Words from Wordsworth

Here are a few favorite quotes I've come across in my readings for my British Literary History class. William has the best last name for a writer I think I've ever heard ... and his words are beautiful in their simplicity.

Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the expression which is in the countenance of all science. -Preface to Lyrical Ballads

But poets to not write for poets alone, but for men. Unless, therefore we are advocates for that admiration which depends upon ignorance, and that pleasure which arises from supposed height, and, in order to excite rational sympathy, he must express himself as other men express themselves. -Preface to Lyrical Ballads

I love to think, and when there is a writer who says things so beautifully and clearly that are so worth saying I get little tingles of joy from it. The scriptures do that to me too sometimes, and I love to take apart the language looking for the truth beneath it. The best verses (or sentences) are the ones where no peeling is required - the words match the light beneath them. I hope to write like that someday. I should really just start writing.