华兹华斯诗学理论浅析

华兹华斯诗学理论浅析

［Abstract］Wordsworth, a representative poet of British Romanticism, was also a famous poetic theorist who explained in details his poetic theories about romantic poems. Compared with Aristotle, Wordsworth attached great importance to the natural overflow of strong feelings, which was embodied in the two subjects of nature and common people in his poems.

［Key words］Wordsworth,poetic theory,nature

I. Introduction

William Wordsworth (1770-1850), who was born and has grown up in the Lake district, had a profound love for nature since his childhood. He was well educated in Cambridge and in France where he was deeply influenced and moved by the enthusiasm of the French Revolution. But later in his life, his attitude towards the revolution changed and he gave up his former political enthusiasm, and then lived a secluded life in the countryside for half a century. He was made poet laureate after Southey’s death. However, he was often criticized by his contemporaries. For example, Byron found him “dull, overmild, and flat” and called Wordsworth a “dull disciple” of Robert Southey’s, and a “mild apostate” from the neoclassical rules. And “Keats was discomfited by the

ever-recurrent ‘I’in Wordsworth”.[1]iv However, as his contribution to the Romanticism cannot be ignored and erased from literary history, this paper probes into his poetic theory by analyzing some of his important poets.

Ⅱ. Wordsworth’s Poetic Theory

The year 1798 witnessed a great event in literary history —the publication of Lyrical Ballads which symbolized the beginning of romanticism. This literary movement lasted until the death of Sir Walter Scot in 1832. During this not very long period of time there emerged a lot of poets and prose writers such as William Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelly, Lamb etc. As this movement started against a backdrop of social upheaval such as the industrial revolution and French revolution, and under the influence of the neo-classicism of the 18th century, it has its own features such as the glorification of instinct and emotion, a deep veneration of nature, and a flaming zeal to remake the world, etc. Among the romantic poets, there are two schools: the conservatives or passive or escapist romantics, and the revolutionary or active ones, the two of which are called “lakers” and “Satanists” by their opponents. But both of them are dissatisfied with the bourgeois society and revolt against or escape from the sordid daily life under capitalism. Among the poets, William Wordsworth is one of the most representative conservative poets, and his