The poetry of the Pseudo classical school was very artificial and unnatural. It was extreme limited in its themes. It was confined exclusively to the city of London, and in that City to the artificial and unnatural life of the fashionable lords and ladies. It did not care for the beauties of Nature or for the humble humanity – farmers, shepherds, wood-cutters, etc. – which lives its simple life in the lap of nature. Wordsworth reacted sharply and sought to increase the range of English poetry by taking his themes from “humble and rustic life”. Himself living in the lap of nature, he was well-familiar with the life of these humble people, and he has rendered it in his poetry, realistically and accurately.

There are various reasons why Wordsworth preferred “incidents and situations from humble life”, as the themes of this poetry.

For one thing, in this way he could enlarge the scope and range of poetry and make a whiff of fresh air to blow through the suffocating atmosphere of contemporary poetry.

Secondly, he knew this life intimately, was in sympathy with it, and so could render it accurately and feelingly.

Thirdly, he believed that a poet is essentially a man speaking to man. Since he is a man, and he has to appeal to the heart and mind of man, he must study human nature, and try to understand, “the primary laws of our nature”. Now these primary instincts and impulses which govern human conduct can best be understood by studying the simplest and most elementary forms of life. He chose rustic and humble life, because the village farmers, leach-gatherers, even idiots, represent human life reduced to its simplest. It is for this reason also that he glorified the child and stressed the value of childhood memories and experiences. In such simple forms of life, behaviour is instinctive and manners are natural and uninhibited. Feelings and passions are expressed without any reserve and human conduct is guided and controlled, not by artificial social codes, as in more sophisticated city societies, but by instincts and impulses. In humble and rustic conditions of life, man is more natural, and so a proper subject of study for a poet who must write “on man, on nature and on human life”. He did not think city life to be a proper subject o poetry, because there the fundamental passions of the human heart are not expressed freely and forcefully but are inhibited by social codes and considerations of public opinion.

Fourthly, in rustic and humble life, the fundamental passion of the human heart can be easily studied. From a study and understanding of these elementary feelings the poet can proceed to study, “the primary laws of our nature”. In other words, through a process of contemplation and reflection, the poet can derive certain universal principles of human conduct which are not true only of individuals or of particular places but are universal and general in their application. Feelings and passions of humble humanity are not peculiar to them but are common to all mankind. They will last as long as human nature lasts, and are not subject to fluctuations from age to age and society to society. They are universal; they are permanent, as contrasted with those of socially inhibited societal man. Universal significance of human experience and human emotion can be studies only through life reduced to it simplest and, we may add, most unfortunate levels.

Fifthly, he preferred rustic and humble life because in that condition, “the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature”. They live in the midst of the grandeur and beauty of nature, and as Plato much earlier has taught us, they must absorb some of that beauty and grandeur. In one of his own Lucy poems, Wordsworth refers to the education of nature and, “the vital feelings”, which nature confers on those who live in her. Their emotions are noble and permanent because their souls have been moulded by the beautiful and permanent forms of nature.

Wordsworth has been criticized for thus limiting the scope of poetry in humble and rustic life. It has been said that upper class life is as suitable for poetic treatment as humble life. In this way, Wordsworth excluded from poetic treatment a wide range of complex human emotions which are experienced only in more sophisticated societies. However, Wordsworth's views are to be judged in the historical context. As resulting from his desire to extend the domain of poetry, conquer new territories for it, and thus to ‘correct’ the contemporary predilection for upper class life to the exclusion of humble and rustic life.