“They can be considered in no other light than as exhibiting occasional reflections which naturally arose in his mind, chiefly during various excursions, undertaken to relieve, at the time, depression of spirits.”

He presents the early sonnets as private feeling prompted by travel rather than as studied literary display · Preface to the Sonnets, ninth edition, 1805

• Feeling
• Melancholy
• Poetry

“In the highest kinds of poetry the themes or passions handled should be of the general or elemental kind, and not the transient manners of any society.”

He ranks enduring human passion above the polish of a particular age · Critical writings on the principles of poetry

• Passion
• Poetry
• Society

“The images in poetry should always be drawn from nature, and not from art.”

Defending natural imagery as the foundation of poetic expression · Essay, The Invariable Principles of Poetry

• Nature
• Poetry