Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Before Wordsworth made bodily senses and sensations, more critical few poets used
these elements as central in their practices and poetic theory. Wordsworth's renowned 'explore' in
artistic language, as explained at the start of the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, is considered as a
dare to grant pleasure. “by fitting to a metrical arrangement, a selection of the real language of
men in a state of vivid sensation” (LB, 741). According to Wordsworth, the evocation of sense
and representation is central in his poetic work in three yet related ways. Wordsworth
emphasizes that poetry is much concerned with elevated expression of excitement what he refers
to as vivid sensation. That can either be in the lyrics speaker or of the character used or even
both. Secondly, he posits that the representation of poetic is designed in a way to produce
communicates vivid sensations by either lowering or raising as per the poet’s purpose.
overbalance of pleasure on the following basis. Such a suggestion is not entirely correct or true
based on my school of thought. This is because upholding such believe Wordsworth denies that
poetry does not have meaning or theme that it communicates to the audience other than pleasure
and excitement. Yes, it is true poems are pleasurable and entertaining. Poetry is more complex
and intricate than merely entertaining. To posits that poetry is just a medium to entertain and
convey pleasure is biased and unfair to poets. This denies the meaning and purpose of the poet.
Poetry is not about syntax. It more than language and caries meaning and themes. Human brains
are distinct; thus, they differ from one person to another, and hence, the neurons responsible for
excitement and pleasure varies from one person to another; besides, these neurons are separate
from those that generate sensation. Thus, poetry does not have a universal objective as
Wordsworth posits to some people; poetry is life. For instance, a teacher teaching poetry to
students don’t get entertainment from the poems such a teacher reads poems to find meaning and
themes. I believe pleasure and excitements are second class sensations and are an afterthought to
the real motivator. In other words, excitement and pleasure are behavioral rewards, and hence,
poetry can be said to be pleasurable and exciting to the poet, not to the audience.
Work cited
Lionel Trilling, “The Fate of Pleasure,” in The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent: Selected
Essays, ed. Leon Wieseltier (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2000), 427-449.