FIRST EDITION: 1798
a collection of poems planned and written by Wordsworth and Coleridge.

SECOND EDITION:1800
The famous Preface by Wordsworth was added, which is considered as the Manifesto of the English Romantic Movement.


The genesis of the Lyrical Ballads was also described by Coleridge in his BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA.


A selection of language really used by people
COLERIDGE
WORDSWORTH
Subjects
Personal, supernatural and romantic characters
Subjects chosen from ordinary everyday life.
Aim
To make the supernatural real; even if the characters are supernatural the emotions have to be real.
To give the charm of novelty to ordinary things; to excite a feeling similar to the supernatural.
By means of ... Willing suspension of disbelief: the readers have to believe in the poet's supernatural characters. Awakening the mind from the lethargy of custom and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world.
Language