How should poetry sound according to Coleridge and Wordsworth?

For Coleridge, a poem is that species of composition, which is opposed to works of science, by proposing for its immediate object pleasure, not truth; and from all other species . . . read more

Therefore a good poet is one who may have an object of truth but must have an object of pleasure and who uses separate parts united together in judicious combination so as to fulfill both the object of truth and the ultimate, requisite object of pleasure derived from the parts as well as from the whole. read more

But it should be remembered that pleasure, and not truth is the immediate end of poetry. He does not believe that moral preaching is the ultimate end of poetry. It is true that metrical form of composition has more charm and pleasure. But they are merely apparel, and not the soul of poetry. read more