Wordsworth's poetics

In the preface, Wordsworth's poetics mainly involves the following issues: First, the theme of poetry. Wordsworth thinks that "the theme is really important." In this regard, he called for breaking through the "norms" of classicism and shifting the aesthetic object from the court to the people, and from the city to the mountains, rivers and lakes. He advocates "choosing the events and plots of daily life", and in this choice, he "usually chooses the humble rural life as the theme" because "in this life, our basic emotions coexist in a purer state" and "people's enthusiasm is integrated with the beauty of nature and the permanent form". Secondly, it is about the language of poetry. Wordsworth advocates that poetry should be "described or narrated from beginning to end in the language that people really use". The "people" mentioned here refer to the lower class people in rural areas, or people who live a "humble pastoral life", because their language comes from "the most beautiful external things" and is closely related to the beautiful nature. Third, about the essence of poetry. First of all, what is poetry? Wordsworth believes that "poetry is the essence of all knowledge and a strong expression of the face of the whole science". Poetry is the beginning and end of all knowledge-it is as immortal as human thought. Here, Wordsworth connects poetry with knowledge, that is, human reason, and also with human emotion, and puts more emphasis on the latter. So his definition of poetry is: "Poetry is a natural expression of strong feelings." Secondly, what is the purpose of poetry? In this regard, Wordsworth discussed it from two aspects: rationality and pleasure. He believes that "the purpose of poetry lies in truth ... universal and effective truth"; At the same time, it is believed that poetry "must directly give people pleasure", "with cheerful enthusiasm" and "convey the truth to readers" In other words, poetry aims at truth, goodness and beauty, but it achieves this goal through beauty. Finally, Wordsworth explained the poet's special talent in the preface. He believes that the key to a poet's difference from ordinary people is that he can think and feel faster than others without direct external stimulation, and he is more capable of expressing his inner thoughts and feelings than others. In other words, poets are more imaginative and expressive than ordinary people. This emphasis on the poet's imagination can be said to be the core of English romantic poetics.