Does the poem “Tintern Abbey” fulfill the expectations that Wordsworth sets up in his Preface to the collection? How do you connect the claims about poetry from the Preface to this particular poetic performance? If you don’t think the poem lives up to the expectations set in the Preface, explain why. Where, possible, include quotations from the poem.
You might focus on any of the following assertions from the Preface (or another assertion of your choosing):
“Poetry fits to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation.”
“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling.”
Poetry expresses the “passions of men [as they] are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature.”
“Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the impassioned expression that is in the countenance of all science.”
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In the Preface to his collection, Wordsworth sets up expectations for the reader and he fulfills them in his poem “Tintern Abbey.” Throughout the Preface, he makes the claim multiple times that his poems are written in “a language really used by men”(597), meaning his language is straightforward and easier to understand, written with few allusions. He also makes the claim that “the human mind is capable of being excited without the application of gross and violent stimulants”(599) and this is demonstrated in his poem when he writes “The sounding cataract / Haunted me like a passion”(77) to describe the powerful emotions brought on by nature during his “boyish” days.