Novelties in Simon Lee

SIMON LEE ? THE OLD HUNTSMAN WITH AN INCIDENT IN WHICH HE WAS CONCERNED

Simon Lee by Wordsworth is written as a ballad. A ballad is a narrative poem and it is usually short and simple. Originally it is intended to be sung. Bards, poets or singers of poem used to sing them. It is also a part of anonymous literature. They were handed down orally through singing. Many ballads dealt with supernatural events. They were supernatural stories in which there were dialogue and action. A literary ballad is a ballad written in the imitation of folk ballad. This poem is about an incident that involves Simon Lee.
This man was tall when he was young. He is an old man who has a heavy burden of years upon his back. Simon was a feudal servant, he was the last survivor of his land. He was both famous and a skillful hunter who lived in a common land with his wife.
Simon Lee is a symbol of a whole life style which has disappeared. His body is decayed. However, the poem tells us a social decay. Although he is weak he has no other choice and had to work. He still becomes extremely happy when he hears the voices of hunting days although he is old and weak. His wife isn?t strong either.
Readers of poetry were not used to words in poetry which dealt with unpleasant sides of life. This would shock the reader. This violated what is called decorum ? neoclassical decorum. According to decorum, high genre should deal with subject matter, people, characters from the higher ranks of society. This is the basic rule of the decorum.
This poem here causes itself a lyrical ballad so in a way it is supposed to be a serious genre
The importance of the poem is great. Because it is a poem that illustrates all of the major novelties. In Simon Lee we have a character from common life. He is the hero of the poem. The hero is a lower class man which is also a novelty. Poet chooses subjects from common life. In this way Wordsworth made a revolutionary gesture. So it is not only a matter of violating neoclassical decorum. According to the rule you shoulh have elevated, upper-class characters. You can have lower class people as a subject of serious poem. Decorum is about this
Wordworth is making fun of the upper class readers? expectations concerning the language and subject matter of poetry. So Wordswort seems to be implicitly saying: My upper calss readewr, I know this is not what you expect from a serious poem. You don?t lile reading about swollen ankles, I understand that but a little more patience and perhaps then, you will make a meaning of what I will shortly tell you.
The major innovations that Wordsworth brings intompoetry by this poem have to do with egalitorianism. He violets decorum in terms of subject and language. He also brings colloquial into poetry. Other innowation was the introduction of children and their point of view into serious literature. Ih had been discovered that children have a different way of thinking. They were also uncorrupted by social conventory and customs. They stand outside the society and belong to nat?te until they become adults. Romantic poets are interested in creating novelties in poetry.