Concetti Chiave

  • The preface of Lyrical Ballad by Wordsworth explores the role of poets in the 18th century, emphasizing simplicity and spontaneity over classical complexity.
  • The creative process involves recalling past emotions in tranquility, allowing poets to relive and express intense feelings through their work.
  • The sonnet "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" highlights urban beauty with a natural setting, capturing a serene, smokeless morning atmosphere in September.
  • In "Daffodils," the poet's solitude is transformed by the joyful sight of daffodils, which he personifies and associates with stars and waves, illustrating nature's bliss.
  • The poem "Daffodils" shifts from past to present emotions, showcasing how revisiting past experiences can lead to new joy and creative expression.

• The preface of Lyrical Ballad

What was the role of the poet in the 18th century?

In the preface of Lyrical Ballad, written by Wordsworth (1798), is consider the role of poet and poetry during the 18 century and was defined the subject. The language was different, no artificiality and complex like the classics, but based on spontaneity and simplicity.

The creative procession was characterized by the recollection of the past emotion in tranquility. The poet in a state of astonishment can recapture a vision of a past natural landscape and the emotion that was generated with that landscape feeling it with the same intensity. So the poet feels joy therefore he can restart to write.

 The sonnet Ccomposed upon Westminster Bridge

The sonnet and urban beauty

The sonnet was imported from Italy, by poets of 16 century (Spencer, Shakespeare). The sonnet is made up 14 lines and give to poet the possibility to express his personal feelings and emotion.

• There was a natural setting. Nature was presented in her beauty, in the urban context during the month of September, when air was purest and uncontaminated.

• The time of the day was special: it’s smokeless because was early in the morning.

 A sense of purity

These was one of the few poem of Wordsworth where he wrote immediately, for the rest there are the emotion recollected in tranquility. London was personified like a beautiful woman.

Daffodils

The joy of nature in the daffodils

The poet was walking along a margin of a lake. He was in a mood of lonely, which was suddenly broken by the view of daffodils along the margin of the lake, under the trees.

he poet associated them with the stars, the weaves. All the elements, the flowers, the stars, the waves participate in the joy of nature and communicate a deep state of pleasure. He tell “a poet” because these one is not his feeling.

The poet describes a state of vacant and pensive, but also isolation. The first three stanza refers to the past, in the four there is a shift to the present. The lonely in the last stanza refers to the present, when he recapture the past emotion end overcome it by a new feel of joy. The result of this experience is the production of the poem.

In the first stanza, the daffodils are introduced like a golden host. He attribute to daffodils characteristics of human been, the personification.

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Domande da interrogazione

  1. What was the role of the poet in the 18th century according to Wordsworth's preface of Lyrical Ballad?
  2. In the 18th century, Wordsworth defined the poet's role as capturing past emotions in tranquility, using spontaneous and simple language rather than the artificiality of classical styles. The poet's task was to recapture and convey the intensity of past emotions and natural landscapes.

  3. What is the significance of nature in Wordsworth's poem "Daffodils"?
  4. In "Daffodils," nature is depicted as a source of joy and inspiration. The poet, initially lonely, finds pleasure in the sight of daffodils, which he personifies and associates with stars and waves. This experience allows him to overcome isolation and transform past emotions into a joyful present.

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