Imagination In The Preface From Lyrical Ballads By William Wordsworth

“For a poem to coalesce, for a character or an action to take shape, there has to be an imaginative transformation of reality which is no way passive…Moreover, if the imagination is to transcend and transform experience it has to question, to challenge, to conceive of alternatives, perhaps to the very life you are living at that moment. You have to be free to play around with the notion that day might be night, love might be hate, nothing can be too sacred for the imagination to turn into its opposite or to call experimentally by another name. For writing is

An elevated concentration to the way the mind works is without a doubt one of the most significant attributes of Romantic poetry. In William Wordsworth’s poem, The Prelude, the poet allows several memories from his youth to be brought up again in his adulthood and looks to grasp onto these certain influences that have assisted in establishing his mind and could potentially help him become the best poet possible. John Keats described his idea of imagination to a friend in an 1877 letter: “I am certain of nothing save the holiness of the heart 's affections and the truth of the imagination. What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth, whether it existed before or not.” The obsession that Keats had with the imaginative idea to escape from everyday life led him to write The Fall of Hyperion. Both poets use cognitive interpretations as a way to express inner beliefs about the human mind or imagination. Like mentioned in class, Wordsworth begins with his alienation experiences in Prelude 1 and concludes with his adjustment statements in Prelude 11 and 13 and Keats’ development within The Fall shows the start of a happy innocence into a rather painful maturity.

The immense mountains and precipices that overhung me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as Omnipotence- and I ceased to fear or to bend before any being less almighty than that which had created and ruled the elements, here displayed in their most terrific guise.” Shelley's style is typical of the Romantic Period, much like the style of her husband and the other major Romantic poets. She uses elevated language and puts a lot of emphasis on the spiritual aspect of nature.

Wordsworth’s famous and simple poem, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” expresses the Romantic Age’s appreciation for the beauty and truth that can be found in a setting as ordinary as a field of daffodils. With this final stanza, Wordsworth writes of the mind’s ability to carry those memories of nature’s beauty into any setting, whether city or country. His belief in the power of the imagination and the effect it can have on nature, and vice a versa, is evident in most of his work. This

One of the purposes that are displayed by Shelley’s particular writing style is the romanticizing of nature. This viewpoint is forced to be admired and spotlighted in human interactions as an example of a greater and bigger truth. “The immense mountains and precipices that overhung me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the

Throughout “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” William Wordsworth shows his relationship with nature through his choice of diction, fantastic descriptions, and shifting mood of his poem. There are also many words and phrases that Wordsworth included into his poem that shows how he feels about nature. These phrases are well written, extremely descriptive, and show how Wordsworth is influenced by the wild: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, “When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils", “Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the milky way, they stretched in never-ending line along the margin of a bay: ten thousand saw I at a glance, tossing their heads in sprightly dance”, “The waves beside them danced; but they out-did the sparkling waves in glee”, “I gazed—and gazed—but little thought what wealth the show to me had brought”, and “For oft, when on my couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon that inward eye [...] and then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” Another phrase, which indicates that the flowers were so beautiful that no true poet could be sad in their presence, also builds upon Wordsworth’s relationship with nature. These particular lines in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” show how Wordsworth’s mood shifts from somber and lonely to joyous and content. The lines also show how the gorgeousness of nature sticks with

Coleridge sees the effect the writings of the Romantic Era has on those who are not writers which make the assistance of memory and dreams in the writings much more significant. Along with Coleridge’s significance to the Romantic Era, William Wordsworth also contributed to the movement of memory and dreams in the writings of the Romantic Era.

Even I, depressed in mind, and my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings, even I was pleased... He felt as if he has been transported to Fairy-Land and enjoyed a happiness seldom tasted by man... The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with admiration, he loved with ardor" (Shelley 112-113). Shelley then has Victor go on to recite a section from William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey," "the sounding cataract haunted him like a passion: the tall rock, the mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, their colours and their forms, were then to him an appetite; a feeling, and a love that had no need of remoter charm, by thought supplied, or any interest unborrow'd from the eye"(Shelley 113). When reflecting back on the excerpt from "Tintern Abbey" one is able to recognize that it speaks of solitude through nature, which parallels to way that Shelley has Victor go off on his escapes or his long periods of solitude where he is surrounded by nature.

Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads were published in 1789, with no preface as an “advertisement.” Another Lyrical Ballads, this time with two volumes, a preface, and no poetic diction, was published in 1800. In 1802, another Lyrical Ballads was published with two volumes and a preface. Wordsworth’s Elegiac Stanzas are an internalization of epic. Nature, memory and imagination all play a huge role in the poem, as does imagination’s relationship with knowledge. Wordsworth talks about imagination as an absolute ideal, although that is dangerous because it divorces us from the rest of the world.

Shelley’s unrivaled admiration for the intensity and dominance of the natural environment forces the reader to feel to take on that same perspective. This first stanza alone, essentially gives the reader a brief topographic and geographical analysis of the distinct features of the mountain, which eventually will be the foundation on which he forges his coming metaphors concerning human imagination. As the poem continues, Shelley concurrently reflects on the distressing supremacy of the ordinary world and it’s counterpart, the unseen vastness of the universe both inside the conscious and around him. This is where Shelley first melts the idyllic nature of romanticism with the idyllic concepts of environmental conversationalist

Lastly, the Romantic Era blended human emotions with nature. The interfacing of emotion and nature was emblematic of Romantic poetry, whether it engrossed the idea of bequeathing human emotions to an innate article like a river or connecting the scenery to the temperament of the writer. (James, 491) This kind of beauty that is

In "Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey", Wordsworth uses imagination to help him and others to live in the physical world peacefully. He recalls playing in Tintern Abbey, a forest nearby there and played in it when he was young. Now he comes back for different reasons. He escapes the world which is individualism and goes to the forest to get away from all the burden. He tells his young sister that she can always come here to get away from her problems as well. In the poem, Wordsworth uses nature to solve problems in life.

Again, he can hear the waters of springs, see the steep cliffs and enjoy the quiet secluded scenery. The poet says, “… Once again / Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs” (4-5). This secluded scenery gives the poet a kind of secluded thoughts. The poet writes, “Which on a wild deep secluded scene impress / Thoughts of more deep seclusion…” (6-7). Generally speaking, the first stanza is dedicated to describing the natural beauties of the Wye Valley. He describes the cliffs, waters, green landscape, unripe fruits, and wreathes of smoke the poet sees in the forest at that

Lines 79-84 represent loss and decay and are another set of themes in this poem. These lines show that his poem itself is a memory; memories can never contain the original content of an experience as it did the first time. Wordsworth's intense emotional pain is displayed throughout these lines. A particular line is: "That time is past/And all its aching joys are no more". The poet clearly tells his reader's that he is extremely upset at the fact that he no longer feels that joys he has felt before, and even though he hears in nature the still, sad music of humanity, he still prefers memory and the sense of nature over intellect and actuality. Wordsworth senses his mortality and realizes that nature ("their colours and their forms...") can not renew his pleasant spirits as much as he wants them to. "Tintern Abbey" also presents the poet to an exploration of identity and self understanding; Wordsworth is in conflict with the natural landscape that is painted in front of him and his mental landscape, two major different forces, and he is trying to find an equal path to both forces so that he can find his self or his destiny. Another explanation of these lines could be that Wordsworth comprehends the way nature functions --the death and renewal of all things– and that nature will one day also play a part on him. He is accepting that one day that, like his memories, he will fade and pass

Imagery has been one of the most pivotal movements in the cultural and intellectual history of English Literature. The comparison is not only among the works of their own rather it also includes the differences and traces of similarity with the works of others writers of different ages. The analysis is done by reading the actual text and interpreting the meaning by understanding the deep phrases hidden in the poetry. Different critics showed different aspects by their research. Some found out merits and some found out demerits in the works of Wordsworth and Coleridge. The merits includes uniqueness, healing power of poetry, and interpretation of their imagination for things whereas the demerits include slack of humour, lack of range and lyricism in their poetry. On a whole Wordsworth and Coleridge works have gained lot of interest and tempted many critics to write on their methods and strategies which they adopted in their work.