Wordsworth’s Theory of Poetry : The Poet and Poetic Process

Wordsworth’s conception of a poet is an important part of his theory of poetry presented in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. In the preface, Wordsworth discusses the definition, qualities and function of a poet.

Wordsworth defines a poet in the following lines:

He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to common among mankind.

          From these lines and from the text we can identify the following qualifications of a poet.

          A poet is a simple man like other common human beings. This concept actually revolts against the 18th century glorification of a poet as somebody separate and different from other human beings.

          However, a poet is not ‘‘different in kind from other man, but only in degree.’’ He has some extra qualities.

          A poet is a man possessing a higher sensibility than others. It helps him observe and feel things more deeply than others can. By this he reacts more powerfully to the external impressions.

          The poet’s enthusiasm, intense and keen, takes deep pleasure in the knowledge of the oneness of nature and man.

          The poet having ‘a more comprehensive soul’ shares the feelings and emotional reactions of other people accurately. He can express them ever without feeling them directly.

          The poet’s imaginative power is greater than average human beings. By this, he can be “affected by absent things, as if they were present.’’

          The poet is not only a man who has a lively sensibility, but one “who has thought long deep.’’

          The poet is not a social instrument but an individual “pleased with his own passions and volitions.’’ He is not a mere copier, but a creator. Sensibility becomes more important than rationality.

          The end of the poet to write poetry is to give pleasure with a purpose of enlightening and purifying which is not formally conceived.

          A poet is also a teacher. Wordsworth in a letter expressed his view-“every great poet is a teacher; I wish either to be considered as a teacher or as nothing.’’ However, pleasure is an essential condition of poetic teaching. Here we see that Wordsworth is close to the doctrine of Horace.

The poetic process of Wordsworth

Wordsworth defines poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’’ and its origin is in “emotion recollected in tranquility.’’ At the first glance, the two contentions may seem contradictory. Because, spontaneity is a forward process while recollection is a backward process. Therefore, how the spontaneous poetry is originated from recollected emotion is a question.

There are four stages in the process of poetic creation. These are observation, recollection, contemplation and imaginative excitement.

At the first stage, the poet observes some object, situation or phenomena of nature. However, the poetic expression does not take place at that very moment. Rather the observations are stored in the poet’s heart.

Next, in moments of tranquility, the poet recollects those emotions excited by the objects, situations or phenomena.

Then, he contemplates on these emotions.

Consequently, after contemplation, there comes the gradual revival of the “emotion kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation.”  Thus the poet is once again in a similar emotional excitement to what he experienced when he first saw the object. Wordsworth says that “in this mood successful composition generally begins.”

Thus at the moment of creation, the tranquility is replaced by spontaneous emotional excitement of powerful feelings.

James A.W. Haffernan points out that consciousness has a little part to play at the moment of creation, and the poet should abandon to the resurrected passion.

Herbert Read observes, “Good poetry is never an immediate reaction to the provoking cause.”  

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