The author of the preface to the collection of lyrical ballads is

Wordsworth.

Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England. He graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge University. He was a British romantic poet and was once the poet laureate. Wordsworth's poetic theory shook the dominance of British classical poetics and effectively promoted the innovation of British poetry and the development of the Romantic movement. One of the most important English poets since the Renaissance.