This essay warns that the "increasing accumulation of men in cities" is reducing the "discriminating powers of the mind" to "a state of almost savage torpor," causing readers who thirst for "outrageous stimulation" to neglect the works of Shakespeare and Milton in favor of "frantic novels" and "sickly and stupid German tragedies." This essay italicizes five lines from Thomas Gray's "Sonnet on the 
This essay warns that the "increasing accumulation of men in cities" is reducing the "discriminating powers of the mind" to "a state of almost savage torpor," causing readers who thirst for "outrageous stimulation" to neglect the works of Shakespeare and Milton in favor of "frantic novels" and "sickly and stupid German tragedies." This essay italicizes five lines from Thomas Gray's "Sonnet on the Death of Mr. Richard West" to argue that the language of the best poems is no different than well-written prose. It defines a poet as "a man speaking to men," and claims that "all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." This essay criticizes artificially elaborate poetic diction, and describes the author's attempt to use the "language really spoken by men" in poems such as "Poor Susan," "Goody Blake and Harry Gill," and "We Are Seven." For 10 points, name this essay by William Wordsworth about the poems in a collection he co-wrote with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
This essay warns that the "increasing accumulation of men in cities" is reducing the "discriminating powers of the mind" to "a state of almost savage torpor," causing readers who thirst for "outrageous stimulation" to neglect the works of Shakespeare and Milton in favor of "frantic novels" and "sickly and stupid German tragedies.
the preface to Lyrical Ballads