Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 1, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/9

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

PREFACE.



The first Volume of these Poems has already been submitted to general perusal. It was published, as an experiment which, I hoped, might be of some use to ascertain, how far, by fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation, that sort of pleasure and that quantity of pleasure may be imparted, which a Poet may rationally endeavour to impart.

I had formed no very inaccurate estimate of the probable effect of those Poems: I flattered myself