ture. Leavis believed that poetry must grow from the shared life and traditions of a people, rather than from personal feelings alone.
Rejection of Individualism: Leavis rejected Wordsworth’s over-emphasis on individual emotion and personal inspiration. He said,
“Without the individual talent there is no creation,” but he also added, “It is only in individuals that society lives.”
These two lines show his balanced view. He did not deny personal genius but believed that the poet’s talent must express collective human experience. Wordsworth’s poetry, full of personal emotion and nature worship, missed this social link.
Contrast with Augustan and Romantic Traditions: Leavis compared the Augustan and Romantic periods to show how Wordsworth’s age lacked cultural unity. The Augustans, like Pope and Addison, portrayed man as a social being, but they lost their originality. Leavis wrote,
“Such insistence on the social has a discouraging effect on originality.”
So, the Romantics reacted too strongly and turned away from society. Blake and Wordsworth went to the other extreme and celebrated the individual. Leavis objected because both movements lost balance. A good poet should stand between social order and personal freedom.
Decline of Popular Culture: Leavis believed that Wordsworth failed to connect poetry with the real life of people. He admired Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress” because,
“A humane masterpiece resulted because he belonged to the civilization of his time.”
Unlike Wordsworth, Bunyan’s writing came from the heart of his society and spoke the language of his people. Wordsworth’s poetry showed love for rustic life, but his view was romantic and idealized. He did not belong to a living traditional culture. After his death, Leavis noted that the traditional culture of the people had almost completely disappeared.
Need for Cultural and Moral Balance: Leavis wanted poetry to express both the individual spirit and the cultural health of society. He asked,
“What is the best conceivable public?”
This question reveals his conviction that poetry should serve a community that appreciates and values art. Wordsworth had no such public connection. His poems, though sincere, were personal meditations, not social expressions. Leavis believed that literature loses vitality when it ignores moral and cultural balance. True art must unite personal vision with the collective wisdom of civilization.
In summary, Leavis’s objections to the Wordsworthian theory of poetry came from his belief in the union of the individual and society. Wordsworth made poetry too private and emotional. Leavis admired writers like Bunyan, who joined popular and refined culture in one voice. For him, poetry must be both personal and social. Only then can literature truly reflect the entirety of human life and preserve the moral spirit of civilization.
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