Wordsworth‘s philosophy of life his theory of poetry, and his political credo were all intricately connected.
‗Lyrical Ballads‘ is a joint publication by William Wordsworth and an equally accomplished poet S.T.
Coleridge, which is cited as the most prominent reason responsible for the launch of romantic age in English
Literature. In his ‗Preface‘, Wordsworth provides his audience of an understanding of his style of poetry. In
fact he strays away from the complex, verbose and mind to boggling poetry presented before his time,
ascribing to the statement written by Henry David Thoreau in his ‗Walden‘, ―simplicity, simplicity and
simplicity‖. Even though Thoreau is speaking in completely different context, the statement he makes
provides to understand what Wordsworth is advocating.
In the beginning of Wordsworth‘s ‗Preface to the Lyrical Ballads‘, he addresses his predecessors and talks
about poetry before his time. According to him the neo-classically oriented writers of the so-called Augustan
Age, choose Latin authors of the time of the Pax Romana as their models. They admired Virgil and Horace
for correctness of phrase and polished urbanity and grace. Their relationship to the natural environment was
one of cautious imitations. They did not hold with simple tutelage at the hands of nature, reason and good
sense had to intervene. But Wordsworth claims that his predecessors will have issues with his poetry based
on a simplicity and the language that he maintains throughout his poems. In fact, he substantiates his ideas
with natural and rustic theme, ―humble and rustic life.
In Wordsworth’s opinion the language of poetry must not be separated from the language of men in real life.
Figures, metaphors and similes and other such decorations must not be used unnecessarily, as was the case
with the artificial 18th century poetic diction. In a state of emotional excitement men naturally uses a
metaphorical language to express themselves forcefully. The earliest poets used only such metaphor and
images as result naturally from powerful emotion. Later on, poets used a figurative Language which was not
the result of genuine passion. They merely imitated the manner of the earlier poets and thus arose the
artificial language and diction of the ‗pseudo-classics‘. But Wordsworth advocates that the poets must avoid
the use of artificial diction both when he speaks in his own persons and when he speaks through his
characters.
Wordsworth describes poetry as the ‗spontaneous overflow‘ of emotions. Poetry is not dependent upon
rhetorical and literary devices, but is the free expression of the poet‘s thought and feelings. The poet is a
teacher and must strive to reveal truth not through scientific analysis and abstraction, but through an
imaginative awareness of persons and things. He may broaden and enrich our human sympathies and our
enjoyment of nature in this way. He must communicate his ideas and emotions through a powerful
recreations of the original recreation. For this, he must have a sensibility of far beyond that of the ordinary
individual.
T.S. Eliot criticized Wordsworth for not practicing this theory in all his poems. For example, poems such as
―Intimation‖, ―Tintern Abbey‖, ―Ode to Duty‖, ―Laodamia‖ do not follow Wordsworth‘s prescription about
the language. All though Wordsworth‘s theory of diction has its weakness yet it has its significant too. He
put an end to the use of false poetic diction ―the worst of all the diseases which have afflicted English
poetry‖. To quote Wyatt, Wordsworth ―did poetry a valuable service; he took stock of the language of
poetry, cleared out a lot of old rubbish which had long ceased to have any but a conventional poetic value,
and made available for poetic use many words that had long been falsely regarded as unpoetic.‖