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Lyrical Ballads
First published 1798 · 552 pages
A foundational journey into the sublime, where ordinary rustic life and haunting supernatural visions awaken a profound reverence for the natural world.
What it feels like
Reading this collection feels like stepping out of a crowded, noisy room into the quiet majesty of an ancient forest. The pace is decidedly leisurely, inviting you to linger over lines that elevate the everyday struggles of rustic life into moments of profound spiritual clarity. The mood shifts seamlessly between the sunlit, pastoral reverence of memory and the haunting, sea-salt dread of supernatural voyages. Written in language that deliberately strips away artificial ornamentation, the poetry possesses a stark, rhythmic beauty that feels both intimate and sweeping. It is a deeply earnest and contemplative experience, perfect for readers who seek solace in nature and want to feel the raw, untamed pulse of the Romantic imagination.
- Mood
- pastoral
- awe-struck
- haunting
- contemplative
- Tone
- earnest
- reverent
- philosophical
- visionary
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- the sublime in nature · innocence and childhood · rustic simplicity · memory and time · supernatural dread
- The writing
- Employs the real language of everyday life, elevated by a rhythmic lyricism that blends stark simplicity with sweeping, visionary musicality.
- The arc
- Moves from simple rustic observations and haunting supernatural visions to profound, transcendent reflections on memory and nature.
- Who it's for
- Readers who seek solace in the natural world and appreciate poetry that elevates ordinary human experiences into the profound.
Content notes
- death
- supernatural elements
- animal death
About the book
Twenty-three poems that transformed English poetry. Wordsworth and Coleridge composed this powerful selection of poetry during their youthful and intimate friendship. Reproducing the first edition of 1798, this edition of "Lyrical Ballads" allows modern readers to recapture the book's original impact. In these poems including Wordsworth's Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey and Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, the two poets exercised new energies and opened up new themes.
Description from Open Library.
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PoemsSamuel Taylor ColeridgeA descent into a dreamscape where nature's sublime beauty collides with haunting, supernatural visions.
Rime of the ancient marinerSamuel Taylor ColeridgeA hypnotic, dread-soaked descent into maritime madness and the inescapable weight of a single, thoughtless act.
PoemsWilliam WordsworthA quiet, soul-stirring walk through the English countryside that transforms ordinary landscapes into sites of profound spiritual awakening.
Songs of Innocence and of ExperienceWilliam BlakeA visionary descent from the sunlit pastures of childhood wonder into the soot-stained realities of a fallen world.
The preludeWilliam WordsworthA deeply introspective and scholarly journey into the psychological and historical evolution of a poet's mind.
PoemsWilliam Butler YeatsA haunting, musical descent into Celtic twilight that slowly awakens to the stark, beautiful realities of a modernizing world.