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Coleridge in Biographia Literaria with its abstract philosophical/theological definition of ‘theimagination’ and its differing appreciation of ‘the willing suspension of disbelief that aloneconstitutes poetic faith’. Wordsworth’s more technical understanding of imagination does not rely on‘faith’, but on tangible, emotional and physical effects made on the imagination (mind) of theauditor/reader by poetic language that is specifically tailored to produce such effects and which hasbeen consciously crafted in order to achieve that end. 18 Such language could be described as‘expressive’, but it is the product of a profoundly ‘pragmatic’ poetic art.IV. Margaret’s DemiseIn Part II of ‘The Story of Margaret’, Wordsworth expresses a natural desire to know moreabout Margaret’s fate, though he knows his enquiry could be seen as indelicate if it were made for thewrong motives. His request is therefore ‘impelled / By a mild form of curious pensiveness’ (472-3).The Pedlar, in response, presents a brief lecture about the evils of seeking pleasure from another’ssuffering, but concedes:that there is often foundIn mournful thoughts, and always might be foundA power to virtue friendly; were’t not soI am a dreamer among men – indeedAn idle dreamer. ’Tis a common taleBy moving accidents uncharacteredA tale of silent suffering, hardly clothedIn bodily form, and to the grosser senseBut ill adapted, scarcely palpableTo him who does not think. (482-491)The Pedlar distances his own beliefs about virtue from those of idle dreamers. He is not like the‘dreaming man’ who sees virtue in ignoring another’s sorrows in a pursuit of his own individualpleasure and ‘happiness’. The Pedlar’s narrative is not told as entertainment, it is not sensational –‘the moving accident is not [his] trade’ – and it requires that the listener ‘think’ as well as feel. Theauditor has to use his own imagination in order to ‘grasp’ what is going on.In taking up the narrative again, the Pedlar recalls how eagerly he anticipated his nextmeeting with Margaret. He was ‘glad’ to see the lofty elm trees again, and relates that he was‘cheared’ by ‘many pleasant thoughts’ on his way ‘O’er the flat common’ as he approached hercottage (499-500). 19 But his desire for the future good of seeing her again is not realised upon hisarrival. Margaret is speechless when she meets him and promptly bursts into tears. The emotionsattached to the situation lay beyond the Pedlar’s capacity to cope with them at the time, and he alsofinds it difficult to relate them in the present moment:18 My reading here proposes a radically different kind of ‘Natural Supernaturalism’ to that presented by MeyerAbrams in his reading of Wordsworth.19 His joyful state of mind, on crossing the common, is contrasted with that of Wordsworth’s ‘toil’.259