William Wordsworth
I. “Preface” to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads
(1800)
A. Poetry is “the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feeling.”
B. The emotion must be
“recollected in tranquility.”
II. “Tintern Abbey”
A. A “Descriptive/Meditative” poem on the
effects of Nature on Man.
B. Two-part Structure
l. The effects of Nature:
a. Physically--The beauty of
direct, sensual experience.
b. Morally--We empathize with
others.
c. Metaphysically--we become
one with Nature