CHAP. I. Occasion of the Lyrical Ballads, and the objects
originally proposed-Preface to the second edition
-The ensuing controversy, its causes and acrimony
-Philosophic definitions of a Poem and Poetry with
scholia
CHAP. II. The specific symptoms of poetic power eluci-
dated in a critical analysis of Shakespeare's Venus
and Adonis, and Rupe of Lucrece
CHAP. III. Striking points of difference between the
Poets of the present age and those of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries-Wish expressed for the
union of the characteristic merits of both
CHAP. IV. Examination of the tenets peculiar to Mr.
Wordsworth-Rustic life (above all, low and rustic
life) especially unfavourable to the formation of a
human diction-The best parts of language the pro-
duct of philosophers, not of clowns or shepherds-
Poetry essentially ideal and generic-The language
of Milton as much the language of real life, yea, in-
comparably more so than that of the cottager.
CHAP. V. Language of metrical composition, why and
wherein essentially different from that of prose-
Origin and elements of metre-Its necessary conse-
quences, and the conditions thereby imposed on the
metrical writer in the choice of his diction
CHAP. VI. Continuation-Concerning the real object
which, it is probable, Mr. Wordsworth had before
him in his critical preface-Elucidation and applica-