The Concept of “Experiment” and the Construction of Romantic Poetics: An Investigation Centered on Lake Poets

Abstract

Abstract: In the late 18th century, when people became interested in vitalism, “experiment” as a new concept was diverted from science to literature. The concept of “experiment”, which was first put forward and practiced by Wordsworth who was among Lake Poets in 1798, can be regarded as the earliest embryonic form of the concept system and methodology system of modern literary experimentalism. Coleridge's exploration and exposition of the theory of “organic form” and “imagination” has formed a resonance with the experimental concept and method of the chemist Humphry Davy. Based on the revolutionary spirit of “experiment” and the kinetic energy of “vitality,” Romanticism opposed its subjective, strictly individualized, and symbolic methods to the objective, impersonal, formal standards and rigid rules of Classicism, and thus constructed its anti-classical traditional poetic system. The “experiment” as a concept and a methodology is the golden key for Romanticism to open the door to modern literature.

Key words: Wordsworth, experiment, Romanticism, poetics, Lake Poets

摘要： 18世纪晚期,当人们普遍对活力论产生兴趣时,“实验”一词由科学领域被挪用到文学领域。1798年由湖畔派诗人华兹华斯首次提出并实践的“实验”观念,乃现代文学实验主义观念体系与方法论体系最早的雏形。柯勒律治对诗歌“有机形式”以及“想象力”理论的探索与阐发,与化学家戴维的实验观念及方法形成某种奇特的共振。基于“实验”的革命精神与“活力”动能,浪漫主义将其主观的、严格个体化的和象征性的方法与古典主义客观的、非个人的、形式化的标准和固定规则对立起来,建构了其反古典传统的诗学体系。“实验”观念及其方法论,正是浪漫派开启西方现代文学大门的金钥匙。

关键词: 华兹华斯, 实验, 浪漫主义, 诗学, 湖畔派

Zeng Fanting. The Concept of “Experiment” and the Construction of Romantic Poetics: An Investigation Centered on Lake Poets[J]. Comparative Literature in China, 2026, 0(1): 18-29.

曾繁亭. “实验”观念与浪漫主义诗学建构——以英国湖畔派为中心的考察[J]. 中国比较文学, 2026, 0(1): 18-29.

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