An Argument with Wordsworth

by Wendy Cope

“Poetry . . . takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.”

—Preface to the Lyrical Ballads

People are always quoting that and all of them seem to agree

And it’s probably most unwise to admit that it’s different for me.

I have emotion—no one who knows me could fail to detect it—

But there’s a serious shortage of tranquillity in which to recollect it.

So this is my contribution to the theoretical debate:

Sometimes poetry is emotion recollected in a highly emotional state.

From Collected Poems, London: Faber & Faber, 2024, page 184. Previously in Serious Concerns, published in 1992.