Nature and function of poetry
The high priest of Nature, William Wordsworth was the harbinger of
Romanticism in the eighteenth century. He along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge
initiated the Romantic Revival. The publication of the Lyrical Ballads, a joint
venture by Wordsworth and Coleridge is a milestone in the history of literature.
It was published in the year 1798 under the title, ‘Lyrical Ballads, with a Few
Other Poems.’ This first edition was published anonymously.
This Preface is considered a central work of Romantic literary theory and is one
of the masterpieces in English criticism. However, Wordsworth was primarily a
poet and not a critic. In the Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads, he informed the
readers that the Lyrical Ballads was an experiment. He speaks about the main
subject of poetry. He says that poetry should choose incidents and situations
from common life and it must be related in ‘a selection of language really used
by men.’ With the help of imagination, ordinary things should be presented in
an extraordinary way. Ultimately these methods should reflect the primary laws
of nature.
According to him “poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is
impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all science”. He not only
defines poetry; but also explains the process involved in the production of
poetry. His theory of poetry is comprehensive in the sense that it tells us the
qualification of the poet, the function of poetry and recommends the language
of poetry.
In Wordsworth’s opinion poetry should have a purpose. It must achieve
something positive. What he defines as its purpose is not something ethical but
rather psychological. The purpose is ‘to illustrate the manner in which our
feelings and ideas are associated in a state of excitement...’ Accordingly, deep
emotion is the fundamental condition of poetry. It is the feeling that matters.
Wordsworth discards Aristotelian doctrine that the plot or the situation is the
first and most important thing. For Wordsworth the first thing is feeling. It is
objected that Wordsworth emphasizes feeling and ignores thoughts, but it is not
true. It is true that he attaches great significance to feeling, yet he maintains that
valuable poems can only be produced by a man who has thought long deeply.
And he adds that the feeling developed in a poem gives importance to the action
and situation, and not the action and situation to the feeling.
Hence the purpose of poetry is to proceed from the simple ideas inherent in the
incidents and situations of common life to the exhibition of affection. In short,
the purpose is to develop feeling out of the ideas surviving from the sensations
of daily life. The main object hence is ‘to make the incidents of common life
interesting.
According to him, there is nothing ‘special’ about poetry that requires the use of
a special language. In the same way, poetry does not require specifically ‘poetic
subjects’; it does not deal with the grand or the dignified or the sensational, but
with the permanent, enduring interests of the human heart. This theory is
founded on Wordsworth’s disgust at eighteenth century poetic artificiality.
However, many of Wordsworth’s later works, as well as that of other poets
proves clearly that there is an essential difference between the language of prose
and that of poetry.
Low and rustic life is to be preferred for the purpose of poetry because in that
condition of life the essential passions and elementary feelings of men existed in
a state of freer association. There are many poems which triumphantly indicate
it. Lucy Gray, The Solitary Reaper, and Michael are typical examples.
Finally, poetry provides shelter and succour to the afflicted human soul. It is a
great force for good and welfare. Wordsworth's own object in writing poetry
was 'to console the afflicted; to add sunshine to day light by making the happy
happier; to teach the young and the gracious of every age to see, to think, and
feel, and therefore to become more actively and securely virtuous.'
Thus, Wordsworth concludes that 'every great poet is a teacher; I wish either to
be considered as a teacher or as nothing'. In this role poetry makes man "wiser,
better and happier".
In brief the main ideas which Wordsworth lists in the Preface are the following:
The subject matter of poetry is whatever that interests the human mind. The
Lyrical Ballads are written as experiments, to try out the use of the language of
conversation of real people in poetry. They are new and unusual, and will not
suit the taste of most readers. Nevertheless, the readers are asked to try them
with an open mind, and not to put off at first sight without giving them fair trial.
