Defence of the Metre in the Preface

While Wordsworth attacks the neo-classical adherence to diction, he advocates the use of meter. The poets and readers without experiencing any inconvenience can submit to the established rules of metre, whereas the use of poetic diction leaves the reader at the whims and fancies of the poet. Metre does not interfere with passion, whereas diction does, says Wordsworth. The rules of metre are fixed while there is no such rule in oetic diction. Also the use of metre is an additional source of pleasure. Tradition acclaims metre even simple poems have contributed pleasure by virtue of the metre. Sometimes emotional excitement may be excessive, illogical and incoherent. Metre offers a tempering and restraining effect to this. The use of metre is indispensable when the more pathetic situations have to be rendered.. Moreover, metre has a distancing effect, it divests the language of its reality and imparts to the description an unsubstantial, dream-like quality. Hence the painful seems remote and also seems more endurable.

The use of metre intermingles less an element of pleasure with the painful and therefore mitigates it. Further, the use of metre imparts passion to the words, and thus enables the poet to produce the necessary emotional excitement. Wordsworth also asserts that metre offers the element of contrast, but he does not elaborate on it.

Wordsworth's 'defence of metre' is the weakest part of the Preface and it has been pointed out that if poetic diction is artificial, metre is equally artificial. H.W.Garrod says that " the poet by the aid of metre exercises upon the passions of real life the same refining and selecting power as he exercises upon the language of real life."

Again it also suprises the reader how metre can restrain the "spontaneous overflow of emotions."