Lyrical Ballads

<p><em>Lyrical Ballads</em> by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a unique work of literature. first published in 1798 it marked a radical change in the direction of English Literature. <em>Lyrical Ballads</em> represented a movement away from the overwrought highly formal and learned verse of the 18th century and in so doing ushered in a new more democratic poetic era.</p><p>Written in the language of the common man and addressing the concerns of the common man <em>Lyrical Ballads</em> was the first - and remains the most - truly revolutionary collection of poetry paving the way for the great Romantic poets - keats Byron Shelley et al. - and proving that while there was no actual revolution on the ground England could still be the most revolutionary of places.</p><p><em>Lyrical Ballads</em> was not a single phenomenon but a sequence of four editions spread over seven years; its appearance in English literature was not a historical moment but a sequence of moments - 1798 1800 1802 1805. This edition - based on the 1805 edition but looking back on each of the previous publications - shows how this collection developed how it was refined and added to by the authors. No other edition on the market has such a wealth of key background information.</p>