Chapter XVII - XVIII Summary and Analysis

In this chapter, Coleridge applies his tenets to the works of Wordsworth. He disagrees with Wordsworth that his words are always rightly interpreted. There is a difference in Wordsworth's use of a word and the dictionary definition of the word and this affects the meaning of his works. Coleridge doesn't feel that poetry lends itself to the use of everyday language. He decide that there are certain things required for the poetry to cause pleasure. The first is the naturalness of the thing. The second is the natural way of the representation and the third is the feelings around in the reader which should be those of superiority.

Wordsworth chose to write mostly of the low rustic life so Coleridge's rules given above to not apply as stringently. In other works, like 'Brothers,' 'Michael...