At the same time that Wordsworth is reacting against the last two centuries of verse, I believe there is also a nostalgia present in his poetry, which might seem at the first paradoxical. Wordsworth's poetry does not look forwards to the future but backwards; he may be advocating the everyday language of men, but he is at the same time advocating a rustic way of life that is starting to become a little old-fashioned. Wordsworth admits that men-of-age had become more city-seeking than ever before and, if my history is not wrong, I believe men started to work in factories around this time with machines and steam power. The recommendations in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776) did not take long to be put in play, and one can imagine the division of labor that was introduced at the time. Wordsworth says of his time,
One sees that Wordsworth is not only reacting against imitative poetry, but is more profoundly reacting against the time he lived in, the manners of time, the predominant ways of life... uniformity, conformity, and somewhat surprisingly also the 'vulgar' novels that were being written at the time, which featured the 'extraordinary incidents that men craved for'. Instead of writing a poetry that depicts these new trends in living, Wordsworth chooses to depict the low and rustic life:The most effective of these causes are the great national events which are daily taking place, and the encreasing accumulation of men in cities, where the uniformity of their occupations produces a craving for extraordinary incident which the rapid communication of intelligence hourly gratifies. To this tendency of life and manners the literature and theatrical exhibitions of the country have conformed themselves. The invaluable works of our elder writers, I had almost said the works of Shakespeare and Milton, are driven into neglect by frantic novels, sickly and stupid German Tragedies, and deluges of idle and extravagant stories in verse.--When I think upon this degrading thirst after outrageous stimulation I am almost ashamed to have spoken of the feeble effort with which I have endeavoured to counteract it; and reflecting upon the magnitude of the general evil, I should be oppressed with no dishonorable melancholy, had I not a deep impression of certain inherent and indestructible qualities of the human mind, and likewise of certain powers in the great and permanent objects that act upon it which are equally inherent and indestructible; and did I not further add to this impression a belief that the time is approaching when the evil will be systematically opposed by men of greater powers and with far more distinguished success.
Wordsworth is often described as a nature poet, but what motivated him to explore the theme of nature? One idea is that it is a reaction against an emerging industrial and urban way of life; while Wordsworth looks to the present for his form he looks to the past for his content. Inasmuch as his Preface is a manifesto for a new form of poetry, it is also a manifesto for old habits of mind. The themes of nature and rustic life go hand-in-han d; the rural life comes into everyday contact with the 'best objects in life' - with nature. The men who interest Wordsworth are those who stay in contact with the earth. I think the fact that he uses their language is less a reaction against archaisms than it is an homage to a way of life that has become nostalgic.maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language; because in that situation our elementary feelings exist in a state of greater simplicity and consequently may be more accurately contemplated and more forcibly communicated; because the manners of rural life germinate from those elementary feelings; and from the necessary character of rural occupations are more easily comprehended; and are more durable; and lastly, because in that situation the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature. The language too of these men is adopted (purified indeed from what appear to be its real defects, from all lasting and rational causes of dislike or disgust) because such men hourly communicate with the best objects from which the best part of language is originally derived; and because, from their rank in society and the sameness and narrow circle of their intercourse, being less under the action of social vanity they convey their feelings and notions in simple and unelaborated expressions.
In "Strange fits of passion I have known" the speaker comes to a sudden and surprising final thought, which is almost a non sequitur to the rest of the poem: "If lucy should be dead!" What reason does he have to believe this? None whatsoever. This thought can be inspired by nothing else but nature; it is prophesied to him by the sinking moon, by the hill on which he is rising, the cottage in the distance and the night that is progressing. I also believe, though I am a little confused on this subject, that Wordsworth allows for the speaker to be dreaming all the while: "In one of those sweet dreams I slept." One can see, then, how nature alone provides the inspiration for the speaker's feelings - how his final thought is not led up to by reason but by an imagination in accordance with the progression of the night, an imagination affected by the impetus of nature.