Coleridge's criticism of Wordswoth's theory of poetic diction,language and poetry
Wordsworth theory of language of poetry and Coleridge’s criticism on it, is of great significance in the history of literary criticism. Wordsworth revolts against the poetic diction of eighteenth century. His theory has some merits and at the same time has certain demerits.
Wordsworth rejects poetic diction by saying, “avoid poetic diction”. He says that neither there is nor could be any difference in the language of prose and that of metrical composition. Previous critics like Dr. Johnson were of the opinion that a noble and graceful action is degraded when described in ordinary and simple language. Gray said that language of the age could not be the language of poetry. Against this, Wordsworth revolted and declared his theory of poetic diction. He said that poet is a man speaking of men and his language should be simple to communicate his feelings and ideas.
Wordsworth gives the new theory for language of poetry, according to that it should be
“A selection of real language of men in a state of vivid sensation”.
By men he means rustic folk and humble people, by selection he means that this language should be purified of its absurdities and coarseness.
There two main arguments with which he supports the theory. First is that rustic people hourly communicate with nature and the best part of the language is derives from communicating with nature, so their language should be the language of poetry.
Secondly, their language is simple and clear, so it is more suitable for poetry.
When Wordsworth says that there should not be any difference in the language of prose and poetry, he does not make clear that whether he means the vocabulary or the position of words. If he means the vocabulary, then we can agree with him but there is definite difference between position of the words in prose and poetry.
Wordsworth advocates metre for several reasons. We know that this is artificial as poetic diction. Wordsworth says that it adds pleasure and controls the
Wordsworth rejects poetic diction by saying, “avoid poetic diction”. He says that neither there is nor could be any difference in the language of prose and that of metrical composition. Previous critics like Dr. Johnson were of the opinion that a noble and graceful action is degraded when described in ordinary and simple language. Gray said that language of the age could not be the language of poetry. Against this, Wordsworth revolted and declared his theory of poetic diction. He said that poet is a man speaking of men and his language should be simple to communicate his feelings and ideas.
Wordsworth gives the new theory for language of poetry, according to that it should be
“A selection of real language of men in a state of vivid sensation”.
By men he means rustic folk and humble people, by selection he means that this language should be purified of its absurdities and coarseness.
There two main arguments with which he supports the theory. First is that rustic people hourly communicate with nature and the best part of the language is derives from communicating with nature, so their language should be the language of poetry.
Secondly, their language is simple and clear, so it is more suitable for poetry.
When Wordsworth says that there should not be any difference in the language of prose and poetry, he does not make clear that whether he means the vocabulary or the position of words. If he means the vocabulary, then we can agree with him but there is definite difference between position of the words in prose and poetry.
Wordsworth advocates metre for several reasons. We know that this is artificial as poetic diction. Wordsworth says that it adds pleasure and controls the
Bibliography: 1. http://geeklala.blogspot.com/2011/05/wordsworths-theory-of-poetic-diction.html 2. http://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/why-does-coleridge-dispute-wordsworths-assertion-that-the-very-language-of-men-constitutes-the-language-of-poetry/