Lyrical Ballads is a collection of poems written by Wordsworth and Coleridge together and published in 1800.

The Preface is written by Wordsworth and it is considered the manifesto of Romantic poetry; a manifesto is a declaration of intentions,a text which compared to the period before expresses a break;  as a matter of fact the poets wants to explain what Romantic poetry was like. 

The points he discusses are:

- the subject of poetry

- the language of poetry

- the identity of the poet

- the creative act of the poet

The subject of poetry are "incidents and situations from common life"

The language of poetry has to be the language "really used by men "

The poet is a "man speaking to men"

Poetry is "the spontaneus overflow of powerful feelings"; it originates from "emotions recollected in tranquillity"

According to Wordsworth poetry has to speak about situations and events from everyday life, events have to be real but it is through the selection of the language, especially through the use of the colours of imagination, that ordinary events should be present is an "unusual way", in a way that strikes the attention of the reader and awakes his attention.

The language has to be the language "really used by men ", which appeals to senses,  in opposition with the language of the poems of Augustan age (17th-18th century style of English literature; for example that of Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock ), which was unnatural and exaggerated (the poetic diction).

The "colouring of imagination" is something that allows the poet to provide the reader with a pictures which are not just a photograph and that presents the ordinary event in an unusual way.

The poets is presented as "a man speaking to men"but Wordsworth says also he is more sensible, comprehensive and enthusiastic. Thus the description appears like a parodox if, on the one hand, he is presented at the same level of other men and, on the other, he is always "more" than the other.

Speaking of how poetry takes its origin, the necessary conditions are: the solitude of the poet, the record of a memory, the reflection about an events that has struck the subjectivity of the poet and the reflection provokes the same feelings and emotions he has felt when he had seen the scene.

As a matter of fact, Romantic poetry never speak about something but it always speak about something that has provoked some emotions in the subjectivity of the poet.   

In order to explain his point of view, Wordsworth proceeds analysing point by point, in a very clear way, the most important features of how poetry should be like.

He also uses some poetic devices like anaphoric construction (for example: "are more easily comprehended, and are more durable..") in order to better stick into the reader's mind the most important concepts.