Lyrical Ballads

In his superb introduction to Lyrical Ballads, Michael Mason examines the collection's genesis, encouraging the reader to avoid the critical assumptions that exist around the text; his expert annotations elucidate the poems whilst retaining an enthusiasm for what Wordsworth termed their 'strangeness'. This revised publication of Mason's edition includes the complete listing from the final - and most comprehensive - 1805 edition, and the celebrated Preface of the 1800 edition, effectively a manifesto for the future of poetry.

Daniel Karlin is Professor of English at the University of Sheffield. He is editor of the The Poems of Browning in the Longman Annotated English Poets series and the author of several books. Michael Mason was Professor of English at University College London and the author of, among others, The Making of Victorian Sexuality (1995). He died in 2003. John Mullan is Professor of English at University College London and the author of numerous books. He is a regular pundit on The Late Review and a Guardian columnist.

General Introduction Authors's Accompanying Statements Lyrical Ballads Arrangements and Classifications Authors' later commment Sources 1798 text of 'Ancient Mariner'