Conclusion

Abstract

Thus Wordsworth in the Preface of 1800 — the first edition of Lyrical Ballads (1798) had been published anonymously. Although it was Coleridge who forced Wordsworth, somewhat against his will, into writing the Preface, the attitude Wordsworth adopts here suggests that he was the prime mover in the publication. Perhaps it is for this reason, as much as any, that Wordsworth has often been assumed to be the leader in what was initially a joint enterprise. I said earlier that had he not met Wordsworth we might now not hear of Coleridge the poet. This does not mean, however, that Coleridge simply followed where Wordsworth led. Undoubtedly Wordsworth had a dedication to his craft and an ability to pursue a course with a single-mindedness that Coleridge lacked. Wordsworth wrote prolifically all his life and, although it is not examined here, the later poetry is not all as mediocre as some critics have thought. With such tenacity of purpose Wordsworth would almost certainly have been a poet of stature without his friendship with Coleridge; Coleridge might not have achieved what he did without Wordsworth. What type of poetry Wordsworth would have produced had he never met Coleridge is, however, less clear.

I was induced to request the assistance of a friend ... I should not, however, have requested this assistance, had I not believed that the Poems of my Friend would in a great measure have the same tendency as my own, and that, though there would be found a difference, there would be found no discordance in the colours of our style; as our opinions on the subject of poetry do almost entirely coincide.

(LB, p. 242)