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adamz24's review against another edition
2.0
I feel like an asshole, at this point, for not being able to "get" Wordsworth. Every couple of years I read Wordsworth again and there's some very bright, very compassionate, very distinguished-type person who makes beautiful, eloquent arguments in these poems' favour. But I still really just couldn't give less of a shit. I don't know. While I respect Wordsworth, there's a strange personal-type bias I have against the guy. It's a bit more like "I really wouldn't invite this dude to a party at my place." He's a bit dull. Byron, on the other hand. Coleridge. Keats. Mary Shelley probably the most distinguished guest, but only if she left ol' Perce at home. She would provide the sane and sensible, but thoroughly fucked up and entertaining counterpoint to Byron's wanton molestation of other guests, to Keats' mumbling about the beauty of my old 'Oriental' bookcase or whatever, to Coleridge all junked out on the couch.
I'm starting on The Prelude again, though, and it's pretty great. I don't even know why I didn't like it a couple years ago. So things might be changing, after all.
I think I've now accomplished my goal of writing the least insightful review of Lyrical Ballads known to humankind. But there it is.
I'm starting on The Prelude again, though, and it's pretty great. I don't even know why I didn't like it a couple years ago. So things might be changing, after all.
I think I've now accomplished my goal of writing the least insightful review of Lyrical Ballads known to humankind. But there it is.
phdoingmydamnbest's review against another edition
3.0
As you all probably already know I am not really a huge fan of Wordsworth, in fact, I pretty much dislike most of his stuff- and even when I find myself liking something he wrote then I remember he wrote it anddddd I don't like it anymore. 'Daffodils' was in my poetry anthology I studied at school at 15/16 and I remember thinking 'I've never really read anything in this class I've disliked so intensely until we read this.'
Lyrical Ballads as a collection is okay though, I definitely prefer Coleridge's contributions- and I find the Preface to be somewhat unpalatable. It's certainly not an arrangement of poems in a collection I would ever consider putting together myself (although I know fans of the book will say that's part of its charm.)
But since I've started reading the Dorothy Wordsworth journals I've grown to dislike these poems even more, as so many draw on her content but without her eye for detail and vivacity.
I really love Dorothy- look out for my review of her journals coming soon!
Lyrical Ballads as a collection is okay though, I definitely prefer Coleridge's contributions- and I find the Preface to be somewhat unpalatable. It's certainly not an arrangement of poems in a collection I would ever consider putting together myself (although I know fans of the book will say that's part of its charm.)
But since I've started reading the Dorothy Wordsworth journals I've grown to dislike these poems even more, as so many draw on her content but without her eye for detail and vivacity.
I really love Dorothy- look out for my review of her journals coming soon!
bethanydark's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
eli__anna's review against another edition
3.0
meh idk i have an essay due on this next week so that kinda limited my enjoyment of it tbh but still some very pretty poems (particularly the ones that focus on nature) !! plenty of interesting commentary to be made on these but I'll save that for my essay lol
ameve2's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
eliza_j_b's review against another edition
4.0
Though absent long,
These forms of beauty have not been to me,
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet
The poetry equivalent of sinking into a hot bath and with Classic FM playing something wholesome for you in the background.
cayleigh's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
I think a poetry book is successful if I take something away from it — “whatever fate befall thee, I shall love thee to the last, and bear thy memory with me to the grave.”
jrudden's review against another edition
2.0
Ancyent Marinere? SLAPS!
Dungeon? CLASS!
Idiot Son? RULES!
Complaint? ROCKS!!
The rest I could take or leave tbh, but still an interesting read!
Dungeon? CLASS!
Idiot Son? RULES!
Complaint? ROCKS!!
The rest I could take or leave tbh, but still an interesting read!