He claims that he decided to write this preface because some of his friends encouraged him to, saying the volume should include “a systematic defence of the theory upon which the poems were written”, in the belief it would contribute to the success of the book. He refers to his collaboration with Coleridge (referred to her only as “a friend”), which he entered into because he wanted to have some variety in the volume, but still Coleridge’s views on poetry and consequently his style were the same as Wordsworth’s. He hoped that the effect of the volume on its readers would be very decided: they would either love it or hate it, and he is happy to say that the former were in majority. Wordsworth thought about it as an experiment which could show how far poetry is capable of being written in “the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation”. It begins with some polite references to the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. It is considered widely to be the most important theoretical text of English Romanticism, but like with many texts of Wordsworth, I struggle to feel very enthusiastic about reading it. Today I start reading the fragments from the “Preface” to Lyrical Ballads, a long theoretical text which Wordsworth added to the second edition of the volume and expanded for its third edition reprinted in the NAEL. James Joyce – “Ulyss… on James Joyce – “The… James Joyce – “Ulyss… on James Joyce – “Ulysses” (“Lest… James Joyce – “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” (ctd.).
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