1
Preface to Lyrical Ballads

• Written by William Wordsworth and Coleridge in
  1798

2
Its considered the manifesto of Romantic poetry

• It explains the aim of poetry and how it should
  be written

3
It contains four main themes

• What should be the object of poetry
• What language should be used
• Who is the poet
• What is poetry

4
OBJECTS

• Incidents of common life
• Situations from simple and rustic life
• They should be written in an interesting way by
  the poem.
• The reason for his preference for humble life is
  because man is better when is closer to nature,
  far from the artificiality of civilization.

5
LANGUAGE

• Familiar
• Simple
• The language really used by men
• Without volgarity and artificiality
• It should express their feelings directly and
  forcefully.

6
POET

• He is more than a man, he is like a God
• He finds passions where men dont find them
• He has more sensibility
• He has graeter knowledge
• He is a man speaking to men

7
POETRY

• Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful
  feelings
• Its emotions recollected in tranquillity
• It is a memory in poets mind