NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT: BS ENG

5th SEMESTER (MORNING)

SECTION (B)

SUBMITED TO: DR SHAZIA ROSE

SUBMITTED BY: MUHAMMAD ASAD

ROLL NO: 19556

William Wordsworth in Theory and Practice: A Critique of “London 1802”

The era of the Eighteenth century marks the severe changes in the social fabric of the then
society, political upheavals like the American and French revolutions, and significant alteration
of the philosophical Schools of thought. Towards the end of it, a paradigm shift occurred in art
and literature, particularly. The Eighteenth century’s authority of neo-classicism and reason
encountered the emphasis on intuition and emotions by the emerging nineteenth century. It dealt
with the world as if it was a living organism while the rationalistic approach of the Eighteenth
century perceived the world as a great machine and thus valued the empirical and rational
worldview. Moreover, the nineteenth century sought to find the truth by diving into one’s
transcendental nature. This paradigm shift from reason to emotions and from an empirical and
rational point of view to the humanistic worldview produced poets like Williams Wordsworth
who challenged the authority of neo-classicism and put emphasis on the soul or substance of the
poetry.

Though Wordsworth was primarily a poet and not a critic, Wordsworth’s criticism is of
prominent significance. As at that time, Critics were mostly concerned with the outward form
and structure of poetry and looked at poetry through the lenses devised by the figures of the
classical era like Aristotle. Wordsworth was the first to talk about the soul of poetry and
proposed a theory that incorporated the creative process of producing poetry. He took into
account the importance of experiment, liberty, innovative traits of imagination, and spontaneity
of feelings. He was the harbinger of Romanticism in the English literary movement. His “Lyrical
Ballads” manifests the foundations of Romanticism and in its second edition, he included the
famous “Preface” which is considered to be the main work of Romantic literary theory and a new
framework for English literary criticism.

In his theory, the proposal of Wordsworth seemed two-fold, and he intended to relate poetry
to the common life by demolishing the traits of fantasy in the first place, and by changing the
emphasis from form and structure to spontaneity and feelings, in the second place. He also took
into consideration the subject matter and language of poetry and argues that poets must portray
common life and employ a language that is commonly used by people.

As Scott James says:

 “He (Wordsworth) discards Aristotelian doctrine. For him, the plot, or situation, is not the first
thing. It is the feeling that matters.”

Wordsworth stressed on the purpose of poetry and he stated that poetry must achieve
something positive and from being positive he does not mean something ethical as proposed by
Plato and other classical critics but something psychological. He deviated from the classical
thought that poetry should both “teach” and “delight” and argued that poetry should manifest
feelings and emotions whether or not it teaches and instruct its readers. However, he put forward
the notion that poetry teaches and instructs indirectly by letting the emotions flow spontaneously,
hence, purifying and uplifting the soul. Though Wordsworth left only a small body of criticism,
it is rich in suggestions and personal insights.

Above are the prominent postulates of his literary theory and in his poetry, he seems to install
these postulates. In one of his prominent poems, “London 1802”, he seeks to pursue his theory.
This poem is a sonnet that was published in 1807. He seems to appreciate history and idealize the
past. Since, Wordsworth, like many other romantic poets worshipped Milton and his poetry, the
poem, in particular, exhibits similarities with another Wordsworth’s poem “The World Is Too
Much With Us”, in which he expresses disastrous effects of the Industrial Revolution on
England. This poem portrays the poet’s love for Milton and England where he addresses the soul
of Milton and urges him to come back in this moment, for England needs him. He laments the
fact that England has become stagnant and selfish due to industrialization. He wants Milton to
come back and teach the virtue of freedom and manners to the people of England. For the poet,
Milton was like a star and a beacon of hope, his voice was, like a sea, powerful and influential,
and he possesses, according to the poet, a kind of moral perfection. Wordsworth sees Milton as
an individual who stood apart from the crowd and indirectly mourns the loss of people’s sense of
individuality at the hands of materialism and modernity.

“London 1802” is written in Italian sonnet form known as “Petrarchan sonnet”, named after
the Italian poet Petrarch. This kind of sonnet divides the 14 lines into two sections: an eight-line
stanza (octave) that rhymes ABBAABBA, and a six-line stanza (sestet) that goes CDCDCD or
CDECDE. Moreover, major themes of the poem include man and nature, technology and
industrialization, and sadness.
 In this poem of Wordsworth, he seems to follow the postulates of his theory but at some
junctures, it seems like he deviates from his own theory. In theory, he put emphasis on deviation
from neo-classicism yet he followed the traditional sonnet style which has been employed by the
poets of the classical era. He does not introduce any new modern form but utilizes the classical
Petrarchan sonnet. Some examples of this sonnet form include classical works like John Milton’s
“When I Consider How my Light Is Spent” and John Donne’s “If Poisonous Minerals, and If
That Tree.” Furthermore, Wordsworth argues in his theory that the language of poetry should be
common and not flowery but in practice, he incorporates flowery and lofty words, for example,
in his poem “the world is too much with us “ he employs words like stagnant waters”,
“forfeited”, “wreathed horn”, etc.

Other shortcomings include the references to the past like in the starting lines of the poem
“London 1802”, he cries out for Milton to come back which shows his idealization of the past
and classic era but in theory, he wants the poets to deviate from the attributes of Classical era.
Similarly, in his other poem “The world is too much with us” he refers to the pagan beliefs of
Greeks and their Gods namely “Proteus” and “Triton” which is against in contrast to his theory
where he proposes to not refer to antiquity and draw inspiration from the contemporary world.

In a nutshell, Wordsworth’s views are open to criticism. There are shortcomings that depict
the difference between the theory and practice of William Wordsworth. Critics have criticized
the differences and picked holes in his theory but there is no doubt in the fact that his theory
altered the course of English literary criticism and gave new ways and vistas to the literary
movement. Wordsworth told his readers that the “Lyrical ballads” including its famous “preface”
was an experiment and in this way, he reminded his readers of the fact that, primarily, he was a
poet and not a critic.