Lyrical Ballads

Lyrical Ballads
First edition title page
AuthorWilliam Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
LanguageEnglish
GenrePoetry
PublisherJ. and A. Arch
Publication date
4 October 1798[1]
Publication placeUnited Kingdom

Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature.[2] The immediate effect on critics was modest, but it became and remains a landmark, changing the course of English literature and poetry. The 1800 edition is famous for the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, something that has come to be known as the manifesto of Romanticism.[3]

Most of the poems in the 1798 edition were written by Wordsworth, with Coleridge contributing only four poems to the collection (although these made about a third of the book in length), including one of his most famous works, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

A second edition was published in 1800, in which Wordsworth included additional poems and a preface detailing the pair's avowed poetical principles.[4] For another edition, published in 1802, Wordsworth added an appendix titled Poetic Diction in which he expanded the ideas set forth in the preface.[5] A third edition was published in 1802,[6] with substantial additions made to its "Preface," and a fourth edition was published in 1805.[7]

  1. ^ Hunnekuhl, Philipp (2007). "Imagination and Growth: Coleridge and Wordsworth in Germany (1798-99)". Edinburgh Research Archive.
  2. ^ See Lyrical Ballads (1 ed.). London: J. & A. Arch. 1798. Retrieved 13 November 2014. via archive.org
  3. ^ Bushell, Sally (2020), Bushell, Sally (ed.), "Wordsworth's 'Preface': A Manifesto for British Romanticism", The Cambridge Companion to 'Lyrical Ballads', Cambridge Companions to Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 15–31, ISBN 978-1-108-41632-0, retrieved 8 August 2023
  4. ^ Wordsworth, William (1800). Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems. Vol. I (2 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees. Retrieved 13 November 2014.; Wordsworth, William (1800). Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems. Vol. II (2 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees. Retrieved 15 November 2014. via archive.org
  5. ^ Wordsworth, William (1802). Lyrical Ballads with Pastoral and other Poems. Vol. I (3 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees. Retrieved 15 November 2014. via archive.org
  6. ^ 3rd edition
  7. ^ 4th edition