whole. Their philosophy valued emotion, spontaneity, and imagination over reason and orderliness. Most significantly, they rejected the world of industry and science, turning instead to nature as a source of inspiration and solace. Other defining features of romantic poetry are as follows:

• an emphasis on the commonplace

• language resembling natural speech

• elements of the mysterious, exotic, and supernatural

As you read Wordsworth’s innovative works, look for details that are characteristic of romantic poetry.

Reading skill: analyze stylistic elements

Wordsworth’s poems contain distinctive stylistic elementssuch as the following:

• long, free-flowing sentences, often with phrases that interrupt main ideas

• inverted syntax,where the expected order of words is reversed

• unusual use of punctuation, such as dashes combined with other punctuation, and exclamation points appearing within a sentence rather than at the end

As you read each poem, be aware of these stylistic elements and note how they affect your impression of the speaker’s thoughts.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 823