In the preface to the Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth wrote that "There neither is, nor can be, any essential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition". This statement of Wordsworth was actually, a reply to the advocates of Poetic Diction, according to whom the language of poetry was basically different from that of prose. All the Neo-classical poets were advocates of Poetic Diction. Poetic Diction was an assemblage of highly archaic, obscure and stilted words which were not used in normal life. Referring to that type of language used by poets, Wordsworth says, "Some Poets think that they are conferring honour upon themselves and their art, in proportion as they separate themselves from the sympathies of men, and indulge in arbitrary and capricious habits of expression".
Refuting this concept Wordsworth chose incidents, and situations from common life, and related or described them in a selection of language really used by men. The language of these men was adopted by him because such men hourly communicate with the best objects from which the best part of language is originally derived. Defending his concept, Wordsworth says, "The language of a large portion of every good poem, except with reference to the metre, in no respect differs from that of good prose when prose is well written." The poet thinks and feels in the spirit of human passions. How, then, can his language differ in any material degree from that of all other men who feel vividly and see clearly? He must express himself as other men express themselves. Wordsworth endeavoured to bring his language near to the real language of men. As such there is no essential difference between the language of poetry and prose. Summing up his views, Wordsworth says, "Whether the composition be in prose or in verse, they require an exact one and the same language."
