Poetry

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Before writing the Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth had tried his hand at several other poems, although today we read such early poems as "An Evening Walk" and "Descriptive Sketches" mainly because they are interesting examples of a poet's work in the early stages of his development. These two examples of the early poetry show Wordsworth composing in the established tradition of eighteenth-century poetry. They are not really representative of the …

…making a return to the language really spoken by men. In defense of Wordsworth, however, it should be said that he quite probably meant not the actual words used in informal conversation but, rather, the idiom or rhythms of the spoken language. The reason for Wordsworth's being called "the Poet of the Democratic Idea" is in great measure evident in the "Preface," what with his stress on the great importance of humble personages and situations.