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mphoebeg's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
dee9401's review against another edition
4.0
As my interest in 19th century literature, especially the Romantics, has increased, I thought I should turn to one of the foundational works of Romantic movement. Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads sets the stage for a tactile and euphoric literature that embraced the world around it. It eschewed some of the loftier and abstract subjects of poetry and focused on the land and the people close to it. The edition I read includes both the original 1798 volume and the expanded, two-volume 1802 version. Fundamental to the 1802 edition is the Preface, originally added in 1800.
Wordsworth’s Preface is outstanding. He lays out the purpose of poetry and his thoughts on the what he and Coleridge are trying to convey with Lyrical Ballads. Fundamentally, Wordsworth writes that “poetry is the first and last of all knowledge– it is as immortal as the heart of man” (p. 107). He thinks that the poet has only one restriction, that he must give “immediate pleasure to a human Being possessed of that information which may be expected from him, not as a lawyer, a physician, a mariner, an astronomer or a natural philosopher, but as a Man” (p. 105). Wordsworth also tries to differentiate this collection from contemporary poetry. He writes that “the feeling therein developed gives importance to the action and situation, and not the action and situation to the feeling” (p. 99). With this, I think he means that feeling drives the action, it is active not passive. Our emotions drive our world, our actions within it and our understanding of it.
I liked both poets, even though Coleridge contributed only four poems. Coleridge’s content, meter and pacing are excellent. Wordsworth is wonderful for evoking something within me. Of Wordsworth’s pieces, I truly enjoyed “Goody Blake, and Harry Gill, A True Story”, “We Are Seven”, “The Last of the Flock”, “The Idiot Boy”, “The Complaint of a Forsaken Indian Woman”, “The Brothers, A Pastoral Poem”, “Lucy Gray”, “The Childless Father”, “The Old Cumberland Beggar” and “Michael, A Pastoral”. From Coleridge, I absolutely adored his 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in Seven Parts”.
I prefer the 1798 edition over the 1802 version of Lyrical Ballads. I think that the 1798 edition was more incisive, compact and visceral. I felt that there was too much in the latter edition, in that it seemed to dilute the impact of the original work. I certainly wasn’t happy with the changes to The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere effected in the 1802 rewrite “The Ancient Mariner, A Poet’s Reverie”. Coleridge updated the language with contemporary words, and while the original version was a little hard to read then (and certainly now), it was worth the effort, making it one of my favorite pieces in the collection.
Wordsworth’s Preface is outstanding. He lays out the purpose of poetry and his thoughts on the what he and Coleridge are trying to convey with Lyrical Ballads. Fundamentally, Wordsworth writes that “poetry is the first and last of all knowledge– it is as immortal as the heart of man” (p. 107). He thinks that the poet has only one restriction, that he must give “immediate pleasure to a human Being possessed of that information which may be expected from him, not as a lawyer, a physician, a mariner, an astronomer or a natural philosopher, but as a Man” (p. 105). Wordsworth also tries to differentiate this collection from contemporary poetry. He writes that “the feeling therein developed gives importance to the action and situation, and not the action and situation to the feeling” (p. 99). With this, I think he means that feeling drives the action, it is active not passive. Our emotions drive our world, our actions within it and our understanding of it.
I liked both poets, even though Coleridge contributed only four poems. Coleridge’s content, meter and pacing are excellent. Wordsworth is wonderful for evoking something within me. Of Wordsworth’s pieces, I truly enjoyed “Goody Blake, and Harry Gill, A True Story”, “We Are Seven”, “The Last of the Flock”, “The Idiot Boy”, “The Complaint of a Forsaken Indian Woman”, “The Brothers, A Pastoral Poem”, “Lucy Gray”, “The Childless Father”, “The Old Cumberland Beggar” and “Michael, A Pastoral”. From Coleridge, I absolutely adored his 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in Seven Parts”.
I prefer the 1798 edition over the 1802 version of Lyrical Ballads. I think that the 1798 edition was more incisive, compact and visceral. I felt that there was too much in the latter edition, in that it seemed to dilute the impact of the original work. I certainly wasn’t happy with the changes to The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere effected in the 1802 rewrite “The Ancient Mariner, A Poet’s Reverie”. Coleridge updated the language with contemporary words, and while the original version was a little hard to read then (and certainly now), it was worth the effort, making it one of my favorite pieces in the collection.
readingoverbreathing's review against another edition
3.0
"In spite of difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs, in spite of things silently gone out of mind and things violently destroyed, the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time."
a random yahoo answers post i came across said it best when it said "as with all wordsworth poems, they are never really about nature, they're always just about him!"
allofmyfriendsarebooks's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not really a fan of Wordsworth's poetry at all. It's just not interesting to me. But the analyses of his poems DO yield some interesting insights into who he was, which was relatively interesting.
qedus's review against another edition
5.0
Alright, this work has made me change my mind; Wordsworth isn't overrated, he was freaking brilliant.
Calling him 'Turdsworth' will never stop being funny though.
Calling him 'Turdsworth' will never stop being funny though.
emmaghanem's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. Some of the poems were really cool, but others were just bland in my opinion.