Lyrical Ballads

Small volumes of verse often start literary revolutions, and this little book published in 1798 is perhaps the most revolutionary of all, It not only brought England into the Romantic Movement, but also simplified English poetic diction, right up to the present day. In 1800, Wordsworth would add the famous preface which defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" originating in "great emotion recollected in tranquility," but this influential definition provided a more sophi [...]

Who wants a revolution?Well Wordsworth and Coleridge certainly did. Their writing existed in the intellectual aftermath of the French revolution; thus, they tried to radicalise it and revolutionise it. With Lyrical ballads they, undoubtedly, changed the destiny of English literature. Granted, that’s a huge sweeping statement to make but, nevertheless, it is a true one. No longer would poetry be the lofty language of the elites, a means for the bourgeoisie to demonstrate their intellect; it wou [...]

I feel like an asshole, at this point, for not being able to "get" Wordsworth. Every couple of years I read Wordsworth again and there's some very bright, very compassionate, very distinguished-type person who makes beautiful, eloquent arguments in these poems' favour. But I still really just couldn't give less of a shit. I don't know. While I respect Wordsworth, there's a strange personal-type bias I have against the guy. It's a bit more like "I really wouldn't invite this dude to a party at my [...]

The copy of this that I have, and have just finished reading, is a reprint of the first edition of 1798. It has no notes, other than those presented by the authors themselves, and the book probably suffers for this. I probably should have gotten hold of a version that had a good introduction – but too late now.There are two poems in this collection that I have read before – The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere and Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey. There is a reason why these are the [...]

Though absent long, These forms of beauty have not been to me, As is a landscape to a blind man's eye: But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, In hours of weariness, sensations sweetThe poetry equivalent of sinking into a hot bath and with Classic FM playing something wholesome for you in the background.

Of course these are wonderful. If only he'd died a little younger, like a good lyric poet . . .

If I continued with my theme of replacing books of the bible with works of poetry instead, I would use mostly Wadsworth to replace Proverbs. Many of these poems are cautionary tales encouraging kindness and empathy, and the rest are extolling the virtues of nature. No, going out into nature isn’t one of the commandments, but it should have been, I think we would all be better for it. Wadsworth encourages “nature baths,” a spiritual bathing in nature to cleanse the soul of the stresses of u [...]

Very well written, but the themes were not interesting to me, so the rating is completely subjective.

I've always shied away from reading poetry anthologies. Since this was a required text for my master's exam, I had no choice. I saved it for last, because I honestly wasn't sure if I would have the mental durability to get through it. Much to my surprise, I found most of the poems to be easily accessible, albeit, I took many notes to help me keep track of the narrative structure. All the poems have a rustic, backwoods, working class quality to them. Moreover, they celebrate the joys and power of [...]

I actually really enjoyed this poems more than I thought I would. Especially Tintern Abbey (a beautiful poem). Romanticism isn't really my favourite area of poetry, but this definitely makes me want to explore more of Wordsworth's work!

I give this small collection of poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge 3,5 stars. A few of the poems were a bit tedious and long for my taste but some really captured feelings and thoughts in a beautiful way. On the whole, I preferred Wordsworth's poems over Colderidge's, mainly because the latter used a more advanced and superior language which (in my case) distanced the reader from both the writer and what he was trying to say. My favorites from this collection are We Are Seven, The Thorn and The L [...]

Very enjoyable, once I got into it. I think it's fair to say the poems improved as the book went on, perhaps because the later ones were written later when the poets themselves had developed. Wordsworth's Preface was very interesting, in which he states his intention to write "in the ordinary language of men" rather than fanciful "poetic diction", that is to say overblown language and dead metaphors. Sometimes he had great success in this; other times, less so. Wordsworth is criticised for being [...]

Here's the deal. I love the English Romantic Period, and I love Wordsworth. But like some of my past love affairs in which I was always able to find a flaw in my beloved and still manage to overlook it, I know that Wordsworth is flawed, but "my heart still leaps up" with his poetry. The flaws? Well he was egocentric it seems; he was best in his earlier works; and he unabashedly loved nature. As to the last flaw, who doesn't, but, like the some of his American romantic contemporaries, he overlook [...]

I'm not giving this four stars because I really liked it. I'm giving it four stars because it disturbed me, which may seem odd, but if one of literature's goals is to comfort the distressed and distress the comfortable (and I think it is), then the poems in this book have succeeded. I'm passionate about my area of study. Nothing makes me happier than digging into literature the way I do as an English major. But there are still risks in the academic approach, as Wordsworth reminds us in some of t [...]

So while I *technically* haven't read the entirety of this text I have read most of it and did complete all the pieces set for my university module. Also, its annoying me having to stare at it in my currently reading list. Furthermore, getting through the prologue deserves some recognition in my opinion! I surprisingly really enjoyed some of the poems in this text, especially 'The Thorn', 'The Brothers' and 'We Are Seven'. The overall gothic vibe and the beautiful imagery was genuinely lovely to [...]

I had forgotten it began with "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and ended with "Tintern Abbey", which is amazing enough in itself. I reread it as a prelude to by Malcolm Guite. Of course I couldn't just read the one poem.

I liked some of these poems, and disliked others. You know what I'm saying?

The great treat in this book is the earliest version of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"-- without glosses, but with some amazing passages that Wordsworth later persuaded Coleridge to delete. Coleridge still comes out way ahead of Wordsworth for me, but I am finally starting to get it about Wordsworth, a poet I have always rather disliked.

[Quick review from memory until I re-read and re-review at a later date:From memory I'm no romantic poetry fan, but I wasn't a poetry fan at all then so who knows? No abiding memory, though since They Made Me Read This I probably hated it from the off for no reason.]

Several of the poems live up to the brilliance of the preface.

A very accessible, readable and entertaining collection of classic poetry which has aged very well, Lyrical Ballads is made up of 4 Coleridge poems and many others by Wordsworth. They are varied in style and theme but the titular lyricism shines through them all and there is a deep connection to English folk song and folk tale history. A few highlightsThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner (the opener in the Kindle edition) is simply one of the most memorable, evocative poems ever written. It bridges t [...]

Its a heritage of classical amusement on one of the Revolution about Romantic era, which was set on the verge of French Revolution. The period of 1798, witnessed a new formation of human nature and this context are conceptualized in verses of William Words word and S.T Coleridge abudently. There was stage of crucial development of innovative ideas, changes in diction of poetry and elaborative definition of Fancy and Imagination. The landscaping varieties of influences that provoked Wordsworth's [...]

This is not what I expected. Years ago, I read the preface for a few of my classes, even wrote a paper about it. It is only recently I was at Hein and Company in Jackson, and lo and behold there it was Lyrical Ballads, I bought it to see what the preface was about. Apparently that preface wasn't written until later editions since this book doesn't have a copy of it. Many of the poems are by Wordsworth. There is an early edition of Rime of the Ancient Mariner that isn't as good as the version I r [...]

This was kind of Ode to the West Wind all over again. At first it was, This is terrible (not Marinere, that was, Oh, I think I understood that bit). Then it was, That's a pretty good one, Yeah, that's more typical of how I think of Wordsworth going. By the end I thought there was a couple of very good ones, but I looked back and looking back through, thought, That was a good one, and that one, that one, that, and that, that, that and- Okay, so, I realised, actually I liked most of 'em.For me, po [...]

Gods knows how this transformed poetry it might've been cutting edge 225 years ago, but it's not a great read now. You didn't have to write particularly good poetry back then it would seem, to make a famous name for yourself. Coleridge is better than Wordsworth, the latter being particularly dull.

Wonderful poems, of course. It's neat that Penguin Classics reproduces the text of the first edition, but I wish Wordsworth preface to later editions were added as an appendix.

I'll always love The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Tinturn Abbey, and the others are good too. The Romantics are wonderful, so it's nice to read more than just the highlights in Norton's.

An absolute master of lyrical poetry.

“ and we shall findA pleasure in the dimness of the stars.” ― William Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads

I have not read this book I am using it two stand in for a poem that I have read but I can not seem to find it on