In 1798, Wordsworth and Coleridge joined together to publish the first edition

of
Lyrical Ballads
, and mutually arose various theories which Wordsworth embodied
in his “
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
” and tried to put into practice in his poems.Coleridge claimed credit for these
theories and said they were “half the child of his brain”. But later on, his views
were changed; he no longer agreed with
Wordsworth’s theories and so criticized them.
Wordsworth was primarily a poet who had to become a critic by necessity.
Thenew experiment which he had made in the
Lyrical Ballads
(1798) called forth asystematic defense of the theory upon which the poems
were written. Wordsworth protested against the traditions and usages set up by
the pseudo-classical schoolduring the 18th century. His views about the
language which was to be employedin poetry raised a storm of protest against
him even by such a close friend asColeridge. In his
“
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
”,
Wordsworth made threeimportant statements all of which have been criticized
by Coleridge.
Firstly,
the proper subjects of poetry are incidents, situations and characters takenfrom
low and rustic life as it sets up powerful emotions in the mind of the poet.
Intheir condition of life the elementary passions and emotions find a clearer and
freerexpression, for they are not repressed by conventions, as is the case with
moresophisticated people. They can be observed more clearly and expressed
moreaccurately. The poet must deal with such simple subjects with "A certain
coloringof imagination whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind
in anunusual way."
Secondly,
Wordsworth asserts that poetry ought to be written in the
"languagereally spoken by men
”,
which would accentuate the emotive power of the works bygiving them more
authenticity. The poetic language of the eighteenth century wasunreal, and its
substance was far from being an interpretation of man. Wordsworthsaid that
rustic life and language were the simplest and purest being elementary, inclose
touch with nature, and unspoiled by social vanity.
Thirdly
,Wordsworth denied that there should be such a thing as diction specific
to poetry .To begin, poetic diction must be defined. Poetic diction refers to the
styleof writing used in poetry (the linguistic style, vocabulary, and use of
figurativelanguage - that is metaphors). He thought that artificial poetic diction
used bymany writers obscured the sentiment and feeling that ought to be the
focus of poetry. Wordsworth thought the diction of prose and the diction of
poetry should be the same.There is no essential difference between the words
used in prose andin poetry composition. Words of prose and poetry are
not clearly demarcated, so

that words which can be used in prose can find place in poetry and vice versa.
“
What Wordsworth means is that the words used in conversation, if they
are properly selected, would provide the rough frame-work of the language of
poetry.When the poet is truly inspired, his imagination will enable him to
select from thelanguage really used by men
”
. Actually, He wanted poetry to speak to all, thatcomplete adherence to poetic
diction needed to be dropped. Perhaps the best wayto illustrate Wordsworth's
point on the elimination of poetic diction;
“
There willalso be found in these volumes little of what is usually called poetic
diction; I havetaken as much pains to avoid it as others ordinarily take to
produce it;.
”

Though Wordsworth and Coleridge had been joint authors of the

Lyrical Ballads
,Coleridge differed from Wordsworth on some fundamental points. He wanted
toclarify his own position. Seventeen years after the publication of the Preface,
hetook up Wordsworth's theory and analyzed it part by part in his
“
Biographia Literaria
”
.
Coleridge wanted to correct Wordsworth's views about the language of
poetry being "the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation" and also
about thesuitability of "the incidents of common life". He did not accept
Wordsworth'stheory that the ideal language of poetry is 'the natural conversation
of men under
the influence of natural feeling’. As
 to the falseness and artificiality of much of theneoclassical verse, Coleridge
was incomplete agreement with Wordsworth. He alsosaid that only on the
ground of differing from the language of real life a poemcannot be condemned.
Nor could he accept Wordsworth's contention that
'thereneither is, nor can be, any essential difference between the language
of prose andmetrical composition'
. He says that this rule may be applicable only to certainclasses of poetry and it
need not be practiced as a rule.
As regards the first statement
, i.e. the choice of rustic characters and life,Coleridge points out, first, that not
all Wordsworth characters are rustic. Charactersin poems like Ruth, Michael,
The Brothers, are not low and rustic. Secondly, theirlanguage and sentiments do
not necessarily arise from their abode or occupation.They are attributable to
causes of their similar sentiments and language, even ifthey have different
abode or occupation. In the opinion of Coleridge, a man willnot be benefited
from a life in rural solitudes unless he has natural sensibility andsuitable
education. In the absence of these advantages, the mind hardens and a man
grows, ‘selfish, sensual, gross and hard hearted’.

As regards the second statement of Wordsworth

, he denied Wordsworth's mainview that a special virtue lies in the language of
those who are in close touch with

nature.
Coleridge attacks Wordsworth’s assumption
that “the shepherd
-farmers in
the vales of Cumberland and Westmoreland”
got their language from being closeto nature. He said that they probably picked
it up from
“religious
education, whichhas rendered few books familiar, but the Bible and the liturgy
or hymn book”
.
Coleridge asserts that, unlike Wordsworth, he did not believe every man

is likely to be improved by a country life or by country labor. He also shows his

disagreement
with Wordsworth’s view

'that from the objects with which the rustic hourlycommunicates the best part of
language is formed.'
His first objection to thisstatement is that the uneducated rustic "
would furnish a very scanty vocabulary"
.The rural conditions of life do not require any reflection; hence the vocabulary
ofthe rustics is poor. They can express only the barest facts of nature and
not theideas and thoughts which results from their reflection. Secondly, he
denies that thewords and their combinations, derived from the objects with
which the rustic isfamiliar, can be justly said to form the best part of
language .Coleridgeemphatically says,
the best part of a man’s language does not result merely from
communication with nature, but from education, from the mind of noble
thoughtsand ideas. In fact, plain rustic language is so deficient that
the missionaries who preach to the rural folk find it difficult to convey moral
and spiritual ideas entirelyin their vocabulary. Moreover, even in rural language
the best elements havefiltered down to it from the church and Bible.
Wordsworth asserts that the language of poetry is, “a
selection
of the
real
languageof men. Therefore he adds that the language of the common men
should be"
purified indeed from what appear to be its real defects, from all lasting
andrational causes of dislike or disgust."
Now Coleridge's contention is that when thelanguage of the common men
has been so purified and corrected and improvedupon, it no longer remains the
language of the common men as really used bythem. Therefore there is no
rational point in this part of his theory of language.Moreover, all the major
poems of Wordsworth himself are written in a languagewhich common men
would even hardly understand.Again, in chapter XVII, Coleridge
attacks Wordsworth’s
use of the term
"reallanguage o f men."
According to Coleridge, such a generalization cannot exist, formen are
individuals by nature.
Coleridge objects to Wordsworth’s use of the
words
, ‘very’
or
‘real’
and suggests that
‘ordinary’
or
‘generally’
should have beenused .He retorts that:
‘Every man’s language’ varies according to the extent of hisknowledge, the
activity of his faculties, and the depth or quickness of his feelings.’

Every man’s language has, first, its individual peculiarities; secondly, the
properties common to his class; and thirdly, words and phrases of universal use.
‘No two men of the same class or of different classes speak alike, although both
use words and phrases common to them all, because in the one case their
natures

are different and on the other their classes are different.’

The language varies from
person to person, class to class, place to place. Wordsworth’s addition of
thewords, “in a state of excitement”, is meaningless, for emotional excitement
may
result in a more intense expression, but it cannot create a noble
and richervocabulary. Furthermore, he is attributing acts of the imagination to
educated men,or in this case, those who possess poetic genius. What is apparent
is that thelanguage of poetry undoubtedly comes from the imagination. The way
the poet perceives the world and, to use Wordsworth's term, translates it for
everyone else isan act of the imagination.
Lastly,

To Wordsworth’s argum
ent about having no essential difference betweenthe language of poetry and
prose, Coleridge replies that there is and there ought to be, an
essential difference between both the languages and gives numerous reasonsto
support his view. First, language is both a matter and the arrangement
of words.Words both in prose and poetry may be the same but their arrangement
is different.This difference arises from the fact that the poetry uses metre and
metre requires adifferent arrangement of words. Metre is not a mere superficial
decoration, but anessential organic part of a poem. Even the metaphors and
similes used by a poetare different in quality and frequency from prose. Further,
it cannot be confirmedthat the language of prose and poetry are identical and so
convertible. There may be certain lines or even passages which can be used both
in prose and poetry, butnot all. There are passages which will suit the one and
not the other.Thus Coleridge refutes
Wordsworth’s view
s on the themes and language of poetry
Bibliography:
--- Taylor ,C. S. Ed. M. H. Abrams. Vol. 2. (2002)
 Christabel
.New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 349-364.--- Taylor, C. S. Ed. M. H.
Abrams. Vol. 2 (2007)
Biographia Literaria.
NewYork: W. W. Norton & Company. 378-395.--- Wordsworth.W. Ed. M. H.
Abrams .Vol. 2 (2002) Preface to
Lyrical Ballads
. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 141