A second edition was published in 1800, in which Wordsworth included additional poems and a preface detailing the pair's avowed poetical principles.

[citation needed] In the 'Advertisement' included in the 1798 edition, Wordsworth explained his poetical concept: The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments.

They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purpose of poetic pleasure.

[8] If the experiment with vernacular language was not enough of a departure from the norm, the focus on simple, uneducated country people as the subject of poetry was a signal shift to modern literature.

One of the main themes of "Lyrical Ballads" is the return to the original state of nature, in which people led a purer and more innocent existence.