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Lyrical Ballads: William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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This edition of LYRICAL BALLADS brings together both the 1798 edition (including the Advertisement that prefaced the work) and the 1800 edition (with the Preface that replaced the Advertisement) in one convenient volume. The editors, R.L. Brett and A.R. Jones, have included quite an extensive introduction, a nice bibliography, end notes to the poems, multiple appendices, and an index. It is the perfect volume to purchase if you are going to study the LYRICAL BALLADS, particularly the changes that occurred between their first and second printing.

Most of my praise will go out to this edition, as the quality of the poetry contained in it is beyond question. This early work of both Coleridge and Wordsworth finds them at the height of their powers. For those less familiar with the LYRICAL BALLADS, I will mention some of my favorite poems in the work to give you a sense of what this volume contains:

1798 Edition - "Rime of the Ancyent Marinere," "We are seven," "Lines written in early spring," "The Thorn," "Expostulation and Reply," "The Tables Turned," "Tintern Abbey."

1800 Edition - "A slumber did my spirit seal," "Lucy Gray," "Nutting," "Michael."

And now, to end this review, I shall leave you with a few lines from one of my favorite poems, one that addresses me as I spend long hours studying hard into the night to uncover the "truth" of the world:

THE TABLES TURNED by William Wordsworth

Up! Up! my friend, and clear your looks,
Why all this toil and trouble?
Up! Up! my friend, and quit your books,
Or surely you'll grow double.
...
Books! `tis a dull and endless strife,
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music; on my life
There's more of wisdom in it.
...
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man;
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
...
Enough of science and of art;
Close up these barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives. (1-4; 9-12; 21-24; 29-32)

If you know of Wordsworth and Coleridge you might also know that they both, but Coleridge in particular, led quite stormy lives. Although this work is a representative of the not so stormy Romantic period, the poems seem to transgress from the ordinary quiet of that time in history. With "Rhyme of the ancient mariner" as the obvious headstone in the book one cannot help but feel that this is somewhat "different" lyricism. However, the two poets don't seem to be on the same mission with their work. Often the reader is pulled in different directions. Perhaps the slight confusion of this book is one of the things that has helped it survive, it is undoubtedly at the same time what justifies it and annoys the critical reader. Having said that it seem somewhat "irregular" I must add that the book contains some of the most beautiful scenery in romatic lyricism.

When William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge published their collaborative volume of verse Lyrical Ballads in 1798 the reaction of critics was harsh. These critics hardly knew what to make of poems that violated the very essence of the classical mode then prevalent. This classical mode was based on the idea of decorum which required poets to write poetry only on a suitably lofty theme using equally lofty style. The focus on versification was for the poet to rhapsodize on things themselves and underlying all this was a core of reason and logic. Wordsworth and Coleridge were audacious enough to try to change not only the rules of the art but the art itself. They sought to move the center of interest from the subject to the poet. Whatever the poet may envision, the subject had to share center stage with nature and the poet's experiencing of the interplay of the three.

To make this shift from objective subject to subjective experience, Wordsworth and Coleridge had the daunting task to redefine the previously held parameters that linked the two. Where poetry had once been the domain of the wealthy and the high-born, they sought to democratize the process by zeroing in on the other end of the political and social order: the poor, the low-born, the mental defective, and the innocent child. Wordsworth especially personified nature as a sentient background upon which his rustic subjects lived and breathed. A man, a child, a tree, or a flower all were but starting points in a poem. During the course of the poem, Wordsworth's subject would unexpectedly expand into a vast cosmic panorama. "Incidents from common life" became a mantra both in the Preface and in the poems proper. The more humble were the subjects, the more palpable the connection between poet and reader. Once Wordsworth had chosen his subject, he then used a "language really used by men." This language was to be rendered devoid of the typical ornaments of 18th century poetry. Nearly the entire range of poetic tropes and elaborate figures of speech was to be reduced to the bare minimum. One of the weaknesses in Wordsworth's logic was his overly vague use of the phrase "the language really used by men." He probably did not mean to imply that such rural usage had to include grammatical inconsistencies, redundancies, obscenities, and slang, all of which undoubtedly typified the true rural vernacular of the time. Wordsworth's human subjects were more often depicted as acting or simply being rather than speaking, but when they did speak, they use reasonably correct if colorful phrasing. Very likely, he meant to contrast the stilted and excessively flowery speech patterns of a previous generation of poetic speakers with the more verbally subdued subjects of his verse. Further, Wordsworth was guilty of several of the same charges he leveled at his predecessors. His own language all too often tilted toward the elaborately crafted fine tones worthy of Pope. This tendency toward his own use of poetic excessive is nowhere more evident than in the many passages where he waxes philosophically in language that is far removed from the language of men.

There are other areas where Wordsworth is self-contradictory. In one paragraph, he declares that there is very little difference between poetry and prose yet he defends his use of writing in verse partly because meter has the effect of rendering a passage "regular and uniform." He seems to say that meter does indeed have its uses but that its very presence does not distinguish verse from prose. Wordsworth also criticizes the form and structure of a previous generation's use of classical poetic architectonics, yet he makes more than a little use of the 18th century tendency to express the poetic imagination via an idealization of a thoroughly grounded concept. In Wordsworth's defense, however, though he may have borrowed liberally from certain core concepts of what he perceived to be an enervating mode of verse, his intention was to blaze a new path of thought that would permit the language of poetry to resound in the ears of more than the poet and his high-born circle of friends. Wordsworth's Preface, then, is his attempt to express a faith, however contradictory it may in spots be, that would for the first time link the trio of poet, reader, and subject in a way that even today has significance.

Wordsworth and Coleridge's 'Lyrical Ballads' was revolutionary at the time of publication, and remains one of the most important volumes in the history of English Literature. The volume contains Coleridge's famous 'Ancient Mariner', as well as popular Wordsworth pieces such as 'Tintern Abbey' and 'Michael'.

A first time reader may not quite understand what all the fuss us about, as some of Wordsworth's pieces can seem facile and at times banal, something contemporary critics savaged him for. To truly grasp the spirit of the volume the reader must take time to absorb Wordsworth's 'Advertisment' in which he outlines the 'experimental' nature of the volume, as a reaction against the the artificiality and 'innane phraseology' of the majority of popular poetry at the time.

Wordsworth uses simple language to produce intimate sketches of ordinary people: a humble begger, an idiot boy, or the female vagrant, and he does so with great sensitivity and feeling, showing us that compassion and feeling of the simplest people makes them as worthy as any privileged man. No reader will soon forget the Lucy poems, in which the narrator recalls a girl he once loved, and mourns her tragic early death. Whether Lucy was ever a real person, let alone an object of Wordsworth's affection however is another matter.

There are weak links in the collection such as 'Lines Written in Early Spring', which could be justifiably labelled 'namby-pamby' (a term Byron used to describe a certain type of Wordsworth poem). However, the most impressive piece in the whole collection must be Tintern Abbey, a poem which could never be labelled facile or 'namby pamby', it is a spiritual, philosophical, and profoundly moving poem rich with memorably powerful turns of phrase and an intoxicating pslamic quality. Tintern Abbey may very well sum-up Wordsworth's entire enterprise better than any other poem he penned. Study and understand 'Tintern Abbey' and you understand Wordsworth. As for Coleridge's 'Mariner', although it is an enchanting and strikingly original work, I share Wordsworth's assertion that it's character is somewhat at odds with the spirit of the collection.

This edition is the finest you will find anywhere. It contains both the 1798 and 1800 editions, while including extensive supporting material. A real must-have for anyone interested in English Poetry.