Wordsworth’s Thoughts about the Effects of Poetry on the Reader and The Prelude
Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads, apart from being considered the “Manifesto of Romanticism”, can also be regarded as reflection of the spirit of revolution that was prevalent in France at the time. One of the reasons for this, perhaps, is his approach to poetry; that is bringing poetry down to the sphere of ordinary men from the elevated position it used to stand. It can be said that the sentiments of equality resonates in his Preface, especially in his insistence on poet being a man addressing other men. But I believe, his approach to poetry is actually much more than it first suggests itself to be.
One of the most interesting points he makes in his Preface, for me, is his belief in general sensibility of men and his interest in the effect of his poems on the reader of his poems. It can be discerned from his Preface that Wordsworth believes he is living in an age where men’s discerning qualities are dulled to the degree that they are almost in a “state of savage torpor”. Thus, he asserts, they desire gross stimulants to be excited. The age of industrialism and the prevalence of reason had left them unable to be naturally stimulated. They had basically lost the ability to see the fascinating side of the ordinary. This term, excitation is particularly interesting, because it seems as if Wordsworth believes that every man has an innate quality to be affected by even the slightest of things, and in that state of pleasant excitement he is able to see associations and what can be called the universal qualities of Nature. Poet’s duty, for Wordsworth, is to enlarge this capability of men, and excite kindred feelings in the reader that the poet felt when he was composing. Of course in order to excite this feeling in others, the poet has to have “more than usual organic sensibility”, and he has to develop this sensibility by meditation on his previous feelings and memories. The idea...