It's considered a significant work for several reasons:
* A turning point in English poetry: It marked a shift away from the formal, artificial style of 18th-century poetry towards a more natural, expressive style.
* Emphasis on the ordinary: Wordsworth, in particular, focused on the lives and experiences of ordinary people, and the beauty to be found in everyday life.
* Exploration of emotion and the sublime: Both poets explored the power of emotion and the experience of the sublime, which Coleridge defined as "that sublime which is to be found in the grand and awful in nature, in the vast and infinite in space, in the mysterious and inexplicable in the soul."
* Experimentation with language and form: The poets experimented with new forms of poetry, including the ballad form, which they used to tell stories in a simple, direct way.
* Influence on Romanticism: The Lyrical Ballads played a key role in the development of the Romantic movement in English literature. It inspired other poets to write in a similar style and to explore similar themes.
The collection is known for famous poems like "Tintern Abbey" by Wordsworth and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge.