Preface to Lyrical Ballads: Wordsworth's concept of poetic diction

Wordsworth is a prominent one in English literature. In Preface to Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth expresses his opinion about the function of poet and the subject matter of poetry. He rejects the classical concept in his attitude towards poet and poetry. He holds a romantic view in both the cases.

The Neo-classical poets have expressed their obedience to the classical rules as set by Aristotle. According to the rules, the poets are to depend on reason and arguments. There is no scope for any imaginative expression of feeling and emotion. Therefore, the subjects of the classical poets don’t consent to the common human feelings. They are of separate type reflecting only the lives of the aristocratic people of the society. William Wordsworth has painfully observed this sad picture of English poetry. Therefore, he makes an attempt to extend the area of poetry by including subjective elements and describing the natural objects that are contributing silently to our lives and supplying different feelings to our senses and sensibilities.

Wordsworth has selected incidents and situations of common life, describing them by selection of language really used by men. In the past, this ordinary life of the ordinary people has never been a subject of poetry. For the first time he democratizes poetry and gives a universal appeal to it. In Lyrical Ballads, humble and rustic life has been choosen as the theme of poetry because the essential passions of the heart find a better soul in which they can attain their maturity in the humble state of life.

Wordsworth comments that humble and rustic life holds simplicity, serenity and tranquillity. The rustic people express their feelings and emotions through simple, unelaborated and unsophisticated way. Their language is more passionate, more vivid and more emphatic. The language of the rustics, according to Wordsworth, is more philosophical and permanent than the language used by the city dwellers and the earlier poets. Wordsworth avoids the use of personifications of abstract ideas and serious diction in his poems so far as possible for making poetry intelligible to all types of readers. The language of his poetry is near to that of prose. The incidents of life, the natural objects around us and the common feelings of men as well as our sorrows and happiness, failure and success should get a ready appeal in poetry without false description.

The Poet thinks and feels in the spirit of the passions of men. How, then, can his language differ in any material degree from that of all other men who feel vividly and see clearly?