Lyrical Ballads

Lyrical Ballads, first published in 1798, is a seminal poetry collection that launched the English Romantic movement. Featuring poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge—including “Tintern Abbey” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”—the collection emphasized natural language, emotional expression, and the beauty of the ordinary. It challenged neoclassical conventions and called for a return to nature and individual experience. The preface to later editions articulated a new poetic philosophy, making Lyrical Ballads one of the most influential volumes in literary history.