CCanciani                                                      VB

Biographia Literaria

Exercise 2.

Topics in Wordsworth and Coleridge's conversations

•a)     The powers of poetry:

1. Exciting the sympathy of the reader by means of faithful adherence to the truth of nature.
2.  Giving the interest of novelty by means of the modifying colours of imagination.

•b)     Writing a collection of poems of two kinds:

1. Subject: supernatural incidents and agents.
2. Subject: ordinary life; the characters and incidents found in every village.

•c)      Plan of the Lyrical Ballads:

Coleridge

subject: supernatural person and characters.

aim: to give the truth in the situations of supernatural.

procedure: through the use of imagination.

Wordsworth

subject: common people and common life.

aim: to give them the charm of novelty.

procedure: by directing the mind's attention to the loveliness and wonders of the world.

Profile of the ideal poet

1. he "brings the whole soul of man into activity"
2. he is gifted with