remove the gap between poets and ordinary readers The poet says My purpose was to imitate and as far as possible to adopt the very language of men Rural Life and Ordinary People Wordsworth chooses the village people and nature as his main topics He thinks city life is artificial but rural life is pure and honest Farmers beggars and children appear in his poems Their struggles and joys reflect real human emotions Unlike earlier poets who wrote about kings he finds beauty in ordinary lives This makes him a true poet of the poor and working class The poet believes that the language of poetry is the language of ordinary men as he says The poet thinks and feels in the spirit of human passions How then can his language differ in any material degree from that of all other men who feel vividly and see clearly Nature as a Source of Truth Nature was Wordsworth s favorite subject He saw it as pure peaceful and full of truth Unlike crowded cities nature inspires deep feelings and clear thoughts Poems about lakes mountains and forests help readers connect with life s simple beauty Wordsworth believed nature teaches essential lessons about humanity and emotions According to the author He considers man and nature as essentially adapted to each other and the mind of man as naturally the mirror of the fairest and most interesting properties of nature Rejection of Poetic Diction Poetic diction means special words used only in poetry Wordsworth hated this tradition He said these fancy phrases made poetry fake and unnatural For example instead of saying the sun old poets wrote the orb of day Wordsworth called this unnecessary He wanted direct clear language that everyone could understand His rejection of poetic diction was a significant shift in literary style It is evident in the following quotation There will be found in these volumes little of what is usually called poetic diction Criticism of Wordsworth s Views Some critics argue that Wordsworth s ideas are too idealistic Not all simple language is poetic and rural life isn t always noble Also his own poems sometimes used elevated language despite his theories However his emphasis on natural expression and ordinary subjects still transformed poetry In short Wordsworth's ideas about language and subject changed English poetry forever He made it simple honest and close to life He wanted to talk about real people and real feelings His dislike for hard words and fake topics helped to make poetry more human Though not everyone agreed with him his preface became a strong guide for Romantic poets