Talks about lyrical ballads.

The publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge marked a radical change in the direction of English Literature. It represented a movement away from the overwrought, highly formal and learned verse of the eighteenth century, and in doing so ushered in a new, more democratic era of poetry. But despite this approach, and the subsequent popularity of poems such as Tintern Abbey and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the collection still presents difficulties, not least because it appeared as four significantly different editions between 1798 and 1805.

In his superb introduction to Lyrical Ballads, Michael Mason examines the collection’s genesis, encouraging the reader to avoid the critical assumptions that exist around the text; his expert annotations elucidate the poems whilst retaining an enthusiasm for what Wordsworth termed their ‘strangeness’. This revised publication of Mason’s edition includes the complete listing from the final - and most comprehensive - 1805 edition, and the celebrated Preface of the 1800 edition, effectively a manifesto for the future of poetry. It also includes a new preface by John Mullan, which discusses the poems and highlights the value of Mason’s approach. A new appendix by Daniel Karlin examines Wordsworth’s revisions and what we might draw from them of Wordsworth’s development as poet.

Lyrical Ballads was, and remains, a revolutionary collection of poetry. This annotated edition illuminates the poems themselves, and the forms in which they have been presented to the reader.

Professor Michael Mason was Professor of English at University College London and the author of, among others, The Making of Victorian Sexuality (1995). He died in 2003. Professor Daniel Karlin is Professor of English at the University of Sheffield. He is editor of the The Poems of Browning in the Longman Annotated English Poets series and the author of several books. Professor John Mullan is Professor of English at University College London and the author of numerous books. He is a regular pundit on The Late Review and a Guardian columnist.

Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a unique work of literature. first published in 1798, it marked a radical change in the direction of English Literature. Lyrical Ballads represented a movement away from the overwrought, highly formal and learned verse of the 18th century and in so doing ushered in a new, more democratic poetic era.

Written in the language of the common man and addressing the concerns of the common man, Lyrical Ballads was the first - and remains the most - truly revolutionary collection of poetry, paving the way for the great Romantic poets - keats, Byron, Shelley et al. - and proving that, while there was no actual revolution on the ground, England could still be the most revolutionary of places.

Lyrical Ballads was not a single phenomenon but a sequence of four editions spread over seven years; its appearance in English literature was not a historical moment but a sequence of moments - 1798, 1800, 1802, 1805. This edition - based on the 1805 edition, but looking back on each of the previous publications - shows how this collection developed, how it was refined and added to by the authors. No other edition on the market has such a wealth of key background information.