Wordsworth v. Kant

The beginning of a series of pairings, from Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1802) and Kant's Critique of Judgment (1802). The leading question: Did Wordsworth read Kant?

Wordsworth: "Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge--it is as immortal as the heart of man."

& Wordsworth again: "What is a Poet? To whom does he address himself? And what language is to be expected from him? He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endued with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind; a man pleased with his own passions and volitions, and who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in him; delighting to contemplate similar volitions and passions as manifested in the goings-on of the Universe, and habitually impelled to create them where he does not find them."

Kant: "Poetry (which owes its origin almost entirely to genius and is least willing to be led by precepts or example) holds the first rank among all the arts” (SS 53).