Lyrical Ballads – William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink."

Published in 1798, this collection marks the beginning of the Romantic movement in English literature. It includes masterpieces like Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey'. The poets rejected the artificial diction of the 18th century in favor of the language of ordinary people, exploring themes of nature, imagination, and the supernatural.

This book revolutionized poetry. It argued that the feelings of the common man were a fit subject for high art and established nature as a source of spiritual truth and emotional healing.