B.A. (Hons.

) English – Semester IV Core Course

Paper IX : British Romantic Literature Study Material

Unit-5
Background Readings

Editor : Dr. Neeta Gupta

Department of English

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

University of Delhi
Paper IX – British Romantic Literature

Unit-5
Background Readings

Editor:
Dr. Neeta Gupta
School of Open Learning
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007

 
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Paper IX – British Romantic Literature

Unit-5
Background Readings

Contents
S. No. Title Prepared by Pg. No.

(a) Jean-Jacques Rousseau – ‘Discourse on the Binoy Bhushan Agarwal 01

Origin of Inequality’

(b) Immanuel Kant – ‘Analytic of the Sublime’ Binoy Bhushan Agarwal 09

In Critique of the Power of Judgment

(c) William Wordsworth – ‘Preface to Lyrical Meenakshi Sharma 17

Ballads’

(d) William Gilpin – ‘On Picturesque Travel’ Meenakshi Sharma 25

 
 

 
SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Unit-5(a)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
‘Discourse on the Origin of Inequality’
Part One
Binoy Bhushan Agarwal

1. Introduction
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was an 18th century philosopher and composer whose
protean mind entertained and engaged with ideas that spanned across disciplines and held
sway over centuries. His conceptual ideas and literary endeavours impressed upon a diverse
array of fields including politics, education, literature, botany, and music. Seen as a major
figure in the intellectual history of Western Europe, and Enlightenment, he did not share the
same enthusiasm for Western notion of progress and civilization as that of his counterparts.
Nonetheless, his historical pessimism was conjoined to his anthropological optimism in man
by virtue of his belief that natural man is uncorrupted and self-reliant. He had a tempestuous
life and often ran into trouble with the government because of his anti-modern views and
criticism of the government. That he lived in exile for a good part of his life with his books
being banned is no less a measure of the impact he had on his contemporaries.
2. Learning Objectives
In this Section on Rousseau, you will learn about:
a) Rousseau’s perspective on the evolutionary history of society and the origin of
inequality among men.
b) Rousseau’s contributions to the political and social philosophies.
c) Rousseau’s radical understanding of human nature and civilizational progress.
d) How Rousseau was at odds with most of his contemporary thinkers and philosophers.
e) How Rousseau anticipates Romanticism.
3. Biographical Sketch
Born in Geneva in 1712, Rousseau grew up amidst difficult circumstances. His mother
passed away within days of his birth and his father abandoned him at the age of ten.
Nonetheless, for the time he was with him, his father developed in Rousseau a taste for
literature through a range of readings. In his autobiographical work, Confessions, Rousseau
acknowledges how Plutarch’s works had shaped the free and republican spirit in him. With
no formal schooling and virtually no guardian, he engaged himself in odd jobs to make a
living, and led a peripatetic life in Italy and France. His relationship with Françoise-Louise de
Warens, opened up new vistas of learning for him through her learned friends. In his later

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years, he took Thérèse Levasseur, an unlettered laundry woman, as his mistress who bore him
five children, all of whom he abandoned in a paradoxical and sharp contrast to his ideas on
education and child-rearing as expounded in Emile later on. This act of gross parental neglect
was to hound him in later years both in the form of guilt that he expressed and the attacks by
his contemporaries like Voltaire and Edmund Burke who used this against him.
4. Intellectual Pursuits and Literary Legacy

Apart from the personal aspect of Rousseau’s life, it was his life as an eloquent intellectual
that brought him to the center of public attention. The potency of his ideas was such that it
engendered sharp responses with critics divided over his intellectual claims and theoretical
contributions. He forged literary and intellectual kinship with Denis Diderot and David
Hume, two important thinkers of the Enlightenment period among others, with whom he had
a fallout in his later years. While Plato and Plutarch among others fueled his political
philosophy, he took objection to the ideas of Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes who theorized
negatively on the original nature of man, and the resultant need for society as a regulating
force. He was in agreement with John Locke’s ideas concerning human nature such that
Rousseau argued that man became corrupt only when he came in contact with the society;
that he was best left in his savage state which did not translate into barbaric but the primeval
man. Rousseau argued that the impulse to leave the natural state and move into the realm of
society proved to be the doom for mankind. The result of this shift was that man began to
develop feelings of greed, vanity and a desire to control and dominate others. This desire to
control established the foundation for private property which in turn led to inequalities in
society since the few who acquired more came to dominate the rest in society. Thus Rousseau
established a link between society, property and inequality which he first articulated in his
essay titled ‘Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality among Men’. These ideas were
further developed in his well-known work The Social Contract (1762).
Rousseau is also best known for his educational treatise – Emile, or On Education
published in 1762. The publication of Emile along with The Social Contract outraged both
the public and the French government; while the former burnt these books in public the latter
issued orders for his arrest. Rousseau also penned a sentimental novel, Julie, or the New
Heloise (1761). One of his less read books – Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques (1780) – in the
form of a dialogue, was written in self-defense. His Reveries of the Solitary Walker (1782)
anticipates Romanticism in its lyricism and meditative poise. His reflections on society,
isolation, wandering and walking were to leave a long lasting impression on the likes of
Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron et al. Rousseau’s autobiographical work, Confessions,
posthumously published in 1782 inaugurated the modern genre of autobiography.
Rousseau was recognized for his massive intellectual contribution subsequent to his
death in 1778. Consequently, he was posthumously given the status of a national hero and
accorded a place in the Pantheon in Paris in 1794.

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5. Context
The city state of Geneva in which Rousseau was born was to shape his politics in a major
way. The Calvinist republic of Geneva was a crucible in which his ideas about inequality and
civil society were forged. His sense of an idealized vision of Geneva was so deep that he
dedicates his Second Discourse to this city of his birth. His questions probing human nature
and the source of inequality found expression in the essay titled ‘Discourse on Inequality’,
also known as “Second Discourse”, which laid the foundation for his ideas on social contract.
It was submitted in response to an announcement for prize competition hosted under the
auspices of the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Belles-Lettres of Dijon. It posed the question
“What is the origin of the inequality among men and is it justified by natural law?” Thus
published in 1754 as a competition entry, Rousseau’s Second Discourse did not win him any
spot but the essay eventually sealed his place in the canon of philosophers.
It may be pointed out that he had entered the competition organized by the Academy of
Dijon earlier as well in 1750 through a chance encounter. It is said that while on his way to
visit Diderot in prison he came across a call for entries organized by the Dijon Academy on
the question of “whether the restoration of science and the arts has contributed to purifying
morals”. Rousseau’s entry known as ‘First Discourse’ presented a negative view of the
technological advancement, and it won him the first prize.
6. Summary and Analysis
Rousseau’s ‘Discourse on Inequality’, or Second Discourse is essentially composed of two
parts with a ‘Dedication’ to the Republic of Geneva, and a ‘Preface’ as well. In this lesson,
we will concern ourselves with primarily the first part.
In the introduction to the essay, prior to Part One, Rousseau states that there are two
varieties of inequality evident in the human species. One is natural or physical inequality and
the other is moral inequality. The former he identifies with ‘difference of age, health, bodily
strength and qualities of mind or soul’. The latter– “moral or political inequality”, he argues,
is constructed by convention or the consent of men which is defined by the privileges of some
over the others.
In so far one wishes to examine the source of the natural inequality, he refuses to
examine natural inequality as it is naturally so. Furthermore, he suggests that to examine the
connections between the two inequalities would be akin to legitimizing it. Commenting on
the philosophers who commented on the foundations of human society, he tells us that all
have spoken of human nature. However, in doing so, they erroneously transplanted the
qualities of civil man onto the savage man; effectively misunderstanding man in the state of
nature. In a daring move, Rousseau subtly sets aside the authority of the Biblical accounts as
well insofar the natural man is concerned. As he observes, even the first man is really not in a
state of nature having already received his ‘understanding and commandments from God’.
According to him these Holy Scriptures are contradictory and do not offer convincing reasons

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regarding the state of nature. Thus he sets the ground to establish the novelty of his own
theory premised as it is on conjectures.
Discarding all facts and earlier philosophical understanding of man in natural state,
Rousseau begins anew by proposing ‘hypothetical and conditional reasonings’ to explain his
theory of man in natural state. Even while rejecting religious viewpoints in this regard he is
careful not to offend the ecclesiastical, and hence carefully positions himself before
launching into a radically different perspective. Arguing for a conjectural history of man he
reframes the question as, ‘what the human nature could have become, if it had been left to
itself.’ Going back in time, he turns to nature to chart the origin of human nature or man in
his natural state.
Rousseau begins Part One by first pointing to the limits of existing knowledge systems
which is his method of rejecting the biases inherent in them. Shorn of all superficial trappings
acquired through culture, man in his natural state, so he argues, is ‘the most advantageously
organized of all’; one who is self-sufficient and satisfied with nature in his natural state.
Rousseau debunks the idea of philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, Cumberland and
Pufendorf who have posited that man is naturally weak and hence violent by nature. Drawing
up a comparison with the animals, Rousseau counters that the savage man (as he calls the
primordial man) is characterized by his distinct skilfulness- a tool that allows him to give
competition to those who are physically stronger than him. Effectively, Rousseau upsets the
prevalent discourse among Enlightenment thinkers that dictated that man is violent and
rapacious by nature, and therefore in need of civilizational forces known as society or
political structures that could bind him to order and restraint – typical eighteenth century
ideas tied to neo-Augustan age of peace and stability where reason, and not passion, was the
ideal.
Rousseau then goes on to bolster his arguments by regarding the solitariness of the
natural man as the ideal condition that allowed him to live a life uncorrupted by greed, vanity,
envy, desires or the impulse to control and dominate. It is here that Rousseau’s view of
labour, property and scientific advancement vis-à-vis medicine is introduced; a view that is
quite contrary to the celebratory attitudes of other Enlightenment philosophers who saw them
as yardsticks of human progress. Thus highlighting once again that man in his natural state
was free of all ills, robust as he was, and where he wanted the nature supplied. It is only in
the process of domestication that savage man begins to lose his natural and the best faculties
that nature has endowed him with. Rousseau sees nature as a benign force empowering man
when left in his natural state. The main thrust of Rousseau’s argument being that it is the
society-culture that corrupts man and is the source of all ills and inequality.
Hereupon, Rousseau builds two major arguments as he shifts his examination of man
from physical to the moral or metaphysical viewpoint. One, man’s innate sense of self-
preservation, and two, that man is a free agent.

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 In underlining the harmony in which primeval man and nature existed, Rousseau charts
what it is that drew man out of this state leading onto a path of immorality, inequality and
injustice thereby causing him unhappiness.
Man is distinguished from animals by his sense of perfectibility; a desire to improve is
the cause of his misfortune. Human understanding or reason is perfected through passions
which is interlinked to the idea of enjoyment and needs which in turn is connected to the idea
of knowledge. Having established that nature is self-containing and the savage man self-
reliant, Rousseau concludes that it is reason combined with the sense of perfectibility that
made man move into clusters of human settlements. And that laid the foundations for human
society wherein emerged the necessity of language.
Subsequently, an important terrain traversed in the essay is that of the evolution of
language which was intrinsic to the development of society. Natural man had no real sense of
language or thoughts. In the state of nature, the savage man would not have needed language.
Rousseau tells us that the initial cry of nature, the only one needed, develops into a more
sophisticated system of signs as man’s ideas were more complex. As a result, the first
language as it developed was more capacious and more meaningful. Another important
observation, he makes, is that speech gradually became more abstract and metaphysical with
practice.
Having established the linkages between speech and society bound by conventions,
Rousseau debunks Hobbes’ cardinal point in Leviathan that man is naturally evil and in a
state of war. What Hobbes did was misread man’s instinct for self-preservation that Rousseau
states was ‘the most appropriate for peace and the best suited for human race’. Consequently,
Hobbes examined the qualities of man corrupted by society and called that natural, and thus,
a flawed reading according to Rousseau.
Rousseau’s grim view of society and faith in the natural man as it has evolved is not to
say that he wants man to regress back to nature as Voltaire argued. Quite the contrary, he sees
that past as important to build a bridge to the future. This is why Rousseau seeks to retrieve
the two principles of man in his natural state; man’s instinct for self-preservation, and his
sense of pity. The first allows him to protect himself while the second, a mark of his
compassionate nature, does not allow him to see others suffering. Such qualities in a ‘savage’
man make him naturally gentle and free which combined with his asocial way of life prevents
him from becoming violent. An important point that Rousseau makes here, insofar as
morality is concerned, is that man is not naturally moral. Rather it is the above mentioned
instincts by which he lives that exemplify his natural goodness. Deprived of moral sense,
natural man has no conception of good and evil. He is good because he knows no evil. His
thoughts are composed of simple operations. His physical needs of hunger, rest and sex are
all easily met with in nature. His conflict is limited to the basic natural urges and he has no
passion. It is pity that substitutes law. Because of pity, the savage man is empathetic and
avoids doing harm. However, in civil society pity was replaced by laws as self-preservation
and pity, essential to harmony, were in a state of disequilibrium. Thus Rousseau concludes

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that lack of reason and egotism made this natural man good which is to say that it rendered
him incapable of malice. The societal progress is questionable since it has only led man to
evil, inequality and injustices. Thus Rousseau demolishes the confidence in reason which
according to major Enlightenment philosophers fuelled the civilizational progress in the Age
of Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason.
One last aspect, in Part One, that Rousseau subjects to analysis is love. Distinguishing
between the physical and the moral aspects of the sentiment of love, Rousseau contends that
the former is the sexual ardour that enflames the desire for physical intimacy and once
quenched ‘all desire is snuffed out’ thus leaving out the possibility of cruel conflicts. The
latter, that is moral love, is the fixation of carnal desire upon the object of desire which he
views as an artificial sentiment located in social customs, and as such absent in the natural
man.
The concluding paragraphs bring together the various strands of discussion – industry,
language, sociability, art, education, intelligence etc. – ostensibly the hallmarks of a highly
developed species & society according to modern philosophers. Rousseau, however, sees in
the absence of these in the primitive condition of man the reason why the natural inequality
does not have much of a presence or influence on him. Moreover, it allows Rousseau to
develop his other thesis regarding the genesis of inequality in private property that he dwells
upon in Part Two of the Second Discourse.
7. Self-Check Questions
a) How does Rousseau contrast the two kinds of inequalities– natural and moral?
b) Elaborate on the state of nature as understood by Rousseau.
c) Does society have a corrupting influence on the savage man? Discuss.
d) ‘Discourse on Inequality’ is Rousseau’s exhortation to man to go back to the primitive
state of being. Do you agree? Give a reasoned answer.
8. Themes
In this section, some important themes would be briefly summed up for an easier assimilation
of ideas proposed in the essay.
8.1 Man in the State of Nature, or Natural Goodness
The riveting idea in Part One of the essay is the ontological status of man in his
natural state. The philosophers of the Enlightenment era celebrated intellect and
reason as the driving force of human progress and civilizational prosperity. Such a
view was premised on the idea that man in the natural state, as most philosophers
believed, is driven by unrestrained passions. For instance, Thomas Hobbes said, the
life of man in the state of nature is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’ which
means that it is ‘a condition of war of everyone with everyone’. But man was also
different from animals in having intelligence or the capacity to reason. Building

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 upon these tenets, it was argued that society and laws were necessary to control
those wild instincts and that polity in the form of society and government was
necessary. The polities would bind them in cohesive structures through laws and
conventions – the absence of which threatens the structure from falling apart.
Rousseau, however, offers a contrarian view whereby he argues that man in the state
of nature is characterized by goodness and not violence that he has been so often
attributed with. In short, he views man in that state as self-reliant with nature
supplying everything that he needs. Thus, the primitive man is relatively at peace
for a variety of reasons that Rousseau identifies which prevents him from becoming
cruel to others.
8.2 Inequality and Freedom
Two kinds of inequality are posited. Physical or natural which is not much of a
concern as in that state the principles of self-preservation and pity ensure that there
is harmony between man and nature and among men as well. It is the moral or
political inequality that is the source of violence among men. Moral inequality is
seen as artificially constructed because of conventions in the society that seek to
regulate human behaviour. But it ends up becoming the force of oppression.
Through a series of interconnected points, it is established that it is a feature of
modern society. Another linked idea is the idea of human freedom. Man in the state
of nature is a free agent. However, this still does not translate into him becoming a
brute force of violence since man is self-contained and nature provides him with
everything that he needs. Because he lacks intelligence and language in that state, he
lacks a sense of self that makes ego irrelevant. Consequently, man being a free
agent does not become autocratic and violent for he knows no pursuit beyond food,
rest and sex– all of which once satisfied calls not for any unusual violence on
others. This combined with principles of self-preservation and pity are in a harmony
in that natural state. Therefore, moral inequality is a feature of modern society
where all the above mentioned attributes find a palpable presence, and which is
marked by a restraint on freedom.
8.3 Language
Since the natural man was asocial, being self-sufficient, he had no need of language.
In the beginning, speech comprised only of the cry of nature. Also because man had
no real sense of thoughts as the latter is contingent on language. It is as societies
develop and man comes to inhabit spaces in communities, a need for language is
felt. And as it develops and evolves into a highly sophisticated system of speech
patterns, it loses the capaciousness turning more abstract and metaphysical. It then
introduces a sense of self, ego, vanity et al. which creates a sense of difference
among men and allows for articulations of power and social hierarchies and
resultant inequalities in society.

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9. Self-Check Questions
a) Elaborate upon the natural goodness of man. Can it be achieved in the modern
society?
b) How does Rousseau explain the self-sufficiency of nature and man in the state
of nature? What is the consequence of it?
c) What is the relationship between inequality and freedom according to
Rousseau’s ‘Discourse on Inequality’?
10. Why Read Rousseau?
Understood in the context of the 18th & 19th Century British Literature, and Romanticism in
particular, Rousseau’s ‘Discourse’ forms a seminal text to understand the Romantics’ concern
with the simplicity and goodness of common man and the political tyranny of the French
Revolution. By foregrounding the simple life that human nature is fully capable of
appreciating, Rousseau prophetically foreshadows the core of the Romantic philosophy
which privileges common man and nature in its quest for an egalitarian world. Rousseau is
looking back to the savage man whereby he examines the foundations of human society and
the political structures that bind them and his analysis exposes the inequalities of modernity
that are based on the human will to control, dominate and rule; a yoke that makes the poor,
the weak, and the vulnerable suffer and which the Romantics seek to overthrow. All in all,
Rousseau foreshadows Romanticism as both concern themselves with societal inequalities,
political foundations and a hope for an egalitarian world. Lastly, they are both married in
their common engagement that seeks change as a way out of the evils of the human
civilization to build a new world by connecting to the ancient. While Rousseau seeks the
primeval man, the Romantics nostalgically look back upon eternal myths, ancient ruins and
‘common man’– the reaper, the hermit et al. – to construct a society free of inequalities and
oppressions.
11. Bibliography
Neuhouser, Frederick. Rousseau’s Critique of Inequality: Reconstructing the Second
Discourse.
Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality” in Basic Political Writings,
Translated and edited by Donald A. Cress, Hackett Publishing Company, 1987, pp.
37-60.
Wokler, Robert. Rousseau: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2001.

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 Unit-5(b)

Immanuel Kant
‘Analytic of the Sublime’
In
Critique of the Power of Judgment
Binoy Bhushan Agarwal

1. Introduction
Immanuel Kant, the German Philosopher, is one of the major figures associated with the Age
of Enlightenment and modern philosophy. His wide ranging work spans metaphysics, ethics,
epistemology and aesthetics among others. In Kant, we find rationalism and empiricism, that
underlined reason and experience as central to our understanding, reaching its maturity. His
theory of the beautiful and the sublime as expounded in his Critique of the Power of
Judgment is central to his philosophy of aesthetics. And this theory in particular has cast a
long influence on Romanticism where the concept of sublime has been integral in making
sense of nature and its inexplicable beauty and power over an individual’s imagination.
2. Learning Objectives
In this lesson on sublime, you will gain an overview of the subject by way of engaging with:
1. A brief history of the development of the idea of sublime.
2. The concept of the sublime as understood through some key thinkers like Longinus
and Edmund Burke.
3. Kant’s theory of the beautiful and the sublime.
4. The place of sublime in the tradition of aesthetics and literary criticism.
Before one moves on to the dense but important conceptual thoughts of Kant in relation to the
beautiful and the sublime, a quick look at Kant’s life and the influences upon him will help us
understand the relationship between the individual and society and how philosophical
traditions emerge and evolve.
3. Biographical Sketch
Kant was born in a family of Lutheran Protestant faith, in Konigsberg, the capital of Eastern
Prussia. The Lutheran Protestantism underlined the key ideas of divine grace, adherence to
Bible, devotion et al. He himself entered the Pietist school at the age of eight and later went
to the University of Konigsberg in 1740 to study theology where he also studied Latin
classics. Despite his theological moorings his scientific temperament is evident from his
interest in science and mathematics. Having grown up in a religiously devout family, he

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struggled to reconcile faith with science. The University of Konigsberg was the stage where
his formative ideas on philosophy and science were shaped. It was here that he was exposed
to key thinkers such as Christian Wolff & G.W. Leibniz among others. He was particularly
influenced by his mentor Martin Knutzen who introduced him to Isaac Newton whose
influence is discernible in Kant’s own writings. His university education though was
interrupted by the death of his father as he was forced to seek means of subsistence.
Nonetheless, his scholarly pursuits continued resulting in his 1749 publication Thoughts on
the True Estimation of Living Forces.
Among all his scholarly output, this lesson concerns itself with Kant’s theory of the
sublime as theorized in his work Critique of Judgment published in 1790. Prior to this, he
wrote Critique of Pure Reason (1781) and the Critique of Practical Reason (1786) wherein
he substantially revised his previous position resulting in a new methodology of philosophy.
Collectively, the trilogy, also referred to as the Critical Project, revolutionized the continental
philosophical tradition and proved very influential in mapping new cartographies of
knowledge.
4. Context
Attempts to define the sublime have proved to be vexatious as a quick glance at the history of
the idea of sublime indicates. Immanuel Kant’s engagement with the sublime is best
understood when one looks at the long and ancient history of the idea of sublime. The
sublime which meant many things to many thinkers over the ages has linkages to classical
antiquity through Longinus’ On the Sublime. It is not, however, until Nicolas Boileau’s
translation into French in 1674 that sublime became part of aesthetic vocabulary and literary
criticism. It continued to fascinate and perplex philosophical minds as late as in the18th and
19th centuries such that we have Edmund Burke writing A Philosophical Enquiry into the
Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) and Immanuel Kant who develops
upon Burke’s distinction of the beautiful and the sublime in his own 1764 essay,
‘Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime’. Collectively, they have laid the
ground for an exploration of the beautiful and the sublime which became important thematic
in the nineteenth century age of Romanticism with their common engagement with nature in
terms of human mind and natural landscape.
5. A Trajectory of the Idea of Sublime: Longinus, Burke and Kant
5.1 Longinus’ On the Sublime
The earliest recorded attempts at defining the sublime have been traced to the Greek work by
Longinus in the first century AD entitled On the Sublime, which in Greek is referred to as
‘Peri Hypsous’. It is worthwhile to note here that while the work is ascribed to the figure of
Longinus, the identity of the author has been a contested one. The text in itself survives in
fragments but the extant text nonetheless provides a useful point of entry into a discussion of
sublime.

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 Longinus defines the experience of sublime as ‘wherever, it comes consists in a certain
loftiness and excellence of language’. According to him, sublime is a form of ecstasy that
takes the reader beyond the limits of reason. He uses the metaphor of the lightning bolt to
explain the experiential nature of it; to suggest the suddenness with which it comes and the
impact it has on the mind and the body. In further talking about the effects of it, he suggests
that sublime has an exalting quality leaving the person feeling ennobled. He lists the five
causes for it of which grand thoughts, passionate language and poetic figures of speech are
just three. The effect is such that it leads to an identification with the creative process and a
mixed sensation of exaltation and pleasure.
He makes further efforts to outline what sublime is not wherein he cautions that bombast,
elevated language that falls flat, puerility and false sentimentality do not constitute the
sublime. Effectively then, he links the feelings of sublime to use of language and a literary
style. He argues that the import of a great literature is such that it has a powerful
psychological and elevating effect on the audience transporting one into the realm of ecstasy.
In linking writing with emotional feelings, Longinus establishes the connections between
art and nature, a debate that has been a subject of much critical inquiry over centuries. It
foregrounds the question of whether art is natural or mere artifice. Is sublime art or a natural
phenomenon? How does one comprehend beauty in art and beauty in nature? Is the feeling of
beautiful the same as the feeling of sublime? If not, then how does one distinguish one from
the other? What are the causes thereof?
Philosophers and literary critics have continued to wrestle with the concept of sublime.
In the 18th century Anthony Ashley-Cooper, third earl of Shaftesbury, John Dennis, the
English critic and dramatist along with Joseph Addison, the founder of The Spectator
magazine, were responsible for conceptualizing the sublime as an aesthetic category in nature
distinguished from beauty in nature. In narrating their experience of the Alps while on the
Grand Tour the British writers highlighted what Addison calls ‘the agreeable kind of horror’
which reflects on the perceived sense of astonishment, awe and fear that the Alps, and nature
in general, could incite. It was such kind of mixed but overwhelming sensorial experience of
nature that was sought to be represented through the prism of sublime. It is worthwhile to
mention here that in the modern Anglophone world, the sublime was relocated from the
realm of language and rhetoric as in Longinus to the realm of nature.
In the 18th century context of the sublime in the British milieu, William Smith's English
translation of Longinus’ work proved to be highly instrumental in making it widely popular.
Edmund Burke’s aesthetic treatise A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of
the Sublime and Beautiful in part owes a debt to this tradition while advancing upon the ideas
of sublime.

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5.2 Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the
Sublime and Beautiful
Edmund Burke, the 18th century English economist and philosopher, dwelt upon the subject
of sublime in his treatise on aesthetics published in 1757. While Burke’s political persona as
statesman and political thinker eclipses his contributions to aesthetic philosophy, it is also
true that his Philosophical Enquiry was taken note of by the Continental philosophers like
Dennis Diderot and Immanuel Kant. That the German critic, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing,
translated it, and Burke’s influence showed in his work Laocoon points to the power that
Burke’s work exerted outside of Britain in turn pointing to how sublime fascinated the
philosophers and critics of aesthetics alike across Britain and Germany.
According to his conception, the beauty and the sublime constitute two separate types
which until then was seen as interrelated. Both have causal structures though different which
enables one to apprehend the origins of both. For Burke, beauty is aesthetically pleasing
though sublime is the result of an encounter with that which is potentially dangerous and
overwhelming but can still provide pleasure because of the distance. Sublime for him is the
‘strongest emotion’ characterized by an admixture of terror and awe, fear and excitement. He
calls terror the ‘ruling principle of the sublime’. The sublime thus is a delightful terror as the
object of fear or pain induces pleasure. He writes, ‘when danger or pain press too nearly, they
are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with
certain modifications, they may be, and they are, delightful, as we every day experience’. He
enumerates among other factors, magnitude, power, vastness, light and sound as some that
can cause the experience of sublimity. In investigating the cause of the sublime he also
presents the physiological and psychological descriptions of this experience.
5.3 Immanuel Kant’s Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime
Early on in his career, Kant composed a popular treatise on the sublime (1764) wherein he
outlines three kinds of sublime namely the terrifying sublime, the noble sublime and the
splendid sublime. He furthermore makes use of national and gender differences to explicate
upon the sublimity. Seen in the light of anthropological writings, scholars have found it
troubling because of his usage of the concepts of beauty and sublime in a way that serve to
reinforce the gender, ethnic and racial biases. Kant’s thoughts on the sublime, however, find
maturity in his later critical project titled Critique of the Power of Judgment (1790) also
referred to as the third Critique.
6. Summary and Analysis: Immanuel Kant’s ‘Analytic of the Sublime’ (§23-§29)
The third Critique, the other two being Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Practical
Reason, is broadly divided into two sections– ‘critique of aesthetic judgment’ and ‘critique of
teleological judgment.’ Before moving on, it is useful to remind ourselves that by judgment,
Kant refers to the faculty of reflection and understanding that serves us with a concept to
make sense of the manifold representations that we receive of an object. He divides the
judgment into two types; determinate and reflective. In the former case, one has a

12
universal concept ready at hand to explain the particular object thereby making it
comprehensible to the human mind. However, in the latter case, one has the particular but the
concept is lacking such that it makes one reflect upon the universal which leads to reason.
These distinctions are central to Kant’s exploration of the beautiful and the sublime and the
functions thereof.
The ‘Analytic of the Sublime’ forms the second book in the first section of Kant's third
Critique. It begins by highlighting the commonality between the beautiful and the sublime
which is that both please for themselves. Thereupon, he goes to establish their differences by
referring to nature. According to Kant, the beautiful in nature has a form and is characterized
by limitation, quality, purposiveness of nature and a calming effect. In sharp contrast to this,
sublime is to be located in the formless object yet has a totality, and is characterized by
quantity, contra-purposive and a movement of the mind. The sublime, Kant argues, is ‘the
disposition of the mind’ rendered comprehensible by the reason. And thus the sublime lies
not in the object but in the mind of the subject experiencing the feelings of sublime. When the
object is said to be sublime what it actually connotes is that it potentially arouses sublimity in
the mind rather than possess that quality in itself.
The sublime is aesthetically pleasing as it evokes pleasure indirectly through a process
whereby the first impression of awe and terror that overwhelm the imagination – ‘momentary
inhibition of the vital powers’ – is relayed to the faculty of reason. It is reason that helps us
comprehend the sense of totality which in effect gives pleasure. Yet it is ‘negative pleasure’
because the mind though amazed is attracted and repelled by the object at the same time.
Kant uses the term vibration to suggest that the two occur almost simultaneously. .
Further, Kant categorizes the feeling of sublime into two categories namely, the
mathematical sublime and the dynamical sublime. In case of the mathematical sublime it
can be exemplified when a vast object such as an ocean leads theoretical reason to demand of
imagination that it comprehend the entirety of a formless object in a single intuition. The
dynamical sublime can be experienced when, for example, frightening natural scenes, such as
pendulous cliffs or blustery oceans, instill in us a senses of our physical destruction, one
experiences pain mixed with pleasure. In either case, the feeling of sublime lies in the feeling
of superiority of our own power of reason over nature. He calls it a ‘supersensible faculty’.
Elaborating upon it, Kant posits that the mathematical sublime concerns itself with the
power of reason to comprehend the immensity or the magnitude of the object of sublime
which is too large for human sense but allows it to be comprehended in one intuition as a
single great whole. Using St Peter’s (Basilica) in Rome and the pyramids in Egypt, Kant
illustrates his conceptualization of the mathematical sublime. The mathematical sublime thus
revels in the sense of the power of reason’s superiority over imagination. What is important
to note here is that imagination here is understood as the natural faculty for apprehension
which seems inadequate to estimate the magnitude in one whole grasp. It is this power of the
human reason over natural imagination that gives it a centrality in the Age of Enlightenment
also known as the age of reason.

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 Kantian dynamical sublime implies a position of moral opposition to mighty
phenomena that are perceived to be fearful and potentially destructive. In support of his
argument, he cites examples from natural world – bold, overhanging threatening cliffs, raging
sea, thundering clouds or a lofty waterfall – which reveal the threatening aspects of nature.
Kant argues that while they remind us of their power to potentially destroy us, such objects or
natural phenomena when reflected upon from a safe zone also remind us of our moral
superiority over our sensible being. The more fearful these phenomena are the more intense
the experience of the sublime is. Thus even when these natural phenomena point to our own
physical powerlessness, such an encounter allows for a transcendental experience in what he
calls the ‘dynamically sublime’. The dynamically sublime makes possible a realization of a
power of different kind – moral vocation – that allows us to comprehend it despite its
overwhelming threat. It is this moral aptitude thus that gives us ‘superiority to nature’. The
initial feeling of displeasure at our perceived sense of inadequacy/powerlessness is followed
by a feeling of pleasure at our superiority to nature. Thus it imbues us with a sense of self-
esteem thereby affecting in us a morally ennobling effect. On a concluding note, it may be
highlighted that what the judgment of sublime shares with judgment of the beautiful is that
they are based on a feeling of pleasure or liking. At the same time, they are different in that
the sublime involves a negative element. A judgment of beauty comprises a relationship
between imagination and understanding whereas that of the sublime entails linkages between
imagination and reason. Finally, objects can be termed beautiful and not sublime as sublime
is located only in our mind.
7. Self-Check Questions
1. What are the literary and philosophical antecedents to sublime? Discuss.
2. In what way is imagination and reason related to sublime in Kant’s Analytic of the
sublime?
3. How does Kant distinguish the mathematical sublime from the dynamical sublime?
4. How is the concept of sublime useful in aesthetics?
5. How does Kant’s early writings on sublime differ from his Critical project?
8. Significance of Kant and his ‘Analytic of the Sublime’
In measuring the relative value of the two – the beautiful and the sublime – Kant writes that
‘the concept of the sublime in nature is far from being as important and rich in consequence
as that of its beauty’. He continues ‘theory of the sublime is a mere appendix to the aesthetic
judging of the purposiveness of nature’. While Kant himself seems to ostensibly undervalue
the sublime in relation to beauty, his description of the sublime has significantly fueled the
field of aesthetic theory and literary criticism. The sublime however, as already commented
upon, in Kantian vision is important in so far it links aesthetic judgment and morality. That
various philosophers, theorists and critics have found several applications of it points to the
richness of Kant’s theory of sublime that evokes concomitant ideas of and relationship with

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morality, freedom, taste, and free will – thoughts that illuminate the universal significance of
the sublime.
9. Summing Up
Having traced a pattern to the development of the concept of the sublime, it is perhaps useful
at this point to quickly mention the points on which the three – Longinus, Burke and Kant-
concur and differ. In so far the origins of sublime is concerned, Longinus locates it in the
literary and craft of language and powerful expressions of thought in literature. Burke,
however, argues that it lies in the natural objects that produce a delightful fear. For him, the
sublime is a reaction to the object that produces that feeling of terror but importantly when
experienced from a distance. Developing on this point Kant claims that sublime occurs only
in separation from the object being perceived.
Further, any discussion of sublime is followed with a discussion of beauty. For
Longinus, the sublime and the beautiful work in tandem. The sublime though being an
experience of beauty that exceeds usual limitations of thought and sentiment. In a departure
from Longinus’ standpoint, Burke saw the two – sublime and beautiful – as distinct and
antithetical. Unlike Longinus who believed that the sublime can be described as beautiful, the
same does not hold true for Burke. According to Burke, the sublime cannot be beautiful since
the sublime is ultimately founded on an object that induces fear while a beautiful object
cannot be viewed as sublime since beauty lies in perceiving a pleasurable object. In contrast
to Longinus and Burke, Kant posits that the origin of the sublime is in instances where the
imagination of the mind cannot grasp an object’s might, resulting in the transcendence of
reason. While Burke argues that sublime lies in the object inducing terror or the potential for
pain, Kant establishes that sublime come from the failure of our imagination to fully
comprehend an object of immense magnitude and terror but made comprehensible and
pleasurable only by the transcendence of reason.
Conclusively, while all seemed to be united in their belief regarding the superiority of
sublime over beautiful, the differing and ever mutating explanations of the sublime point to
the complexity of the emotions involved what is rendered as a sublime experience.
10. Suggested Readings
Burke, Edmund. A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and
Beautiful.
Ed. Adam Phillips. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990.
Clewis, Robert R. The Sublime Reader.UK: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.
Fender, Katherine. “Review of Robert Doran's ‘The Theory of the Sublime from Longinus to
Kant’.” The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture 9.2 (2016): 147–150.
Guyer, Paul. The Cambridge Companion to Kant and Modern Philosophy. Cambridge UP,
2007.

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Kant, Immanuel. Critique of the Power of Judgment. Ed. Paul Guyer. UK: Cambridge UP,
2000.
---. Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime and Other Writings. Eds.
Patrick
Frierson & Paul Guyer. UK: Cambridge UP, 2011.
Longinus. On the Sublime. Trans. H. L. Havell, EBook. Macmillan & Co, 1890.
Lyotard, Jean-François. Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime: Kant’s ‘Critique of
Judgement’
§§ 22-29. Trans. Elizabeth Rotenberg. California: Stanford UP, 1994.

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 Unit-5(c)

William Wordsworth – ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’

Meenakshi Sharma

1. Introduction: Historical Background

The period from the last decade of the eighteenth century to mid-nineteenth century in
England refers to the English Romantic Age. In fact, many scholars of the age even date its
beginning to the publication of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s
collection of poems titled Lyrical Ballads in 1798 and its end is often referred to be in the
year 1832 with the death of Walter Scott. While you must by now be familiar with the
characteristics of this age, it is important to have an overview of the same with respect to the
essays given in this Unit. The Romantic Movement in literature was a reaction against the
artificial and mechanical nature of Neoclassical poetry. At the same time, the focus of
literature shifted to man and his surroundings in the form of Nature. Both the essays
discussed in this chapter reflect on the importance of Nature for the human mind and offer an
appreciation of the effects of Nature. Before we begin with the essays in this module, let us
first look at a few historical changes that initiated the thoughts presented in the essays.
In the political sphere, The French Revolution (1789-1799) and The Declaration of the
Rights of Man by the French National Assembly brought in the ideals of liberty, equality and
fraternity that promised a free and equal society, at least in theory. The prevalent social and
economic hierarchies were finally challenged. These political, economic and social factors
caused agitations and riots by the working class, so the Reform bill was passed by the
Parliament in 1832. This bill extended the right to vote to the middle class and laborers thus
further questioning the social hierarchies between the different classes of people.
In the social sphere, due to the onset of industrialization, factories were being set up in
towns and cities. This meant that the major agrarian societies were now being industrialized
as people started moving to the new centres such as factories that offered various other modes
of occupations. The dual forces of industrialization and urbanization toppled the power of the
land-owning aristocracy.
Thus, in the economic sphere, a new class of manufacturers emerged and soon became
the dominant class as they gained more wealth and power. Technological advancements such
as invention of the steam engine by James Watt which replaced the wind and water energy in
1765 also increased the pace of production as well as the means. However, these scientific
and technological advancements also meant that as more machinery was used in the
industries to increase efficiency, more people lost their jobs. Further, unemployment was
rampant due to a rise in job seekers as the soldiers returning from the French wars also joined
the labour market.

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 With the life in the city and towns becoming increasingly mechanized and materialistic,
there was a need for a counter movement in literature that emphasized the simplicity of rural
life and focused on the individual in an age where humans were being increasingly replaced
by machines in the factories. Further, a need was felt to increasingly talk about human
thoughts, feelings, emotions and sentiments. Both William Gilpin’s Three Essays: on
Picturesque Beauty; on Picturesque Travel; and on Sketching Landscape: to which is added
a poem, on landscape painting (of which ‘On Picturesque Travel’ is discussed in this Unit)
published in the year 1792 and William Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
published in the second edition of Lyrical Ballads in 1802 deal extensively with the same
themes of feelings and sentiments.
2. Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 Critically examine the phase of Romantic literary criticism.
 Grasp and familiarize yourselves with Wordsworth’s views on poetry.
 Understand the views expressed by Wordsworth on poetic form and diction, as well as the
subject matter of poetry.
 Understand Wordsworth’s views on the role of the poet.

3. William Wordsworth – ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’

3.1 Introduction
William Wordsworth along with his friend and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge
published anonymously a collection of poems titled Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems
in the year 1798. This seminal work marks the beginning of the British Romantic movement.
The First Edition was published with a brief ‘Foreword’ by Wordsworth. The second edition
of this work was published in 1800 along with a longer ‘Preface’ which detailed
Wordsworth’s vision of poetry and how his vision is significantly different from the
dominant forms of poetry during the preceding literary period of the Augustan age. The poets
of the Augustan age, as you have studied earlier, focused on the ‘form’ of poetry. They tried
to emulate the classical models of poetry and their emphasis was on wit, sophistication,
refined manners and considered reason as a means to control the wildness of nature. They
included references to and quotations from Latin writers. In the ‘Preface’, Wordsworth
highlights his mission of freeing poetry from artificial styles and conventions and instead
examines how poetry can serve as an authentic expression of thoughts and feelings expressed
in a simple manner without the lofty stylistic conventions or subject matter. Unlike his
predecessors in the Augustan Age, Wordsworth wanted to write about the simple, rural rustic
life of ordinary people. He dispensed with the classical models of writing poetry such as
rhyming couplet, Latin phrases etc. in favour of blank verse and a plain speech that could be

18
understood by ordinary people. In his ‘Preface’ to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, he
expresses his views about poetry as well as explains how his poetry is different from that of
his predecessors and why he felt the need to write such poetry.
Let us now look at what Wordsworth has to say in his ‘Preface’ to the Lyrical Ballads.
3.2 Summary and Analysis
Wordsworth begins by saying that the first volume of The Lyrical Ballads was published in
the year 1798 as an experiment. Through the publication of this volume, he wanted to test
whether the public would receive well this new kind of poetry which uses ordinary language.
To his surprise, he notes that the reception of his work far exceeded his expectation. He
further explains that along with his friend and fellow poet Coleridge, he wishes to depict the
“low and rustic life” of the common people who are far less restrained and therefore honest
and due to their simple lifestyle, are in a better communion with nature. At the same time, he
says, this new kind of poetry will use the ordinary language of the ordinary people. He says
that at first, he was unwilling to supply a preface mainly because his reasons for starting this
new kind of poetry can never be articulated in a few words but also because he did not wish
to force anyone into liking this new kind of poetry.
3.2.1 The Need for a New Kind of Poetry
Wordsworth says that in every age, a new style of poetry emerges which must change and
correspond with its times as well as the public’s expectations of poetry. Wordsworth has
chosen non-conformity and decided to write differently from the writers of his age not out of
laziness but because of this need to produce a different style of poetry based on the need of
the changing times. He says that he has chosen the common life of rural people as the subject
of his poetry because the rural people are far away from the social vanity of the
cosmopolitanism so their language is more honest, simple and universal. The Neoclassical
poets believed in using high sophistication and elevated language, thus making their poetry
unrelatable for their readers. Such kind of “food for fickle tastes” cannot offer the
permanence that the humble life of a rustic, rural livelihood can, especially because they are
more close to nature. Further, Wordsworth says that worse than the style and lofty language
of the Neoclassical poets was their subject matter which offered shallow entertainment about
trivial things. Instead, he feels that poetry should have “a worthy purpose”. Poetry should not
be written just for the sake of shallow entertainment. Wordsworth further states that the
purpose of his poetry is to allow the readers to vividly experience nature so that they can be
brought back from the dullness of urbanization, and cosmopolitanism. It should be serious
and profound as well as a “spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions”. He does not surely
mean to say that poetry can be thus defined for in the same sentence he moves on to say that
poetry can only be produced when the poet ‘has thought long and deeply’. Therefore he adds
that emotion cannot be separated from thought and each poem should be well-thought first.
Through a constant examination of their thought, the poet can be better enlightened and
produce better poetry.

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 In fact, Wordsworth states that feelings produce better poems through emotional
experiences. He says that poetry should focus on the particular feelings that any action or
situation incites and not the other way round, i.e., the action and situation dictating the
meaning. That is to say that rather than particular incidents, or occurrences, it is the feelings
associated with the incidents that are of importance to write poetry. Further, having declared
‘feelings’ as the most important aspect, Wordsworth explains what is the purpose of poetry.
He says that the purpose of poetry is to depict the thoughts, feelings, and emotions the poet
feels during emotional experiences. To explain his statement better, he recommends the
readers to read his ballads “Poor Susan” and “Childless Father”.
Wordsworth further writes that, “the human mind is capable of excitement without the
application of gross and violent stimulants”. By this he means that even without the
sensationalism that many poets displayed in their poetry, it is possible to excite the human
mind. This is especially true according to Wordsworth, for his contemporary circumstances
where the forces of industrialization and technological progress dull the human mind and
force it to seek instant gratification instead of the simpler pleasures of life. Therefore,
Wordsworth says that people of his time are driven towards “frantic novels, sickly and stupid
German tragedies, and deluges of idle and extravagant stories in verse” instead of
Shakespeare, Milton and their invaluable art. However, Wordsworth does not give up on his
generation of people and feels that there’s still hope of producing such kind of poetry due to
“certain inherent and indestructible qualities of the human mind” which are innate and cannot
be destroyed.
3.2.2 Stylistic Conventions of Poetry
Next, Wordsworth offers his views on the style of his poetry. He says that in Lyrical Ballads,
he does not present abstract ideas in lofty language nor has he used words, phrases, or figures
of speech that have become vulgar by their overuse as the “common inheritance of Poets”.
Instead, he has used the language of the common man so that rather than the abstract ideas,
his reader can get a taste of the realistic and thus relate to his work. The lofty ideas of the
poets of the age are distanced from the readers of the works as they do not associate these
ideas with the real life.
Wordsworth says that while there are many critics of poetry who do not appreciate
poetry written in the style and form of prose, except with a meter, he however disagrees with
them and approves of these “prosaisms” (poetry written in the form of a prose written in
meter) so long as they convey the deep thoughts and emotions of the poet. He gives the
example of Thomas Gray’s “On the Death of Richard West” to prove that poetry written in
prosaic language can be effective too. Hence, there need not be any difference between the
language of poetry and the language of prose. In fact, according to him, poetry is very close
to prose. To prove his point, Wordsworth personifies poetry by saying that poetry does not
have the ‘celestial ichor’ that flows in the veins of demigods, angels and gods. Instead, it has
very human blood. By saying this, he means that poetry need not have a sophisticated
language or a lofty subject matter but can instead move a reader even with common language

20
and subject matter of the ordinary people. Hence, he says, poetry does not shed tears shed by
angels but instead sheds natural, human tears. Through this personification, not only does
Wordsworth drive home the point that poetry need not concern itself with lofty subject matter
or sophisticated poetic diction but he also ironically displays his own ability to write in the
manner he disapproves of in the poetry of the poets of his age. By doing so, he presents the
contrast between his own idea of poetry and the neoclassical poetry that he has been
criticizing for its style and form as well as subject matter.
3.2.3 Role of the Poet /What is a Poet
Wordsworth describes the various characteristics of a poet. He says that a poet is “a man
speaking to men”, that is, a poet is just like the rest of the human beings who are trying to
communicate their own notions of truth and beauty. However, what differentiates the poet
from the rest of the human beings is his deep sensitivity to his own surroundings as well as
his own connection with the emotions that arise from these surroundings.
Firstly, a poet is extremely sensitive and filled with much more tenderness of the soul
than an ordinary human being. This means that a poet is not only acutely aware of his own
emotions but can also feel the emotions and feelings of others. Secondly, a poet facilitates the
humanizing influence of poetry. By this Wordsworth means that the act of writing poetry is a
social responsibility that a poet undertakes. The poet tries to rectify the emotions of the
readers and ordinary men. The poet must undertake the task of rendering the emotions,
thoughts, and feelings of the ordinary men more sane, pure, and permanent. He must also
have a didactic influence on other men as he must direct their emotions towards “new
compositions of feelings”. Thus, a poet must act as a guide and a teacher. Thirdly, the poet
must possess vivid imagination to recollect that which he sees. This imagination will help the
poet recreate the feelings that he felt when he first experienced them. These emotions when
recollected must bring him the appropriate feelings through the poet’s imagination. Finally,
Wordsworth says that a poet must have the quality to combine thoughts and feelings. Thus a
poet is different from his fellow beings not in the qualities he possesses but the degree to
which he possesses these qualities.
3.2.4 Poetic Diction
Wordsworth agrees to submit to the rules of poetic diction however, because he feels that not
following these rules would leave the reader to the whims and fancies of the poet who would
select “what imagery or diction he may choose to connect with the passion”. Wordsworth
says that he has chosen to write in meter because metrical language offers him aesthetic
charm in his poems. He says that even the simplest and the most ordinary of all things
displays aesthetic charm when written in meter. Therefore, he does not find the use of meter
restricting. Instead, he says that he can readily forego the freedom of unmetrical verses
because he has the entire freedom to choose his subject matter. Moreover, Wordsworth feels
that the use of meter provides a much bigger benefit to the poets than simply aesthetic appeal.
He says that poets can soften the blow of powerful and painful emotions by offering the

21
regularity and familiarity of a meter. By doing so, the readers will not be overwhelmed by the
subject matter. He says that it is for this reason that readers can re-read even the tragedies of
Shakespeare but not those of Clarissa Harlowe or of James Shirley. Shakespeare tempers his
tragedies with rhyme and meter that soothe the pain of the subject matter with the familiarity
of rhyme and meter. Further, he adds that the readers often associate certain emotions with
certain kinds of meters and poets can often use this to their advantage by using the
appropriate meter to exact that particular emotion from their readers. Wordsworth further
clarifies his position that the ‘Preface’ is not meant as a defense of his poetry but rather as an
explanation of it. If it were a defense, he would have presented the many different arguments
through which meter can lead to pleasure. Instead, he feels that it should suffice to say in this
brief ‘Preface’ that meter offers in poetry the pleasure that human mind gets from finding
similarity in dissimilarity.
3.2.5 Process of Composition of Poetry
Finally, Wordsworth now presents the entire process of creation of poetry. He says that the
poet begins with a recollection of emotions in tranquility, i.e., the poet should not write in the
heat of the moment when he experiences these emotions as doing so would overwhelm his
readers. Instead, the poet should contemplate his emotions in peace until he gains a thorough
understanding of his emotions. Only when he has gone through this contemplation should he
start writing his poetry. This way, the reader will find the act of reading the poet’s poetry a
pleasurable experience. He says that people read poetry over and over again as opposed to
prose because they derive pleasure from poetry. This way, poetry will convey truth without
pain, in a pleasurable way.
3.2.6 Wordsworth’s Judgement of his own Works
Wordsworth goes on next to examine his own ballads and addresses what he thinks are his
own faults. He admits that some of his subject matter may be unworthy of being written
about. It is also possible, he says, that he may have drawn connections between different
things and events which are so arbitrary that no one but he would understand them. At the
same time, he also defends his imperfect work by saying that even the reader is imperfect and
he may find fault where there is none. Besides, if a poet were to correct his works more often
than necessary, he would lose confidence in himself. Having said that, Wordsworth assures
his readers that there is at least one fault that they will never find in his poetry – that of
writing lampoons in the basic ballad meter. A lampoon is a “written attack ridiculing or
satirizing a person, group, or institution”. Thus Wordsworth says that his reader will never
find the fault of trivializing poetry in his works. He believes that all poetry is a matter of
seriousness and should hence be dealt in a serious manner. He says that while the meter of
ballad is simple, that in no way indicates that it should not be used for subject matter that is
serious. Wordsworth refers to lampoon as, “a mode of false criticism” and to illustrate his
point, he cites examples from two poems by Samuel Johnson. In “I put my hat upon my
head,” he shows how Johnson lampoons the simple ballad meter and how on the other hand,

22
in “The Babes in the Wood”, Johnson uses the same simple ballad meter to present a serious
and worthy subject matter.
3.2.7 On the Matter of Judgement of the Worthiness of a Poem
On the matter of judging the worthiness of poetry, Wordsworth beseeches the reader to judge
poetry based on their own thoughts, feelings, and emotions rather than that of others. He
further requests the readers that in case they found a poem good and another one bad, they
shouldn’t be so hasty to deliver judgments. Instead, they should read the poems they found
bad again. He feels that a review of a bad poem is only fair to the poet. At the same time,
Wordsworth further defends poetry by saying that reading and judging poetry is an acquired
talent. Instead of hasty judgments about his own poems, Wordsworth wants the readers to
review his work and not declare it unworthy by just one reading because, he says, hasty
judgments are often wrong.
Finally, Wordsworth says that now that he has explained his views on poetry, the only
thing left for his readers to do is read his ballads so that they can experience the pleasure they
gain from this reading. He feels that his ballads will serve as a permanent source of pleasure
as opposed to the fickle poetry of the age. At the same time, he admits that his poems in
Lyrical Ballads are both different and unique from the previous works of poetry that a reader
might have read and enjoyed. While he does not want to denounce any other form of poetry,
he feels that his own poetry offers pleasure “of a purer, more lasting, and more exquisite
nature”. Instead of rallying against any other form of poetry, Wordsworth seeks to offer a
new form of poetry in his Lyrical Ballads. He feels that this new form will bring humans
closer to their own human nature. Now that he has explained his position, Wordsworth says
that he waits for the response of the readers on his work as well as their opinions about
whether his poetry achieves its purpose as he has stated in this ‘Preface.’
4. Summing Up
Wordsworth in his Preface heralds a new form of poetry significantly different from the
classical imitations of the neoclassicists. He offers a variety of ways in which this new poetry
is different from its predecessors. He suggests that the subject matter of this poetry will be the
everyday lives of ordinary people. He suggests that the simplicity of the rustic, rural life is
more worthy of being presented as poetry. To do so, he did not wish to follow sophisticated
diction and meter and instead wanted to use conversational language of the ordinary people.
Further, Wordsworth suggests that poetry must stem from spontaneous emotions and each
word of poetry must be written when the poet recollects these emotions and contemplates
upon them later. Further, Wordsworth comments upon the characteristics of a poet as
someone who displays a greater sensibility that ordinary human beings and is hence
responsible for correcting the emotions of the readers by making them purer through his
words. He is then anxious to present a commentary on his own works by attempting to find
his own actual or perceived flaws as a poet. Wordsworth considers his publication as an

23
experiment to test the readiness of the readers to such poetry and further implores his readers
to not be hasty in passing judgments on his work.
5. Self-Check Questions
 According to Wordsworth, what is the process of poetic composition?
 How does Wordsworth define poetry?
 In what ways is Wordsworth’s idea of poetry different from that of his predecessors?
 What are the various characteristics of poetry according to Wordsworth?
 Critically examine Wordsworth's view that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow
of powerful feelings”
6. Suggested Reading

 Bloom, Harold. Romantic Poetry and Prose. Oxford University Press, 2010.
 Daiches, David. Critical Approaches to Literature. Literary Licensing, 2013.
 Frye, Northrop. “Varieties of Eighteenth-Century Sensibility.” Eighteenth-Century
Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 1990, p. 157.Doi: 10.2307/2738952.
 LitCharts. “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads Study Guide.” LitCharts,
www.litcharts.com/lit/preface-to-the-lyrical-ballads.
 “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads Plot Summary: Course Hero.” Preface to the Lyrical
Ballads Plot Summary | Course Hero, www.coursehero.com/lit/Preface-to-the-Lyrical-
Ballads/plot-summary/.
 Raimond, Jean. Handbook to English Romanticism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
 “The Romantic Period.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
www.britannica.com/art/English-literature/The-Romantic-period.
 Simpson, John A. The Oxford English Dictionary. Clarendon Press, 1991.
 Super Summary, www.supersummary.com/preface-to-lyrical-ballads/summary/.
 Wellek René. A History of Modern Criticism: 1750-1850. Yale University Press, 1955.
 Wimsatt, William K., and Cleanth Brooks. Literary Criticism: a Short History.
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970.

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 Unit-5(d)

William Gilpin – ‘On Picturesque Travel’

Meenakshi Sharma

1. Introduction
1.1 About the Author
William Gilpin was an Anglican priest, schoolmaster, scholar, and artist. He was born on 4
June 1724 to Captain John Bernard Gilpin in Cumberland, England. Both the sons of Captain
Gilpin were interested in art, sketching, and painting. In fact, William Gilpin’s brother even
took up painting as a profession.
William Gilpin studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, where he published his first critical
treatise A Dialogue upon the Gardens… at Stow in Buckinghamshire anonymously in 1748.
This work serves as a precursor to his ideas on the ‘picturesque’ which he would later give
shape to in his present work Three essays: on picturesque beauty; on picturesque travel; and
on sketching landscape: to which is added a poem, on landscape painting. Gilpin was
attracted to the beauty of the mountains and its scenery. At the same time, he developed ideas
about beauty in its purely aesthetic form without taking into consideration other qualities
often ascribed to beauty or considered a mark of beauty such as morality, utility etc.
He worked as a schoolmaster at Cheam School up until his move to Hampshire in 1777
where he took up the position of Vicar of Boldre. As a schoolmaster, he did not believe in
corporal punishment for his students involving physical harm and therefore incorporated a
system of fines to reform and educate his students. Even after his move to Hampshire and his
subsequent leaving of his job as a schoolmaster, he continued to tutor. Some of his students
include the poetess Caroline Anne Bowles as well as his own nephew, the painter William
Sawrey Gilpin.
1.2 William Gilpin’s Notion of the Picturesque
Gilpin introduced the concept of the picturesque in his Essay on Prints where he defined the
principles of beauty from his own experience in landscape painting. He calls the picturesque
as a “peculiar kind of beauty, which is agreeable in a picture”. In this context, it is important
to understand the distinction between the two aesthetic ideas – that of the picturesque and the
beautiful. Gilpin calls the objects of beauty “those, which please the eye in their natural state”
as opposed to the objects of picturesque “which please from some quality, capable of being
illustrated in painting”. Besides, he opines, each person sees the object of beauty in a
different manner. For instance, an architect will survey the beauty of buildings differently
from another person of a different profession. Thus, a painter who compares the object of
beauty from the perspective of art must see it in a different light than an ordinary person. In
this case, picturesque is that quality of beauty in an object that makes it most suitable to be

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represented in a painting. Gilpin’s notion of the picturesque is therefore a phenomenon that
can be created through the perception of the viewer.
1.3 Gilpin’s Picturesque Travel and the Grand Tour of Europe
The Grand Tour of Europe was a popular custom among the European, especially British
nobility and the landed gentry to traverse specific regions of Europe as part of their classical
education. It was a journey undertaken by the wealthy and the moneyed class often along
with guides or chaperones to study classical and Renaissance works and architecture. Even
though the Grand Tour was restricted to certain wealthy classes, by the eighteenth century, it
had become a staple of aristocratic education with several men from the majority of the
regions of Europe, North, and South America joining this mass tourism especially because
the tour gave these young men an opportunity to mingle with the fashionable and polite
society. Further, this was the only means to view certain works of classical art. Thus, such a
tour was considered an important aspect of the training of many budding artists for them to
learn proper techniques related to painting and sculpture.
During the mid-eighteenth century, with the rise of the middle class which included the
new gentry, tradesmen and merchants who had considerable mercantile income, the notion of
touring purely for the sake of pleasure began to take hold. Gilpin was instrumental in leading
this new and emerging leisure class onto tours of the English countryside rather than the
classical antiquaries. These tours to the rural Britain challenged the classical tours through a
change of itinerary of the tourists from the classical sites to the rustic rural settings. Further,
there was now a greater appreciation for works of nature which were imperfect, asymmetrical
and irregular rather than well-proportioned works by classical and Renaissance artists.
Through their irregularity, these new sites focused on individuality and an appreciation of the
rustic. Thus, Gilpin countered the aristocratic tastes in the form of this focus on rural,
countryside landscape as well as his own paintings of the same.
2. Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 Understand the notion of the ‘picturesque’ as expressed by William Gilpin and the
difference between the picturesque and the beautiful.
 Know what he means by the term ‘picturesque travel’.
 Understand how the mid finds pleasure in the picturesque.
 Grasp and familiarize yourselves with the different sources of pleasure for a picturesque
traveler.

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3. Summary and Analysis
Gilpin begins by introducing the subject of the effects of travelling. He says that while there
may be multiple and many reasons for travel which might as well be of more importance, the
one reason that he will be focusing on is travel for pleasure. Many travelers travel for
pleasure to simply amuse themselves without any other intended reason for travel. They may,
of course, not understand what amusement they derive from this act of travelling and so
Gilpin wants to “give a reason why they are amused”. When talking about ‘picturesque
travel’ Gilpin will first look at its reason (i.e., reason for picturesque travel) and then look at
its source of amusement for the traveler.
3.1 Purpose of Picturesque Travel
The purpose of picturesque travel is to seek beauty. The objective is therefore to look for the
beautiful scenery of nature and examine it from the point of view of a painting. He says that
we seek beauty in the different elements and components of a landscape such as rocks, trees,
woods, rivers etc. These elements provide plenty of variety in themselves, for instance, there
are a variety of different trees available in nature. Gilpin further elaborates that no two rocks
or even trees are exactly the same. Moreover, in addition to this variety within themselves,
the elements when combined together produce even more variety. Further, these elements
provide a third kind of variety when intermingled with the effects that light and shade or
other aerial effects (such as winds, perhaps) have on them.
3.2 What makes a Landscape ‘Picturesque’
Now William Gilpin turns to the distinction between the sublime and the beautiful. By
sublimity he refers to the vastness and grandness of the expanse such as, say, the vastness of
the ocean or a mountain etc. He says that to make a landscape picturesque, only sublimity
isn’t enough. A landscape can only be picturesque if its sublimity is accompanied by beauty.
Likewise, he says that the strangeness of a landscape alone isn’t picturesque unless there is
some form of beauty in the strangeness. To strengthen his point, Gilpin gives the example of
a region called the Giant's Causeway in Ireland which is filled with peculiar pinnacled rocks.
He says that this landscape does not offer any pleasure. Instead, the truly picturesque can be
found not in the novelty of forms or newness of the Causeway but in the familiarity and
simplicity of nature as presented in the Lakes of Killarney with the vast expanse of lakes.
While the novelty of the former might be pleasing to the eye once, the simplicity of the latter
forever attracts and offers amusement.
However, Gilpin continues, that apart from the form and composition of the various
elements of the landscape, the picturesque landscape is also created through atmospheric
effects (such as wind, sunlight etc.). There is in fact, according to Gilpin, no greater pleasure
in travelling when the value of picturesque scenery is doubled when the grandeur of a
landscape is accompanied by “some accidental circumstance of the atmosphere” and the two
work in harmony.

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 Apart from these inanimate elements, the living forms also aid in providing beauty.
However, Gilpin says that he isn’t concerned here with an anatomical study of the living
beings nor is he looking for exactness in the form instead just their “general shapes, dresses,
groups, and occupations”. In fact, he says, that the human figures only serve as further
ornaments of the scenery. The same applies to animals that may be found in the scenery.
Even for the animals, only their general form is of importance to the picturesque eye. Gilpin
continues that even smaller beings, such as birds, have a pleasing effect. Thus, every life
form, whether big or small can serve as a picturesque object unless they are too small to be
noticed.
Finally, Gilpin turns from nature to the subject of art. He says that among all the subjects
of art, the picturesque eye finds “the elegant relics of ancient architecture; the ruined tower,
the Gothic arch, the remains of castles, and abbeys” the most pleasing. Gilpin says that,
“these are the richest legacies of art” as these relics have existed for a long time and therefore
offer permanence much similar to that of nature itself. Thus, the objects of picturesque have
the quality of universality. The picturesque beauty can be found in every shape, be it in nature
or in art, in various forms, colours, and sizes.
3.3 How the Mind finds Pleasure in the Picturesque
Having discussed the various objects of amusement for the picturesque, Gilpin now begins a
discussion of the ways in which the mind finds pleasure in these objects. First, Gilpin begins
by considering the objects of nature as more than a mere source of amusement and instead as
having a higher purpose. He naturally follows through with the idea that a search for the
source of beauty should lead the mind to think of the origin, “– first good, first perfect, and
first fair” beauty. However, while this assumption is theoretically sound, Gilpin says that it is
in fact akin to asking too much of the admirer of picturesque beauty. For surely, it is not
possible that every admirer reaches this logical conclusion or thinks of how nature is only an
effect whose main source is in fact God, the one who causes this effect of nature. However,
such thought is too much to expect from an admirer. Instead, if the mind of the admirer of
nature can turn this admiration towards a higher purpose such as the picturesque beauty
filling the admirer with religious awe or the tranquility of nature can provide self-satisfaction,
even that is achievement enough especially because there’s nothing more required out of an
admirer of nature than simple pleasure. Thus, even sentiments such as these serve a better
purpose. Further, Gilpin says, that even this simple enjoyment is more than enough in an age
corrupted in the morals.
3.4 The Different Sources of Amusement for a Picturesque Traveler
The first source of amusement for a picturesque traveler is the suspense of what scenery is in
store for him in the unexplored landscape. This pleasure comes from the love of discovering
new and pleasing landscapes. As every change in view for the eye promises something new,
the admirer is forever in pursuit of this novelty. Gilpin then compares the experience of new
landscapes for a picturesque traveler to the thrill of the chase. Finally, the chase of beautiful
landscapes ends with the satisfaction of attainment. The mind then examines the beautiful

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landscapes, sometimes as a whole, combining the colours, shades, lights in a single
comprehensive view.
Such views are often an extraordinary source of delight. However, more often than not,
such opportunities to examine the whole are rare and instead, the admirer examines the parts
of scenes, which albeit extremely beautiful, might not be capable of producing a whole
comprehensive view. We may examine these objects of picturesque beauty to analyze the
various rules of art, or to understand how even minute details etch out the difference between
beauty and deformity. At other times, we may compare the objects we see to other such
similar objects of beauty, or we may even compare them to works of art which attempt to
imitate them. All these provide the mind with a source of amusement.
However, this scientific examination of beauty is not really our chief source of
amusement. Instead, upon seeing a scene of great picturesque beauty, our mind is arrested by
its beauty even before the thought of the rules of art strike the mind. This “pause of intellect”,
where for a brief moment, our mental operation is suspended, and our mind is overwhelmed
by pure feeling is the source of the greatest pleasure. While such a “high delight” is mostly
produced by scenes of nature, but it is also possible even through artificial objects.
3.5 Second Source of Amusement: Expansion of One’s Own Ideas
After this process of amusement, our next amusement comes from an analysis of our own set
of ideas as through the experience; our own ideas are expanded and enlarged. As nature has
so much variety, it continues to add to our experience and keeps expanding our reserve of
ideas. On the other hand, when the same kind of object occurs frequently, it helps in making
the admirer more learned. For example, Gilpin says, that if someone sees one oak tree, they
have only the idea of that oak tree. However, for someone who has seen and examined a
variety of oak trees, they would have a full and complete idea of the oak tree.
3.6 Third Source of Amusement: Representing the Picturesque Beauty on a Sketch
Another source of amusement is that of representing what has been seen and observed in
these landscapes of picturesque beauty onto a sketch, even a less elaborate one with only a
few strokes, even if the sketch is legible only to the admirer who sketches this landscape. So
long as this sketch helps the mind in remembering the beauty of the landscape that it
represents or help recall the memory of “the splendid colouring, and force of light, which
existed in the real scene”, it serves as a source of amusement. In fact, there may even be more
pleasure in the act of recreating, recollecting, and recording the scenes of admiration than in
the actual viewing of them. The pleasure derived from such kind of endeavors such as
sketching the original scene of beauty is in fact calmer because it is more uniform and
uninterrupted. This is so also because this kind of pleasure flatters the admirer with the act of
creation of something of his own in response to nature. Secondly, it is devoid of the fatigue
that overcomes the body while traversing the wilderness of nature in search of picturesque
landscapes. This pleasure is further enhanced if after we have amused ourselves with our
sketches, we help amuse others too.

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3.7 Fourth Source of Amusement: Recreating the Picturesque Scene
Another amusement that arises from admiring and gaining the complete idea of the object of
the picturesque is the “power of creating, and representing scenes of fancy”. The imagination
recreates the best scenes of nature and functions as a camera that captures the most beautiful
aspects of nature. This is also true for writing as much as it is true for art. Even in writing, as
in art, the representation of reality brings the most amusement as opposed to the
representation of the unnatural. Even if the admirer is not able to produce even a humble
sketch of nature, he may just as well be the judge of any such work of art, especially, if he is
strongly inclined towards the beauty of nature.
To an extent, we are also amused by the mere imagination of nature itself too. For
instance, Gilpin gives an example of when half-asleep we construct beautiful objects of
nature through our imagination, or even after experiencing a similar scene. Our imagination
collects all the ideas in our mind to produce a harmony of all the colours, lights, depths, and
shadows. Gilpin also refutes the idea that such kind of a fancy could also offer scenes of
disgust instead of scenes of beauty by saying that there is very little in nature that isn’t full of
beauty. He then gives the example of the military road from Newcastle to Carlisle which is a
waste stretching out for forty miles. Gilpin says that even here the picturesque eye would find
beauty in the greenery and the vegetation, the beautiful lights in the hills, the sheep and the
cattle etc. If even then, these scenes provide no source of pleasure, the picturesque travelers
can use their imagination to build great scenes of beauty by supplanting the landscapes with
hills, rivers, lakes, villages or even castles, abbeys, or valleys etc. in their own mind.
Gilpin then explains that while a picturesque traveler always finds beauty in nature, he
may not find such beauty and may therefore dislike a work of art. In fact, as the taste of the
admirer of nature is refined through the experience of picturesque beauty, the more he
dislikes their representation in art. This is so because he is so enraptured by the original that
its copy must be just as pure.
Finally, Gilpin concludes by saying that no matter how much a picturesque traveler, an
admirer of nature may study nature; it would forever offer newer varieties. Thus regardless of
how refined the taste of such a picturesque traveler may be, the scenes of nature, and the
objects of picturesque would always surpass it to produce newer sources of both pleasure and
amusement.
4. Summing Up
In this essay, Gilpin develops the concept of the picturesque in a comprehensive and detailed
manner by focusing on picturesque travel. He first begins with expounding his theory of the
picturesque as that object of beauty which can be illustrated in a painting. Gilpin speaks of a
specific purpose of travel which is travel for pleasure. Further, he explains the qualities of a
picturesque landscape, namely, the form and composition of the various elements of nature.
He then enumerates the different ways in which picturesque travel accords amusement to the
observer-traveler. Firstly, it is through the suspense of the awaiting scenery that the traveler
finds amusement; secondly, the traveler is amused by the host of new ideas and images that
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are added to his mind during his travels. Thirdly, the traveler finds amusement in recreating
these scenes in a sketch and finally, recapturing these scenes during leisure forms another
source of amusement.
5. Self-Check Questions

 What do you understand by the notion of the picturesque as propagated by William Gilpin
 What do you understand by the term ‘picturesque travel’?
 What are the various sources of amusement that Gilpin enumerates in the picturesque?
 According to William Gilpin, what is the object of picturesque travel?
6. Suggested Reading

 Batey, Mavis. “The Picturesque: An Overview.” Garden History, vol. 22, no. 2, 1994,
pp. 121–132.
 Gilpin, William. Three Essays: On Picturesque Beauty. GALE ECCO, PRINT
EDITIONS, 2018.
 Miall, David S. “Representing the Picturesque: William Gilpin and the Laws of
Nature.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 12, no. 2, 0AD,
pp. 75–93.
 “19th Century Landscape – The Pastoral, the Picturesque and the Sublime.” The
University of Arizona Museum of Art and Archive of Visual Arts,
artmuseum.arizona.edu/events/event/19th-century-landscape-the-pastoral-the-
picturesque-and-the-sublime.
 “Picturesque.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
www.britannica.com/art/picturesque.
 Three Essays: on Picturesque Beauty; on Picturesque Travel; and on Sketching
Landscape: to Which Is Added a Poem, on Landscape Painting. By William Gilpin, ...,
quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004863369.0001.000/1:4?rgn=div1%3Bview.

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 Glossary
Industrialization: The period in the history of Europe that marks its shift from a primarily
agrarian (agriculture based) society to an industrial one. Industrialization involved
reorganizing the social and economic aspects of the society to suit large-scale manufacturing
in the new industries being set up.
Urbanization: The shift in population from the rural to the urban areas where factories
are being set up in response to rampant industrialization, especially for people in search of
livelihood.
Lampoon: A written and public document criticizing or ridiculing a person, group, or
public organization in a satirical manner
Ballad: A form of verse that traditionally tells a story.
Enclosure: A legal practice in England through which smaller landholdings were
collectively enclosed into larger farms which were given to one more owners. The practice
derives its name from the act of enclosing or fencing the landholding when converting it into
larger farms.
Picturesque: “Picturesque, artistic concept and style of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries characterized by a preoccupation with the pictorial values of architecture and
landscape in combination with each other” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

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