Thinking Activity 5 - Wordsworth and Coleridge

Hello Readers!

Have you ever thought that writing a poem can get you far away from stress? Well, many good habits are easily cultivated from reading and writing. It may seem strange but, in this era of web series and movies, people don't give much of their time to write something. Writing a poem each day can improve our mental health! Producing a literary work is not as simple as we think. The author has to pass through the pain; just same as a woman who is about to give birth to child.

Many critics gave their insight on different literary forms and wrote critical essays on them. A few critics are very sharp about their arguments, but some of them take some liberty and put their thoughts with lose string. Such lose arguments are broken by new critics and new ideology takes place of the old one. Poetry is one of the earliest literary forms. In this Blog, we will see the views of both the critics on Poem.

This thinking activity is part of self learning from the essays of Wordsworth and Coleridge. Here are two blogs posted by Dr. Dilip Barad, in which he has given video lectures, power-point slides on the topic and students are assigned this thinking activity to answer the following questions

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Biographia Literaria Ch. 14. Click Here to view blog. Coleridge is mainly considered as a poet and philosopher, but he also tried to give critical comments and arguments on the questions like what is a poet and what is poetry.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was associated with Coleridge and published the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. Click Here to view blog. This essay was published in 1798.

William Wordsworth

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Que 1. Write brief note on the views of Wordsworth and Coleridge on Poem.

Ans: Poetry, as defined in Wordsworth's preface, is spontaneous overflow of powerful imagination recollected in tranquility. It means that a poem is the reflection of thoughts and imaginations of poet's mind. If we take the example of Wordsworth's poem Daffodils, we come to know that how the flow of imagination is spontaneous. Wordsworth put his views on poetry that 'poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge, the impassioned expression that is in the countenance of all science'. Which means that no subject remains unnoticed from the eye of a poet. He can cover all fields of knowledge in his poems and touch upon all the branches of sciences. In Wordsworth's poetry, we find the portrayal humble and rustic countryside life.

Now let us see how S T Coleridge defines poem and poetry. He simply puts that poem's immediate purpose is delight and it's ultimate end is truth. Any poem which fulfills both the requirements is a true poem. Coleridge further puts two cardinal points of poetry, (a) the power of exciting the sympathy of the reader by a faithful adherence to the truth of nature, and (b) the power of giving the interest of novelty by modifying with the colors of imagination.

Que 2. Analyze 2 poems with reference to Wordsworth and Coleridge's views.

Ans: To A Butterfly by Wordsworth and Desire by Coleridge

To A Butterfly

Stay near me--do not take thy flight!

A little longer stay in sight!
Much converse do I find in thee,
Historian of my infancy!
Float near me; do not yet depart!
Dead times revive in thee:
Thou bring'st, gay creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,
my father's family! 

Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,

The time, when, in our childish plays,

My sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the butterfly!

A very hunter did I rush

Upon the prey:--with leaps and springs

I followed on from brake to bush;

But she, God love her, feared to brush

The dust from off its wings.

In this poem Wordsworth used butterfly as a natural image, and also portrayed bushes and brakes as rustic element of countryside life. At first, the poem gives us delight. Recollection of old days is also best fits in the characteristic of poetry, because some days are recollected in tranquility in this poem. "pleasant, pleasant were the days..."

Desire

Where true Love burns Desire is Love’s pure flame;
It is the reflex of our earthly frame,

That takes its meaning from the nobler part,

And but translates the language of the heart.

Perfectly philosophical in nature, the poem unveiled human's inner emotions. this poem also has spontaneous overflow of imagination and, just as Coleridge says, the poem also has truth as the ultimate end and pleasure as immediate purpose. If Love is a burning element, then Desire is it's flame. Here we get the natural image of fire, earth and human heart, which represents truth of nature.

Thank You.