What Does Wordsworth Mean by "Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful

feelings"

By Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, Wordsworth opines that poetry is a

matter of mood and inspiration. Poetry evolves from the feelings of the poet.
Poetrys source is the feeling in the heart, not the ideas of the intellect. A poet
cannot write under pressure. In this regard, poetry flows out of his heart in a natural
and fluent manner. Deep emotion is the basic condition of poetry; powerful feelings
and emotions are fundamental. Without them great poetry can not be written. But T.
S. Eliot in his Tradition and the Individual Talent rejects Wordsworth's definition of
poetry and holds the idea that a writer should be impersonal and his writings should
be devoid of personal emotion and feelings.

Emotion Recollected in Tranquility

To begin with Wordsworths words, I have said that poetry is the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in
tranquility. At first glance, these two statements seem contradictory but
Wordsworths theory of poetry involved the fusion of the two statements. In a sense
powerful feelings and profound thought make poetry perfect. Wordsworth told that
the poet cant rely on sensibility alone. He has to be a person who has also thought
long and deeply. After that, a calm mind is equally necessary to furnish the past/
previous thoughts/ feelings.

At first, the poet observes some object, character or situation. It sets up powerful
emotions in his mind. The poet doesnt react immediately. He allows it to sink into
his mind along with the feelings which it has excited. Then comes the recollection of
the emotion, at a later moment. The emotion is recollected in tranquility. There
might be a time lapse of several years. Thus poetry originates in emotion
recollected in tranquility and so ultimately the product of the original free flow of
that emotion.

Wordsworth's Views on Poetic Truth

Aristotle was the fist who declared poetic truth to be superior to historical truth. He
called poetry the most philosophic of all writings. Wordsworth agrees with Aristotle
in this matter. Poetry is given an exalted position by Wordsworth in such a way that
it treats the particular as well as the universal. Its aim is universal truth. Poetry is
true to nature. Wordsworth declares poetry to be the image or man and nature.
A poet has to keep in mind that his end (objective) is to impart pleasure. He
declares poetry will adjust itself to the new discoveries and inventions of science. It
will create a new idiom for the communication of new thoughts. But the poets truth
is such that sees into heart of things and enables others to see the same. Poetic
truth ties all mankind with love and a sense of oneness.
William Wordsworth's Coparative Study of Science and Poetry in his
Preface to Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth, as a Romantic poet, in his Preface to lyrical Ballads, considers

poetry to be superior to science. He shows that the scientist studies only the
appearance of things while the poet investigates the inner reality of human soul.
The realization of the unity of nature and man gives absolute pleasure to the poet. A
scientist is devoid of this pleasure; he enjoys pleasure in solitude whereas poetic
truth can be shared by all. The poets appeal, says Wordsworth, is to the intellect as
well as to the heart of man, unlike the appeal of the scientists truth, which is to the
intellect alone.

Wordsworth thinks that the time may come when science will change and alter the
very material conditions of life. When that happens, the poet will give feeling and
emotional coloring to the factual achievement of science and present it in a vivid
form to the reader. The dry and dull skeleton of science will be given life and
vividness, flesh and blood through the art of poetry.

The Victorian poet Mathew Arnold in his critical writing The Study of Poetry, echoes
Wordsworths view that science would remain incomplete without poetry and quotes
Wordsworth: poetry is the breath and finer spirit of knowledge. In a fact the
atmosphere of sensation only matters and he takes his surroundings for his subject.
Even the objects of the science are put to poetic sensation and the discoveries of
the chemist, the Botanist, or Mineralogist will also be the objects of the poets art.
Not only that the poet will aid the science to ring it before all in a decisive form in
the coming days with its divine spirit. Thus Wordsworth elevates the position of
poet over the man of science and so says, it is as immortal as the heart of man.

Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads as a manifesto of Romantic

Movement

Wordsworths Preface to the Lyrical Ballads declares the dawn of English Romantic
Movement. Wordsworth and Coleridge, with the publication of the Lyrical Ballads,
break away with the neo-classical tendencies in poetry. As the reading people are
not familiar with his new type of poetry, Wordsworth puts forward a preface to this
book. In this preface, he tells us about the form and contents of this new type of
poetry.

Wordsworth, in the beginning, states the necessity of bringing about a revolution in

the realm of poetry as the Augustan poetry has become clich. He painfully notices
that the Eighteenth century poets have separated poetry from the grasp of common
people. He resolves to liberate this poetry from the shackles of so- called classical
doctrines. He, in collaboration with his friend Coleridge, begins to write poem for the
people of all classes. Wordsworth thinks that the language of the Augustan poetry is
highly artificial and sophisticated. That is why he suggests a new language for
Romantic poetry. This is why he suggests a new language for Romantic poetry. This
is why he suggests a new language for Romantic poetry. These attempt chiefly deals
with Wordsworths views of poetry.

Wordsworth thinks that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. To

him, the intensity of feelings is more important than the form.

To make poetry life like, he wants to use the language of common people as the
common people express their feeling unfeignedly. But he tells about a selection,
because common people use gross and unrefined language. So, he will purify the
language of rustic people until it is ready for use.

Wordsworth seems to contradict his own views as he prefers a selection to

the original language spoken by the rustic people.

T. S. Eliot, in his The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism, objects to Wordsworths
view. Eliot tells that a poet should not imitate the language of a particular class
because he ought to have a language of his own. Eliots view gains ground as
Wordsworth in his later poems, fails to use his prescribed language. His diction is, in
fact peculiar to him.

But Wordsworths definitions of poetry ad the poet are unique. He maintains that
poetry is more philosophical than any other branch of knowledge. He likes the poet
to a prophet who is endowed with a greater knowledge of life and nature.

The neo-classical poets consider the province of poetry to be the world of fictions.
But for Wordsworth the province of poetry is the world of truth, not a world of make-
believe. Wordsworth like Samuel Johnson believes that only the manifestations of
general truth can please all people. That is why he rejects the hackneyed poetic
style of the Augustan period.

Wordsworth differs with the neo-classical writers in his belief about the process of
poetry. The neo-classical writers think that the poets mind is a sensitive but passive
recorder of a natural phenomenon. But Wordsworth strongly opposes this view and
thinks that the mind of the poet is never a passive recorder. In his view, the poets
mind half creates the external world which he perceives. The external world is thus,
in some degree, the very creation of human mind. Wordsworth seems to establish
the fact that the poets mind and the external nature are both interlinked and
interdependent. Wordsworth unlike the classicists can not separate the mind which
suffers from the mind which composes.

Wordsworth points out the common characteristics of both poetry and science. But
he places poetry over science for the fact that the large part of poetry is based on
imagination. He beautifully discovers that science only appeal to intellect while
poetry appeals to heart. For this, the pleasures of science are shared by few while
the pleasures of poetry are open to all. Again the truth of science is subject to
change while poetry does not suffer from such threat.

Wordsworth breaks with the classical theory of poetry when he advocates for the
intensity of emotion. To him, reason is not at all important. This is a subjective view.

It cannot be said that Wordsworth is absolutely right in his theory of poetry. But it
must be recognized that his views are innovative and creative.

His rejection of classical doctrines leads to the creation of a new type of poetry
which prefers him emotions to reason. As a result a group of talented poets has
emerged in the province of English poetry. At the same time, he has contributed to
the field of literary criticism. If Blake is considered to be the precursor of romantic
poetry, Wordsworth and Coleridge are the two early exponents of romantic poetry.
And it is wise of Wordsworth to form a ground for this new poetry through the
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads.

Wordsworth's Glorification of Rustic and the Ordinary in his Preface to the

Lyrical Ballad

In his Preface to the Lyrical Ballad, Wordsworth tells that he had chosen low and
rustic life for treatment in his poems. He chose this life because, according to him,
in that condition the essential passions of the heart find a better soul in which they
can attain their maturity. In humble and rustic life the essential passions of the
persons are less under restraint and therefore express themselves in a plainer and
more emphatic language.

Elementary Feeling
Wordsworth also says that the humble and rustic life and the elementary feelings of
human beings co-exist in a state of greater simplicity and can therefore be more
accurately contemplated and more forcibly communicated. The manners of rural life
germinate from those elementary feelings, and because of the necessary character
of rural occupations, those manners are more easily comprehended. Finally in
humble and rustic life, the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and
permanent form of nature.

Living in Countryside

Thus in Wordsworths opinion, person living in the country side and pursuing rural
occupations are the best fitted for portrayal in poetry because these people live in
an environment which is more favorable to the growth and development of the
essential passions of the human heart and because in this environment people do
no suffer from any inhabitations and therefore speak a plainer and more forceful
language. These people lead simple lives and their feelings are of an elementary
kind. They do not have the vanity which people in the cities possess. These people
live in contract with the beautiful and permanent objects of nature (mountains,
streams, trees, flowers etc.) This contract favors the natural maturing of the feelings
and passions in the hearts of these people.

Simplicity

Wordsworth collects all the traces of vivid excitement which are to be found in the
pastoral world. Simplicity is to be the keynote of his theme as also of his style. He is
to treat the things of everyday life, to open out the soul of little and familiar
things. In We are Seven , the poet talks with a little girl who tells him of her
brothers and sisters. In another poem, a female vagrant tells the artless tale of her
life. Another poem concerns a shepherd, a Crael by name, and another pertains to
a leech-gatherer. Thus Wordsworth shows that even in the poorest lives there is
matter for poetry, schemes that can stir the imagination and move the emotions.
Thus Wordsworth democratizes poetry. This democratic outlook is something new in
poetry. He seeks his subject among forsake women, old men in distress, children
and crazy persons, in whom the primary instincts are emotions showed themselves
in their simplest and most recognizable form.

Corrupted World

It is to a large extent, the corruption of civilized society which makes Wordsworth

choose his subject from humble and rustic life. In choosing them from rustic rather
than urban life he is influenced, no doubt, by the fact that he himself is country
bred. He is convinced that among humble and rustic folk, the essential passions of
the heart fid a better place to mature in and are more durable. There is the closer
intimacy which isolation forces on rural households; there is the sharing of common
tasks and even, in the shepherds life, of common dangers. There are other virtues
also like contentment, neighborliness, ad charity, which can flourish in the kindly
society of the country.

Coleridges View

Coleridge in his Biographia Literaria analyses Wordsworths theory regarding the

choice of theme. Coleridge thinks differently on this subject. He does not believe
that characters should necessarily be chosen from low and rustic life. He does not
believe that a close contact with the beautiful and permanent objects of nature
produces any wholesome effect on the rustic persons. He does not even believe
that Wordsworth has followed his own theory loosely in his poems. He does not
believe that rustic life necessarily helps the formation of healthy feelings and a
reflected mind. In fact, the negation of rustic life put as many obstacles in the way
of this formation as the sophistication of city life does.

Coleridge has certainly argued his case well. But there are certain considerations
which he has not taken into account. Wordsworths aim is to find the best soil for
the essential passions. By avoiding artifice, he looks for simplicity. He has found
poet extravagantly pre-occupied with the affairs of nymphs and goddesses. He
therefore wants to turn his attention to the emotions of village girls and of peasants.
Wordsworth is not trying to unite familiar anecdotes on nursery tales; he is seeking
the fundamentals of human life by contemplating it in its simplest forms.

Yet the fact remains that Wordsworths theory has a limiting effect on poetry. The
democratization of the theme of poetry is certainly to be welcomed, but to confine
the poet only to humble and rustic life is to debar him from the rest of life. Human
life is very wide and humble. Rural life is only one sphere of human life.

So, in conclusion, we can say that Wordsworths theory of language is not without
its faults. But at the same time its merit cannot be ignored. It has a far reaching
importance. It changes the tendency of having much flown diction for poetry.

Wordsworths Defination of Poet and Poetry as Expressed in his Preface

Lyrical Ballads

In Preface to Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth expresses his opinion about the function of
a poet and the subject matter of poetry. He rejects the classical concept in his
attitude towards poet and poetry. He holds a romantic view in both the cases.

The Neo- classical poets have expressed their allegiance/ obedience to the classical
rules as set by Aristotle. According to the rules the poets are to depend on reason
and arguments. There is no scope for any imaginative expression of feeling and
emotion. Therefore, the subjects of the classical poets dont consent the common
human feelings. They are of separate type reflecting only the lives of the
Aristocratic people of the society. William Wordsworth has painfully observed this
sad picture of English poetry. Therefore he makes an attempt to extend the area of
poetry by including subjective elements and describing the natural objects that are
contributing silently to our lives and supplying different feelings to our senses and
sensibilities.

Poetry

William Wordsworth says that he has selected incidents and situations of common
life. He describes them by selection of incidents and situations of common life. He
describes them by selection of language really used by men. In the past this
ordinary life of the ordinary people has never been a subject of poetry. For the first
time he democratizes poetry and gives a universal appeal to it. People living in the
modern cities are very much artificial and far away from the simplicity of nature.
Therefore, they dont express the reality of human life. They suffer from social
vanity. Artificiality predominates in them. But the villagers are very simple and free
from social vanity. Wordsworth says that in Lyrical Ballads, humble and rustic life
has been chosen as the theme of poetry because the essential passions of the heart
find a better soul in which they can attain their maturity in the humble state of life.
Wordsworth comments that humble and rustic life holds simplicity, serenity and
tranquility. The rustic people express their feelings and emotion through simple,
unelaborated and unsophisticated way. Their language is more passionate, more
vivid and more emphatic. The language of the rustics, according to William
Wordsworth is more philosophical and permanent than the language used by the
city dwellers and the earlier poets.

Poetry should express common human feelings and there should be no restriction in
the expression of the experiences of the senses and sensibilities. Wordsworth
defines poetry as the spontaneous overflow of the powerful feelings. It is the poets
business to embody in their poetry the general passions of men. Wordsworth avoids
the use of personifications of abstract ideas and serious diction in his poems so far
as possible for making poetry intelligible to all types of readers. The language of his
poetry is near to that of prose. The incidents of life, the natural objects around us
and the common feelings of men as well as our sorrows and happiness, failure and
success should get a ready appeal in poetry without false description. Wordsworth
says, Poetry sheds no tears, such as angels weep, but natural and human tears.
Another important idea of Wordsworth about poetry is that the function of poetry is
to give pleasure to readers by presenting the incidents and situations of their lives
in a fascinating and unusual way with a color of imagination. Therefore Wordsworth
agrees with Aristotle, Poetry is the most philosophical of all writings. The subject of
poetry is general and operative truth which is its own testimony. According to J. C.
Smith, an eminent critic, The nature of poetry will appear more clearly when we
have considered its end or purpose, or the function of the poet in a civil society.
Wordsworth establishes a relation between man and nature in his poetry. Therefore
he opines that poetry is the image of man and nature. It is an acknowledgement of
the beauty of the universe. Poetry, to Wordsworth, is a powerful media of supplying
knowledge and pleasure to mankind. He considers that man and nature are
essentially adapted to each other. Therefore, man has emotional, philosophical,
moral and spiritual connection to nature. The poets business is to describe human
life in its very form and to establish a relationship between man and universe. So,
Wordsworth says that poetry is the first and last of all knowledge- it is as immortal
as the heart of ma.

Poet

Wordsworth defines a poet as a man of more comprehensive soul. A poet is different

from other men, because he/she has a more lively sensibility. And his emotions and
passions are more enthusiastic, tenderer and more powerful. He has a greater
knowledge of human nature. The poet is a man speaking to men. But the poet is not
only a social instrument but an individual, pleased with his own passions and
volitions. The poet has a greater degree of imaginative power than other men, a
power of looking from heaven to earth and earth to heaven.

The insight of the poet is higher than other people. That is why; a poet can create
new ideas and present them to us with images and symbols. The poets curiosity
and interest in life is intense. Therefore, the poet depicts human life in different
ways. His responsibility is great because, what other people cant think or see, he is
to present the incredible and invisible images to the readers. Other people also feel
and think that but they dont have the diversity of their sense perception as the
poet has, that is why, the poets soul is very powerful and creative. The poet must
have the knowledge of human life and human society because his main study is
man society. The poet seeks the truth about life and nature. His main purpose is to
give pleasure by painting out the different branches of knowledge of this vast
universe.

The poet creates characters and the characters are the spokesmen of his ideas.
Wordsworths idea about the poet is romantic ad democratic. He says that the poet
shouldnt live in a lofty height. Rather he must be one of the common human
beings. He should feel what others feel and accordingly he should describe the
common feelings and passions. Like the scientist or any other creative man the poet
rejoices over his own invention because the purpose of all inventions and
discoveries is to give pleasure. The poet also describes the real incidents that we
are facing daily. Moreover, by the power of his creative imagination, the poet
creates significant images to sharp our senses ad sensibilities, and to enhance our
knowledge about life.
Thus Wordsworth elaborately describes the function of poetry and of the poet in his
critical essay Preface to Lyrical Ballads. In both the cases he avoids classical
tendencies and adopts romantic attitude.