Which Romantic poet famously defined poetry in his 1800 Preface as 'the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility'?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. William Wordsworth
- Step 1: William Wordsworth formulated this foundational Romantic aesthetic in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. Step 2. He advocated using the common language of ordinary men to express elemental emotional truths. Answer: William Wordsworth. Why not the others: Coleridge emphasized the synthetic power of the secondary imagination; Keats emphasized 'Negative Capability'; Byron wrote satirical verse.
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