Plain as the Alphabet

"It is my design to make those who can scarcely read understand." - Thomas Paine

As I continued to read Thomas Paine's reflection on his own writing style, contained in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, I couldn't help but recall a similar comment made by William Wordsworth a quarter of a century later when he wrote the Preface to Lyrical Ballads (published 1801). When studying British Literature, I came across an article written by Tom Thompson, "The State of the Preface Address: on Wordsworth and Common Speech." According to Thompson:

[P]oetry in English was most prominently composed in the highest diction -- issuing either from divine circles (the Muse or God) or from urbane ones (first "at Court," then more generally among London intellectuals.

William Wordsworth, with his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge, invented a new style of poetry, replacing this high diction with language that could be understood by the common man. Much of American Literature is influenced by the English of Great Britain. In this instance, an American writer has introduced the concept that everyone should be able to understand the written word.

To further understand Paine's style, he clarified that language should be

as plain as the alphabet (and that it should) fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in questions and nothing else (Levine 338).

Common Sense and the subsequent pamphlets, The Crisis, were written to inspire and stir the souls of men to rise up and stand for what is right. In order for every man to understand, Paine knew that he needed to speak plainly. When Wordsworth and Coleridge presented the Lyrical Ballads in this new style, it was to stir the human heart in a different way. Wordsworth's life influenced his style and theme of poetry and when discussing poetry in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads he states:

Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origins from emotion recollected in tranquility.

In many of his poems, including "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (aka "Daffodils"), there is a reference to this tranquility brought about by our connection with nature.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Paine was not interested in tranquility or peace and even stated that:

Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace" (Levine 349).

The powerful feelings that stirred Wordsworth to write poetry are the same feelings that stirred Paine to inspire a nation. Paine also knew that inspiration ebbs and flows when he said: "for though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire" (Levine 349).

In The Crisis, No. 1, Paine speaks clearly by speaking plainly: "I bring reason to your ears, and in language as plain as A, B, C hold up truth to your eyes" (Levine 351). What is the truth Paine spoke of? Paine started his prose with a phrase that has been quoted many times: "These are the times that try men's souls" (Levine 346) and ends with

By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils... (Levine 351).

The truth is simply the consequences of our actions or inactions. From time to time the American citizen has been stirred to stand with others. Some of the events in our present past have stirred our souls. I can recall the explosion of the Challenger and the Twin Towers crumbling to the ground. These moments have stirred our souls and have caused us to fight for liberty and to avoid "a ravaged country - a depopulated city - habitations without safety, and slavery without hope..." (Levine 351).

So we stand.

References:

Levine, Robert S., et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 1820-1865. 9th ed., vol. 1 2, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Thompson, Tom. “Celebrating English Poets & Poetry.” Poets.org.Academy of American Poets, 4 Oct. 2016, www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/state-preface-address-wordsworth-and-common-speech

Wordsworth, William, and W.J.B. Owen. Preface to Lyrical Ballads. Rosenkilde and Bagger 1957.