valuable contributions were made, the most notable of which came from the poets themselves.[vi] [vi] The extracts from the Biographia Literaria are placed next to the Wordsworthian doctrines which they criticize; otherwise the arrangement of the essays is chronological. American criticism is represented—inadequately, but, it is hoped, not unworthily—by the last two essays. In the preparation of this volume I have received much valuable help from Mr. J. C. Smith, which I now gratefully acknowledge. Edmund D. Jones. Edmund D. Jones. CONTENTS[vii] [vii] Page [viii] WILLIAM WORDSWORTH[1] [1] 1770-1850 POETRY AND POETIC DICTION [Preface to the Second Edition of Lyrical Ballads, 1800] 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. The I had formed no very inaccurate estimate of the probable effect of those Poems: I flattered
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