00061--Why does Wordsworth choose the life of rustics and common men for the subject of his poetry?

                                                                                       

                                          In the preface to the 'Lyirical Ballads' Wordsworth says that the life of the rustics and common men is the fittest subject for poetry.  This concept is just contrary to the concept of Neo-classical poets who chose the life and manners and morals of the urban people, specially of the aristocratic class, to be the fittest subject for poetry.  Pope's Rape of the Lock is the best example of this class of poetry.  Against this concept, Wordsworth chose the life of humble and rustic people for the subject of his poetry.  Wordsworth was basically a poet of Nature, and he considered the humble and innocent villagers to be a part of Nature.

            He writes, Humble and rustic life was generally chosen because in that condition, "the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, because in that condition of life our elementary feelings co-exist in a state of greater simplicity; because the manners of rural life germinate from those elementary feelings; and from the necessary character of rural occupations the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature".

            On the same ground, Wordsworth also decried the fashion of writing poetry in the poetic diction patronized by the Neo-classical poets.  He not only chose the life of the rural folk for his subject, but also their language for writing his poetry.  He writes, "The language, too, of these men has been adopted because such men hourly communicate with the best objects from which the best part of language is originally derived".  But in spite of all these considerations Wordsworth remains fully conscious that his poetry may not sink to the level of triviality and meanness.