Definition. A definition is an explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase. The word poetry is notoriously difficult to define. How does Wordsworth define poetry in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads?
Theme. A theme is a central idea in a literary work.
Allusion. An allusion is a figure of speech in which a reference is made to a person, event, object or work from history or literature. Note the allusions used by Wordsworth in "The World Is Too Much with Us."
Sonnet. A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem that follows one of a number of different rhyme schemes. “The World Is Too Much with Us” is a sonnet. As you read, pay attention to the rhyme scheme of the poem.
Free Verse and Blank Verse. Free verse, or vers libre, is poetry that avoids use of regular rhyme, rhythm, meter, or division into stanzas. Blank verse is unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter. As you read "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey," try to determine whether this poem is written in blank verse or free verse.
Ode. An ode is a lofty lyric poem on a serious theme. Wordsworth’s poetry is often described as meditative or introspective. “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” is a good example of such a poem.
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The first selection is an excerpt from the Preface to Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads. In the preface, Wordsworth champions the idea that poetry should be written in the voice of the ordinary person. In other words, poetry should be natural, not artificial. Wordsworth’s championing of the common person and of nature is in keeping with his youthful sympathies for natural rights as embodied in the rhetoric of the French Revolution. “The World Is Too Much with Us” a sonnet reminiscent of Blake’s poem “London,” bemoans humanity’s separation from nature. “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” is a poem inspired by a four- or five-day walk that Wordsworth took from Tintern to Bristol with his sister.
As you read the excerpt from Preface to Lyrical Ballads, consider what Wordsworth’s themes are. Write these themes down in a cluster chart like the one below.
To track the speaker’s developing feelings and changing thoughts in "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey," complete the following graphic organizer listing the time periods he describes in the lines below. An example has been done for you.
What kinds of poems do you prefer to read, and why?
Write about a time when you experienced nature, without any of the distractions of the modern, technological world, and what the experience meant to you.
Recall a place in nature which you visited in early childhood. Describe the way this place looked and how it made you feel then, and imagine how you might react to it now.
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