I forgot to include the following sentences. When I describe Wordsworth' conception of poetry, shall I use the present or the past?

1) Wordsworth believed poetry should deal with everyday situations or incidents and with ordinary people living in the countryside.
2) He regarded imagination as a special intuition which enabled the poet to see things the ordinary man was blind to.
3) He defined poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. These are (were?) not immediate but originate from emotion(s) recollected in tranquillity, recreated by the subjectivity of memory.
4)In other words, memory enables the poet to contemplate and reorganize past feelings.
5) He has a pantheistic view of nature, according to which nature was (is) endowed with a spirit and a life of her (its) own, present not only in plants and animals, but in inanimate objects as well.

I think you mean Wordsworth's concept of poetry, right?

1. OK

2. OK

3. You have begun in past tense, so make all the verbs past tense.

4. OK

5. Use past tenses.

When describing Wordsworth's conception of poetry, it is generally appropriate to use the past tense since Wordsworth was a poet from the past and his ideas are considered historical. However, there may be instances where you could use the present tense if you are discussing the continued influence or relevance of Wordsworth's ideas in the present.

Here's how you can revise each sentence to use the past tense:

1) Wordsworth believed poetry should have dealt with everyday situations or incidents and with ordinary people living in the countryside.
2) He regarded imagination as a special intuition which enabled the poet to see things the ordinary man was blind to.
3) He defined poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. These were not immediate but originated from emotion(s) recollected in tranquillity, recreated by the subjectivity of memory.
4) In other words, memory enabled the poet to contemplate and reorganize past feelings.
5) He had a pantheistic view of nature, according to which nature was endowed with a spirit and a life of her own, present not only in plants and animals but in inanimate objects as well.

In sentences 3 and 5, you could also use "are" and "is" respectively, if you are discussing the continued relevance or influence of Wordsworth's ideas in the present.