Notes Nyikes LyricBal

8/13/2019 Notes Nyikes LyricBal

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William WordsworthPreface to Lyrical Ballads

by Zita Nyikes Year 2, Part time student

Lyrical Ballads = Beginning of the Romantic movement

- first published in 1798

-Lyrical Balladsis a collection of poems by illiam ords!orth and "amuel #aylor $olerid%e- illiam ords!orth and "amuel $olerid%e to%ether %enerated a re&olution in 'n%lish poetry

- it is classically considered to ha&e marked the be%innin% of the (omantic mo&ement in literature)

*urin% the romantic period all literature !as basically about feelin%s and that the role of the !riter

!as to recreate and e+plore feelin%s) #hey felt that mutually sympathetic feelin%s made people

more morally sensiti&e and at the same time %a&e pleasure

- the immediate effect on critics !as modest, but it became and remains a landmark, chan%in% the

course of ritish and merican literature)

- it had a mi+ed critical reception, the first edition !as a .sellout). #!o years later, in 18//,

ords!orth and $olerid%e prepared a ne!, t!o-&olume edition !ith additional poems, includin%

the lon% narrati&e poemMichael

-Lyrical Balladsof 1798, marked a si%nificant turnin% a!ay from the restraints of the classicaltradition in poetry and a turnin% to!ard a more e+perimental, more emotional lyricism

- 0oy and the loss of 0oy !ere popular topics

- as the readin% public %re! in number and in sophistication, a &ariety of 0ournals, re&ie!s, and

ma%aines de&eloped the public taste

- the title: the t!o !ords in the title stem from different traditions in the history of poetry, and ha&e

different characteristics) y combinin% them in the title, ords!orth and $olerid%e indicated that

they !ere in&ol&ed in a fresh interpretation of old traditions)

Lyric: in ancient reece it !as a son% to accompany music from a lyre) 3ater the

!ord !as used for any short poem in !hich personal moods and emotions !ere

e+pressed) No!adays the !ords of popular son%s are called lyrics)

Ballad:is a poem or son% !hich usually tells a story in the popular lan%ua%e of the

day, and has associations !ith traditional folk culture

-major poems

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner !am"el Taylor #oleridge$

- openin% poem4it is a supernatural story, !ith themes includin% %uilt, punishment

and redemption, told in short &erses !ith a stron% rhythm and rhyme scheme

Michael William Wordsworth$

-5ichael is a tale in blank &erse about a rasmere farmer !ho loses his son and his

land in tryin% to pay off a debt) 6n many of his poems forLyrical Ballads

ords!orth e+plores the psycholo%ical effects of economic, physical and social

hardship)

Tintern A%%ey William Wordsworth$

- final poem4 the poem opens !ith a personal e+perience and uses it to e+plore

themes such as Nature, memory, and ima%ination) #he best of ords!orth s

personal poetry, he mo&es out!ards to include the !hole of nature and human nature

in his ima%inati&e &ision)

&reface = manifesto of a new aesthetic sense

- enclosed toLyrical Balladsin 18// re&ised 18/2 to the second edition ofLyrical Ballads

- the announcement of the ad&ent of a poetic re&olution) ords!orth and $olerid%e created their

identities by rebellin% a%ainst their predecessors) *ead: forms &s) ne!: direction and ne!:sub0ect matter

- as a prefi+ is a systematic defence of the theoryupon !hich the poems !ere !ritten:


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- WW's theory:

- fittin% to metrical arran%ement a selection of the real lan%ua%e

- principal ob0ect

- )))incidents and situations from common life, and to relate

or describe them, throu%hout, as far as !as possible, in a

selection of lan%ua%e really used by men:

- )))colourin% of ima%ination, !hereby ordinary thin%s shouldbe presented to the mind in an unusual !ay ))) as far as

re%ards the manner in !hich !e associate ideas in a state of

e+citement:

- 6 ha&e !ished to keep my (eader in the company of flesh and blood ))):

- ords!orth;s preface and $olerid%e;sBiographia Literaria!ere the manifestoes of a ne!

aesthetic sense) '&erythin% !ritten before seemed suddenly old-fashioned or stale

- thePrefaceis itself a masterpiece of 'n%lish prose, e+emplary in its lucid yet passionate defence

of a literary style that could be popular !ithout compromisin% artistic and poetic standards) Yet it is

also &ital for helpin% us to understand !hat ords!orth and $olerid%e !ere attemptin% in their

collection of &erse, and also pro&ides us !ith a means of assessin% ho! successfully the poems

themsel&es li&e up to the standards outlined in the ;Preface;)

According to the &reface the themes inLyrical Ballads

Low and r"stic life

- ))) because in that condition, the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in !hich they can

attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic lan%ua%e:

- condition of life our elementary feelin%s

- state of %reater simplicity

- character of rural occupations, are more easily comprehended, and are more durable

- the passions of men are incorporated !ith the beautiful and permanent forms of nature

Lang"age

- purified

- people;s rank in society and the sameness and narro! circle of their intercourse, bein% less under

the influence of social &anity they con&ey their feelin%s and notions in simple and unelaborated

e+pressions

- is arisin% out of repeated e+perience and re%ular feelin%s

- more permanent and a far more philosophical lan%ua%e

- lan%ua%e some!hat more appropriate, it is to follo! the flu+es and reflu+es of the mind !hen

a%itated by the %reat and simple affections of our nature

- personifications of abstract ideas are rare, do not make any natural or re%ular part of that lan%ua%e4the lan%ua%e is cut off from a lar%e portion of phrases and fi%ures of speech !hich from father to

son ha&e lon% been re%arded as the common inheritance of Poets:

- brin% the lan%ua%e near to the lan%ua%e of men, and further, because the pleasure !hich 6 ha&e

proposed to myself to impart is of a kind &ery different from that !hich is supposed by many

persons to be the proper ob0ect of poetry

- in li&eliness and truth, fall far short of that !hich is uttered by men in real life, under the actual

pressure of those passions, certain shado!s of !hich the Poet

flux and reflux: r s aply

&oems:- 6 ha&e said that each of these poems has a purpose):

- purposes are e)%)


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Idiot Boy and Mad Mother< maternal passion throu%h many of its more subtle

!indin%s

Forsaken Indian: the last stru%%les of a human bein%, at the approach of

death, clea&in% in solitude to life and society

We are Seen: the perple+ity and obscurity !hich in childhood attend

our notion of death

- %eneral purpose to sketch characters under the influence of less impassioned feelin%s4 thecharacters;s elements are simple, belon%in% rather to nature than to manners

forsaken: cser!enhagyott" elhagyott

su!tle #indings: fino$ kanyargs

perplexity: %aarodottsg" tancstalansg

o!scurity: !i%onytalansg

cleaing: ragas%kods

&oet

- Poet speaks throu%h the mouths of his characters

- hat is a Poet= ))) >e is a man speakin% to men< a man, it is true, endued !ith more li&ely

sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, !ho has a %reater kno!led%e of human nature, and amore comprehensi&e soul, than are supposed to be common amon% mankind4 a man pleased !ith

his o!n passions and &olitions, and !ho re0oices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in

him4 deli%htin% to contemplate similar &olitions and passions as manifested in the %oin%s-on of the

?ni&erse, and habitually impelled to create them !here he does not find them):

- he describes and imitates passions

- his situation is sla&ish and mechanical, compared !ith the real and substantial action and sufferin%

- Poet brin%s his feelin%s near to those of the persons !hose feelin%s he describes

- he slips into a delusion, and confounds his o!n feelin%s !ith the characters;s feelin%

- he modifies only the lan%ua%e !hich is su%%ested to him, by a consideration that he describes for a

particular purpose

- Poet speaks to us in his o!n person and character- Poet is distin%uished from other men by a %reater promptness to think and feel !ithout e+ternal

e+citement

- Ne! (ole for the Poet< the poet;s main @ualifications are not in matters of craft or techni@ue4 he is

a poet because his feelin%s allo! him to enter sympathetically into the li&es of others and to

translate passions into !ords that please

endued: $egldott

olition: akarat

re&oice: 'r(l" le% ala$it

i$pel: ha&t" r!)r" 's%t'kl

slaish: s%olgai

delusion: r%kcsal*ds" $egtes%ts

confound:$eg%aar"'ss%etes%t

(ew &oetic !tandard

- ords!orth re0ected the neoclassical theory of poetry, !hich arran%ed the different kinds of

literature in a hierarchy, each !ith its o!n appropriate sub0ect matter and le&el of diction

- ords!orth particularly re0ected the ele&ated, artificial and unnatural poetic diction of the 18th,

!hich !as based on readin% rather than speech

- poetry is arran%ed in a sincere and simple lan%ua%e adaptin% prose lan%ua%e to poetic uses

- ords!orth undermined the di%nity of poetry and %a&e it a ne!er, broader sense

&oetry- Poetry is the spontaneous o&erflo! of po!erful feelin%s< it takes its ori%in from emotion

recollected in tran@uillity< the emotion is contemplated till by a species of reaction the tran@uillity


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%radually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that !hich !as before the sub0ect of

contemplation, is %radually produced, and does itself actually e+ist in the mind) 6n this mood

successful composition %enerally be%ins, and in a mood similar to this it is carried on4 but the

emotion, of !hate&er kind and in !hate&er de%ree, from &arious causes is @ualified by &arious

pleasures, so that in describin% any passions !hatsoe&er, !hich are &oluntarily described, the mind

!ill upon the !hole be in a state of en0oyment:)

- poetry is the outcome of a creati&e process) #he poet thinks about an emotional e+perience, theemotion returns, and under the influence of this rene!ed feelin% he !rites the poem) Pleasure is the

state in !hich the poetic composition is !ritten, and pleasure is also found in the result)

!o"rce:

- ords!orth, illiam)Preface to Lyrical Ballads

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Notes Nyikes LyricBal