WORDSWORTH’S DEFINITION OF POETRY

WORDSWORTH’S DEFINITION OF POETRY

“I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquillity; the emotion is contemplated till, by a series of reaction, tranquillity disappears and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced and does itself actually exist in the mind. In this mood, successful composition generally begins, and in a mood similar to that it is carried; but the emotion, of whatever kind and whatever degree from various causes is qualified by various pleasures so that in describing and passions whatever, which are voluntarily described, the mind will, upon the whole, be in a state of enjoyment a being so employed, the Poet ought to profit by the lesson held forth to him, and ought specially to take care, that, whatever passions he communicates to his Reader, these passions, if his Reader’s mind be sound and vigorous, should always be accompanied by an overbalance of pleasures.”

NOTES ON WORDSWORTH’S DEFINITION OF POETRY

According to Wordsworth:
POETRY is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”

He suggests that writing such a sophisticated art as poetry is a matter of the heart, not the mind: of emotion and not reason.
The writing process goes through a series of phases which are obligatory and cannot be replaced nor missed. The process starts with observation and ends up with developing a fixed emotion which is good enough for writing.
Wordsworth also suggests a kind of pleasure in both writing and reading. He believes a poet must enjoy the process and do it at will; if forced, the results (if there were any) would not be pleasing.
It is interesting to notice that Wordsworth called for equality, yet HE did not believe people were equal in talent. He classified people into good poets, bad poets, good readers and bad readers. The good poet (or the Poet) is the perfect observer of life who has talent good enough to convey the message(s) he learned to the good reader (or the Reader). The Reader is the audience with the proper talent and experience to understand the message conveyed.
Thus, poetry should be composed for a purpose though the composition and reading should be accompanied by a certain amount of pleasure.