Wordsworth's Method

I’m a philosophy major, so excuse me for brining this up…but…Wordsworth’s approach to spontaneity is strikingly similar to Edmund Husserl’s phenomenological program. I’m pretty new to phenomenology, but, the general idea, as I understand it, is to focus on a phenomenon, which could be anything, and painstakingly describe the reciprocal relationship it has with human consciousness, the goal being to deduce the most fundamental essence of that phenomenon. According to Husserl, this is the only way for us to know anything with certainty. It reduces things down to their concrete existences, their concrete essences. Wordsworth seems to be aiming at the very same goal, only with respect to our emotional experiences rather than external phenomenon. I assume Wordsworth’s desire is to take his readers back to the very phenomenon of experience through this hyper analytic methodology.

I like my poetry, and my writing, as unclouded as possible. In other words, I think accessible writing is generally good writing. This doesn’t preclude depth. Dostoyevsky’s style is accessible and easy to follow, but thematically, his novels push the envelope quite far. So I naturally think Wordsworth’s approach is more than a little forced.