Lyrical ballads

Qualifications of a
Poet:
(a) The Gift of
Communication
Wordsworth’s view of the nature and function of
a poet is an exalted one. He brings out the
individualism of the poet, but at the same time, at
every step, he takes care to stress his essential
humanity. In the very beginning, he lays
emphasis on his social function, i.e., that of
communication.
First, a poet, for him, is essentially a man speaking
to men. He is a person who writes not for his own
 pleasure, but primarily to communicate his own
thoughts and emotions to his readers. He has thus a
social function to perform. As poets do not write for
Poets alone, but for men, they must use the
language of real men and not talk in, “tricks,
quaintnesses, hieroglyphics, and enigmas.” He must
come down from his supposed heights.
(b) Heightened Sensibility
Secondly, he is a man who has more lively sensibility, that is to say, he reacts
more strongly to external impressions, and so his emotions and passions are
more powerful. He has an uncommon sensibility, and this again distinguishes
him from the common run of mankind. He observes more than there is to
observe, hears more than there is to hear, and feels more than there is to
feel. Not only has he a more lively sensibility, but he has also a more,
“affectioned sensibility”, and it is in this affectioned sensibility that poetry
begins. His sensibility is effectual, i.e., it is bound up with our moral nature. It
is because of this ‘affectual’ element in the poet’s sensibility that the sense
impressions he receives and the passions they excite are gradually purified
by the imagination, and poetry performs its true function.
(c) Power of Imagination
Thirdly, he has greater imagination and so can feel or
react emotionally to events and incidents which he has
not directly experienced. He is, “affected by absent things
as if they were present.”
(d) Knowledge
Fourthly, he has greater knowledge of human nature and
so understands the nature of the passions which he has
not experienced directly. He understands accurately the
nature of human passions and emotions, even of those
which he has not personally experienced.
(e) Zest for Life
Fifthly, he has a more comprehensive soul. A more,
“comprehensive soul”, implies that the poet shares the
emotional experience of others can identify himself
emotionally with others, and can express the feelings and
emotions of others. Sixthly, he has a greater zest for life
than an ordinary individual. He has greater enthusiasm.
He rejoices in the working of life in others, and in Nature
at large, and takes pleasure in communicating his own
joy in life to others.
(f) Reflection
A poet not only has a more ‘lively sensibility’, a ‘more
comprehensive soul’, and greater powers of imagination,
he is also a man who has thought long and deep. He
 does not create on the spur of the moment, but
contemplates and reflects in tranquility till he, “passions
anew”, and it is then that creation begins. This process of
reflection purifies the sensations of the poet of all that is
painful and distressing, and, therefore, what he creates
carries with it joy, “an overbalance of pleasure”. It is
through this reflection or contemplation that the poet is
able-to combine one idea with another, and in this way to
discover universal and general laws of our being. It is
through thought that he universalizes personal
experience.
(g) Sincerity
Later on, Wordsworth added one more quality for the poet that of sincerity. The sincerity of th
poet is seen in the care which he takes to revise and perfect his communication. He is carefu
to polish and refine his composition and takes infinite pains to convey his meaning clearly an
unambiguously. It is with this end in view that he avoids all that is artificial and pedantic in
language.
The poet, no doubt, has a heightened power of communication but even then the language
which he uses is not so lively and true as; the language of men who have actually
experienced those passions. The poet writes of emotions which he himself has not
experienced, but which his characters have experienced, and so the passions which he
communicates are “mere shadows” of the passions of real men. So, the language used by
him is likely to be mechanical, lacking in the warmth and liveliness of the language used by
men in real life.
Therefore, the poet should try to achieve emotional identification with
the characters whose feelings he has to convey, and he should do so
in a language that such characters do actually use in real life. This
language should be modified only by one consideration, that of giving
pleasure. The function of poetry is to give pleasure, and with this end in
view, the poet should apply the principle of selection, and purify his
language of all that is coarse, vulgar, painful and disgusting. However,
it may be pointed out here that by ‘pleasure’ Wordsworth does not
 mean mere idle amusement. His conception of ‘pleasure’ is a much
higher one. There is no need at all for the poet to elevate his language;
no language is nobler and more elevated than the one which is really
used by men, and which the poet truthfully and faithfully imitates.
Conclusion
In short, Wordsworth considers a poet essentially a
man, a man speaking to men. “Yet,” says Garrod, “if he
will allow no difference of kind between poets and
men, it must be conceded he makes as wide as he can
the difference of degree.” He has sufficiently stressed
the individuality of the poet.