Romanticism vs. Neoclassicism Theme Analysis

The “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads” is, at its core, a manifesto of the Romantic movement. Wordsworth uses this essay to declare the tenets of Romantic poetry, which has distinctly different preoccupations from the Neoclassical poetry of the preceding period. The Neoclassical poets emphasized intellectualism over emotion, society, didacticism, formality, and stylistic rigidity. The last stage of Neoclassicism, before the onset of Romanticism, is known as the Age of Johnson. In this last stage, writers attempted to break from the classical tradition through gestures like incorporating nature and melancholy, but were, in Wordsworth’s eyes, unsuccessful. Wordsworth proposes something more revolutionary in his “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads”: emotion and imagination over intellectualism, nature over society, simple forms of expression, and the stylistic liberty of the poet. Through his “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads,” Wordsworth argues that it’s time for a new kind of poetry—one that can revive humankind to be emotionally alive and morally sensitive—which he hopes to catalyze with his own ballads.

Wordsworth sees great harm in the poetry of the Age of Johnson. The poets of this age have attempted to break from Neoclassicism, but their poetry displays an unforgivable insensitivity and sensationalism. Wordsworth notes that there appears to be “a craving for extraordinary incident” among the general public for his time, and “the literature and theatrical exhibitions of the country have conformed themselves” to this taste: “The invaluable works of our elder writers […] are driven into neglect by frantic novels, sickly and stupid German tragedies, and deluges of idle and extravagant stories in verse.” Writers from the Age of Johnson have attempted to incorporate certain characteristics of Romanticism but have created works that are overwrought and lacking in insight. From Wordsworth’s critique of these writers, readers of the “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads” can infer that Wordsworth believes writers should be sensitive to emotions but should not dramatize these emotions so that they become artificial.

Nevertheless, the decline of literature has not led Wordsworth to be hopeless. The poet declares, “I should be oppressed with no dishonorable melancholy, had I not a deep impression of certain inherent and indestructible qualities of the human mind, and likewise of certain powers in the great and permanent objects that act upon it which are equally inherent and indestructible.” In other words, Wordsworth believes that the decline from the Age of Johnson can be counteracted by “certain powers” that can revive the human mind—namely, the powers of Romanticism. Wordsworth wishes to guide his readers to the “fluxes and refluxes of the mind when agitated by the great and simple affections of our nature,” to guide his readers back to their natural sensitivity.

In the introductory paragraphs of the “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads,” Wordsworth declares that by publishing the Lyrical Ballads four years ago in 1798, he was conducting an experiment to see if people would accept a new class of poetry. Since these poems were well-received, Wordsworth decided to write the “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads” to give readers insight into why he wrote such experimental poems. In these poems, Wordsworth has attempted to “[fit] to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation.” By writing these poems, Wordsworth intends not only to impart pleasure, but also to produce a class of poetry “well adapted to interest mankind permanently, and not unimportant in the multiplicity, and in the quality of its moral relations.” From this, readers can see that Wordsworth had two main goals in mind: 1) to create poems that appeal not only to well-educated readers but also to the “multiplicity,” or general public, and 2) to have these poems be relevant to humanity’s “moral relations,” inspiring readers to have humane conduct. Aware that his poems are “so materially different from those upon which general approbation is at present bestowed”—in other words, the poetry that is popular at the time of his writing—Wordsworth emphasizes that his poetic digression from Neoclassicism is not the product “of an indolence which prevents him from endeavouring to ascertain what is his duty.” Instead, Wordsworth wants to exclude “certain classes of ideas and expressions” in Neoclassical poetry that, to him, are demonstrate an artificial “gaudiness and inane phraseology.” Wordsworth emphasizes that his decision to write in a simpler, less-rigid style than the Neoclassicists does not arise from laziness, but from dislike for their lofty phrases. Wordsworth finds the Neoclassical style to be too flashy and rather senseless.

Neoclassicism, in its dedication to intellectualism and other lofty ideas, seems heartless to Wordsworth. Poets in the Age of Johnson who attempted to diverge from earlier classes of Neoclassicism failed to produce better literature and instead fell into the trap of sensationalism. Romanticism is something wholly revolutionary, and, according to Wordsworth, has the potential to revive the public back to sensitivity.