Wordsworths Prefaces And Essays On Poetry

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) needs little introduction as the central figure in Romantic poetry and a crucial influence in the development of poetry generally. This broad-ranging survey redefines the variety of his writing by showing how it incorporates contemporary concepts of language difference and the ways in which popular and serious literature were compared and distinguished during this period. It discusses many of Wordsworth's later poems, comparing his work with that of his regional contemporaries as well as major writers such as Scott. The key theme of relationship, both between characters within poems and between poet and reader, is explored through Wordsworth's construction of community and his use of power relationships. A serious discussion of the place of sexual feeling in his writing is also included.

Central to the creative process of the Romantic poets that followed him, Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical Ballads has been both a gift and a thorn in the side of critics for over a century. Readers find themselves drawn back to the essay repeatedly as they seek to untangle the ideas and contradictions within it. The Preface is a statement of Wordsworth’s poetic vision and offers an explanation of the poetic process behind the poems, which fused the rusticity of the ballad form with the psychological introspection of modernity. But to the generation of Romantic writers that emerged in its wake, the Preface announced a new understanding of the creative process and of the high purposes of poetry: to reveal the human condition, and to awaken in its readers the profoundest emotions and the most enduring truths of existence.

Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7 (A-), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (English Institute), course: Thematisches Proseminar Romantic Poetry, 10 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: William Wordsworth and Percy B. Shelley - these names represent, more than any other does, the Romantic Period in England. Wordsworth′s Preface to Lyrical Ballads, the second version written in 1802, and Shelley′s Defence of Poetry (1821) are two basic documents of Romantic thought and aesthetics. I will here endeavour to compare them, showing both the similarities and differences between the demands and beliefs of the authors. Preparing for my paper, I was surprised to find so little literature that concentrated on this special topic. Articles and books on the relationship between these poets concentrate on biographical aspects and general differences in thought, but do not trace into their theory of poems. Much attention is paid to the generation gap, as in the book of G. Kim Blank, and I learned that it is impossible to treat my topic adequately without taking this aspect into consideration. Therefore I will first give a survey of the times and circumstances the essays were written in, then compare them, trying to apply the facts of the first chapter where it is possible.

Preface to the Lyrical Ballads The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads is an essay, composed by William Wordsworth, for the second edition (published in January 1801, and often referred to as the "1800 Edition") of the poetry collection Lyrical Ballads, and then greatly expanded in the third edition of 1802.