WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

-Born in Cumberland in the English Lake District in 1770

-1790 he had been in a walking tour of France and the Alps : this experience in the
revolutionary France led him to believe in democratic ideals, but the destructive
develepoments of the Revolution and the declaration of war between England and
France (1793) caused him a nervous breakdown.

-1795 he met SAMUEL COLERIDGE : their friendship has been fundamental to the
development of English Romantic poetry. They produced a collection of poems
called LYRICAL BALLADS in 1798. The second edition also contained Wordsworth’s
famouse PREFACE, which became the Manifesto of English Romanticism.

-he is also famous for his LUCY POEMS, a series of 5 poems.

-1805 he finished his masterpiece THE PRELUDE, a long autobiographical poem in 14

books.

-1850 he died

The Manifesto of English Romanticism

-Wordsworth claims that POETRY is a SOLITARY ACT, whose origin lies in the
ORDINARY and not in the EXTRAORDINARY.

-while planning the LYIRICAL BALLADS with Coleridge they decided that he would
deal with MAN, NATURE and EVERYDAY THINGS, while Coleridge should write about
the SUPERNATURAL and MISTERY making them seem real

-In his PREFACE Wordsworth explaines that poetry should deal with EVERYDAY
SITUATIONS and ORDINARY PEOPLE, so the LANGUAGE has to be SIMPLE and NOT
ELEVATED and ARTIFICIAL (“POETIC DICTION”) : that’s his strongest objection to
18th century poetry.

-POET is a MAN AMONG MEN, so has to write about what interests mankind
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND NATURE
-Wordsworth shared rousseau's faith in the goodness of nature as well as in the
excellence of the child.

-in his poetry he focuses on the COMPLEX INTERACTION BETWEEN MAN AND
NATURE : for ex. when a natural object is described, the main focus of interest is
asctually the poet’s response to that object.

-he believes that MAN AND NATURE ARE INSEPARABLE; man is an active participant
of the natural world.

-NATURE IS A SOURCE OF JOY AND PLEASURE, it comforts man and teaches him how
to love and to act in a moral way.

The importance of the senses and the memory

-NATURE is also a WORLD OF SENSE AND PERCEPTIONS and he used especially the
sensibility of the eye and ear. He belevies that our moral character develops during
childhood as a result of the pleasure and pain caused by our physical experiences,
while MEMORY is a MAJOR FORCE in the process of growth of the poet’s mind and
moral character.

DAFFODILS (1804)
This is one of the Wordsworth’s most famous poem : here he conveys his love for
nature. This poem is about the experience of a walk that the poet went for with his
sister Dorothy, near their home in the Lake District.

-FIRST STANZA : the poet was wandering alone as a cloud that floats over vales and
hills when he suddenly saw a crowd of golden daffodils, beside the lake.

-SECOND STANZA : the poet associates the flowers to the stars that shine and
twinkle on the milky way, he saw 10 thousand of them along the bay, which of
course is not possibile.

-THIRD STANZA : the waves beside them danced but they were more sparkling then
them in glee, so the poet felt really glad and pleased. He was enjoying the show
without thinking about what wealth it had brought to him.
-FOURTH STANZA : the result of this experience is that when the poet lies on the
couch in pensive/thoughtful mood, the daffodils appear upon that inward eye and
then his heart is filled with joy.

Samuel Coleridge
Life and works
-born in Devonshire in 1772

-recevied an excellent education in the CLASSICS and he was heavily influenced by

French rivolutionary ideals, which made him an enthusiastic republican.

-1795 met Wordsworth and an important COLLABORATION between the two poets
started and most of Coleridge’s best poetry was written in these years : THE RIME
OF THE ANCIENT MARINER (is the first poem of the collection LYRICAL BALLADS),
CHRISTABEL, KUBLA KHAN.

-in 1817 he produced BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA where he explained the dual task that
he and Wordsworth had in the LYRICAL BALLADE (while planning the LYIRICAL
BALLADS with Coleridge they decided that he would deal with MAN, NATURE and
EVERYDAY THINGS, while Coleridge should write about the SUPERNATURAL and
MISTERY making them seem real)

The importance of nature

-Coleridge didn’t view nature as a moral guide or a source of consolation and
happiness, therefore in his view nature is not a friend. Furthermore he didn’t
identify nature with the divine, in that form of pantheism which Wordsworth
adopted, because of his Christian faith.

-for Coleridge nature has an ESSENTIAL ROLE IN POETIC CREATIVITY because the
poet has to find natural symbols that could REFLECT HIS EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS,
so the poet is inspired by nature, he uses the shapes and colours of the nature to
represent and symbolise his emotions and mental states.

THE KILLING OF THE ALBATROSS

This passage is full of suspense from the first line. An old, lonely Mariner, appears
from nowhere and forces one in a group of three people, who were on their way to
a wedding party, to listen to his story : it’s about a sea voyage, which soon turns out
to be a voyage with no return because of the uncontrollable power of nature.