Philosophy and Literature

Abstract:

Although Wordsworth never used the term "the structure of feeling," his views coincide with those of Raymond Williams, who invented the term: by the structure of feeling Williams means "the deep community" that makes "communication possible." What concerns Wordsworth in his imagined communities is exactly how to make this communication possible, so his ideal community is nothing short of a deep community. It should also be pointed out that Wordsworth anticipated T. S. Eliot by more than one hundred years and that their thoughts, though similar, were rendered more poetic under the pen of Wordsworth.