1. William Wordsworth
Poetic Diction

2. What are the questions? 1. What is poetic diction?
2. What is the contribution of Wordsworth in conceptualizing poetic diction?
3. Why he felt its need?
What are the basics of his theory?
5. Was he successful in implementing his theory?
6. what was the response of his friend Coleridge?
7. Is his theory relevant to our age? And why?
We shall proceed with these questions in our mind and shall try to raise new questions and find out answers to both old and new. We may find some answers here and some in our head – to be searched out individually.

3. Wordsworth
Wordsworth in 1798
Wordsworth as Poet Laureate

4. Life history
Born- ( ) 7 April 1770 Cockermouth, Great Britain.
Died -23 April 1850 ( )
Alma mater - Cambridge University
Literary movement – Romanticism
Important work - Lyrical Ballads, The Excursion
Wordsworth was Britain's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.

5. Lyrical Ballads
His "Preface to Lyrical Ballads", is called as the "manifesto" of English Romantic criticism and literary theory.
In 1793 he published a An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches.
In 1798 Wordsworth and Coleridge produced Lyrical Ballads, an important work in the Romantic movement.
One of Wordsworth's most famous poems, "Tintern Abbey", was published in the work, along with Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".

6. His Definition of Petry
In Preface to Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth discusses the elements of new poetry based on the real language of men which avoids the urban poetic diction of 18th-century. Here, Wordsworth defines poetry as ‘spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquility.’

7. basic principles of Wordsworth’s theory of poetic diction.
Should have certain
Color of Imagination
Should be the language "really used by men", but only selective words
No difference between language of poetry and prose
Should be the language of a Vivid sensation
Language of poetry
Four
basic principles of Wordsworth’s theory of poetic diction.
According to him in the following facts are important : 1. The language of poetry should be the language "really used by men", but not all the words used by the people can be employed in poetry. Only some selected words which are used in common parlance can serve the purpose of poetry. 2. It should be the language of men in a state of vivid sensation. It means that the language used by people in a state of animation can form the language of poetry. 3. It should have a certain colouring of imagination. The poet should give the colour of his imagination to the language employed by him in poetic composition. 4. There is no essential difference between the words used in prose and in metrical composition. Words of prose and poetry are not clearly demarcated, so that words which can be used in prose can find place in poetry and vice versa. "What Wordsworth means is that the words used in conversation, if they are properly selected, would provide the rough frame-work of the language of poetry. When the poet is truly inspired, his imagination will enable him to select from the language really used by men.

8. Contradicted himself
Wordsworth followed the main tenets of his theory in some of his poems, but it became difficult for him to stick strictly to his theory when he came to such splendid poems as 'Tintern Abbey' or 'Ode on the Intimations of Immortality' etc. This shows that though valuable, his theories could not completely encompass the scope of even his own poetry.
Wordsworth contradicted his own theories in many of his own best work.

9. Why he needed a new theory?
Poetry before him was urban. He wanted the language of commoners.
He wanted to embrace the life of nature.
He felt, poetry of the new age needed a new language.
He was required to defend his experiments.
He protested against the pseudo-classical school.
By his theory Wordsworth emphasized the use of a simpler language which could be understood by the common people and even those uneducated.

10. Coleridge differed from Wordsworth
Poetry should be "the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation"
It should be "the incident of common life".
Ideal language of poetry is 'the natural conversation of men under the influence of natural feeling'
A poem cannot be condemned only on the ground of differing from the language of real life.
Nor can it be discarded for difference between the language of prose and metrical composition.
Wordsworth’s rules may be applicable only to certain classes of poetry and it need not be compulsory.

11. Coleridge’s other objections
Coleridge denied Wordsworth's assertion that a special virtue lies in the language of those who are in close touch with nature.
He argues that prose itself differs and ought to differ from the language of conversation just like reading ought to differ from talking.
Coleridge's demolition of Wordsworth's theory of poetic diction remains even now as one of the finest examples of literary polemics.

12. - Contradictory features of human nature.
Loyalty To
Conventional
Format
Revolt Against conventional Format

13. When anything becomes old and stale……
Always a new wave… a new revolt…. challenges the old…. and creates a new format. Then… the new also becomes old, stratified and wrinkled.

14. Every generation feels impatient of its seniors…
……..so did Wordsworth.
The language used by the senior generations was not considered suitable to the demands and needs of the new age.
Therefore Wordsworth created his own language and advanced his theory in defense of his experiments and the language of his poetry.

15. What Wordsworth did….
Every generation tries to perceive the world in its own way.
It creates new questions and finds out new answers for itself.
Every generation builds a new language and creates a new poetry to answer the questions of their times.
This exactly is what Wordsworth did for his generation.
The names above may seem irrelevant to English literature but they prove the universality and duality of the pattern of progression.

16. The pattern is universal……
Not only in Wordsworth, the same revolt is perceptible in the revolt of Ameer Khusro in 13 th century, in Tulsidas, in Kabeer, and Guru Nanak in medieval India and in Surykant Tripathi Nirala, Tasleema Nasreen, Amrita Preetam, AR Rahman, Satyjit ray etc in modern India. In fact the so called revolt is a constant process of Nature to rejuvenate the world. As Jai Shankar Prsad says in Kamayani – “Prakriti ke yauvan ka shringar karenge kabhi na basi fool, milenge ve jaakar atishighra, aah utsuk hai unki dhuul.”

17. Gravestone of the great priest of Nature.
Gravestone of the great priest of Nature

18. Thank you !.... Dr. Kavita Arya
Assistant Professor, MGKVidyapith Varanasi.