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"...the real language of men in a state of
vivid sensation..." (263). "The principle object, then, which I
proposed to myself in these poems was to choose incidents and situations
from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as
was possible, in a selection of language really used by men; and, at the
same time, to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination,
whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual
way; and, further, and above all, to make these incidents and situations
interesting by tracing in them, truly though not ostentatiously, the
primary laws of our nature: chiefly, as far as regards the manner in
which we associate ideas in a state of excitement. Low and rustic
life was generally chosen, because in that condition, the essential
passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their
maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more
emphatic language; because in that condition of life our elementary
feelings co-exist in a state of greater simplicity, and, consequently,
may be more accurately contemplated, and more forcibly communicated;
because the manners of rural life germinate from those elementary
feelings; and, from the necessary character of rural occupations, are
more easily comprehended; and are more durable; and lastly, because in
that condition the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful
and permanent forms of nature" (264-265). "For all good poetry is the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings:
but though this be true, poems to which any value can be attached, were
never produced on any varity of subjects but by a man who, being
possessed of more than usual organic sensibility, had also thought long
and deeply" (265). "...the fluxes and refluxes of the mind
when agitated by the great and simple affections of our nature" (265-266). "For a multitude of causes, unknown to
former times, are now acting with a combined force to blunt the
discriminating powers of the mind, and, unfitting it for all voluntary
exertion, to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor. The most effective
of these causes are the great national events which are daily taking
place, and the increasing accumulation of men in cities, where the
uniformity of their occupations produces a craving for extraordinary
incident, which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly
gratifies...When I think upon this degrading thirst after outrageous
stimulation, I am almost ashamed to have spoken of the feeble effort
with which I have endevoured to counteract it, and, reflecting upon the
magnitude of the general evil, I should be oppressed with no
dishonorable melancholy, had I not a deep impression of certain inherent
and indestructible qualities of the human mind..." (266). "I have wished to keep my reader in the
company of flesh and blood..." (267). "...a large portion of the language of
every good poem can in no respect differ from that of good
prose...[Prose and poetry] both speak by and to the same organs; the
bodies in which both of them are clothed may be said to be of the saame
substance, their affections are kindred and almost identitcal, not
necessarily differing even in degree; poetry sheds no tears 'such as
Angels weep,' but natural and human tears..." (268-269). "...it is impossible for the poet to
produce upon all occasions language as exquisitely fitted for the
passion as that which the real passion itself suggests, it is proper
that he should consider himself as in the situation of a translator..." (270). The object of poetry "is truth, not
individual and local, but general, and operative; not standing upon
external testimony, but carried alive into the heart by passion; truth
which is its own testimony..." (270). "Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of
all knowledge...Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge—it
is as immortal as the heart of man" (271).
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