Quotations

by Wordsworth

It has been said that each of these poems has a purpose. Another circumstance must be mentioned which distinguishes these Poems from the popular Poetry of the day; it is this, that the feeling therein developed gives importance to the action and situation, and not the action and situation to the feeling.
—— from the preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800)

The earliest poets of all nations generally wrote from passion excited by real events; they wrote naturally, and as men: feeling powerfully as they did, their language was daring, and figurative.
—— from the appendix to Lyrical Ballads (1802)

about Wordsworth

When Wordsworth tries to write according to his theories, the result is nearly always flat: to write well, he has to forget them.
—— W. H. Auden, Forewords and Afterwords

He strides so before you, that he dwindles in the distance.
——Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Separate from the the pleasure of your company, I don't much care if I never see another mountain in my life.
——Charles Lamb, letter to Wordsworth, 30 January 1801

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