Wordsworth’s views of poetry and the poet

Subject matter of the poetry

Poetry should deal with incidents and situations from simple rustic life, transfigured by imagination reflecting the way people think in a “state of excitement”. The preference for humble life is justified by the assumption that man are better when closed to nature and far from artificialities of civilization.

The language of poetry

Poetry should deal with familiar simple language. Middle and lower classes people can voice their feelings in a more immediate forceful way.

The poet’s identity

The poet has acute awareness of physical sensations, deep understanding of humane nature, more powerful imagination, capacity to articulate sensation and thoughts.

The creative act of the poetry

The creative process starts from an emotion which is recollected in tranquillity, recreated by the poets, shared by readers. The emotion is subjective in personal experience, they are not controlled by thinking or meditation.