Lionel Trilling
THE FATE OF PLEASURE:
WORDSWORTH TO DOSTOEVSKY
Of all critical essays in the English language, there is none
that has established itself so firmly in our minds as Wordsworth's
Preface to
Lyrical Ballads.
Indeed, certain of the statements that the
Preface makes about the nature of poetry have come to exist for us as
something like proverbs of criticism. This is deplorable, for the famous
utterances, in the form in which we hold them in memory, can only
darken counsel. A large part of the literate world
believe~
that
Wordsworth defines poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings. With such a definition we shall not get very far in our
efforts to think about poetry, and in point of fact Wordsworth makes
no such definition. Much less does he say, as many find it convenient
to
recall, that poetry is emotion recollected in tranquillity. Yet the
tenacity with which we hold in mind our distortions of what Words–
worth actually does say suggests the peculiar power of the essay as a
whole, its unique existence as a work of criticism. Its cogency in
argument is notable, even if intermittent, but the Preface is not
regarded by its readers only as an argument. By reason of its eloquence,
and because of the impetuous spirit with which it engages the great
questions of the nature and function of poetry, it presents itself to us
not chiefly as a discourse, but rather as a dramatic action, and we
are prepared to respond to its utterances less for their truth than for
their happy boldness.
. This being so, it should be a matter for surprise that one especially
bold utterance of the Preface has not engaged us at all and is
scarcely ever cited. I refer to the sentence in which Wordsworth
speaks of what he calls "the grand elementary principle of pleasure,"
and says of it that it constitutes "the naked and native dignity of
