Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
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The Preface to ''Lyrical Ballads'' is an essay, composed by
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...
, for the second edition published in 1800 of the poetry collection ''
Lyrical Ballads ''Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems'' is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literatur ...
'', and then greatly expanded in the third edition of 1802. It has come to be seen as a ''de facto'' manifesto of the Romantic movement. The four guidelines of the manifesto include: # Ordinary life is the best subject for poetry. (Wordsworth uses common man's language.) # Everyday language is best suited for poetry # Expression of feeling is more important than action or plot # "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" that "takes its origin from emotion, recollected in tranquillity." - William Wordsworth Works by William Wordsworth 1800 works British poetry Essays in literary theory 1800s essays Essays about poetry {{poetry-essay-stub