Absorption and electroabsorption measurements on (stretched) oriented and spun cast nonoriented films of the rigid rod conjugated polymer poly(2,5-pyridinediyl) have been carried using different directions for the polarization of the incident light and the direction of the applied electric field. This has allowed us to separate the parallel and perpendicular components (with respect to the polymer chain axis) of the allowed optical transition ${1A}_{g}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{1B}_{u}.$ The analysis of the spectral dependence and anisotropy ratios of the absorption and electroabsorption signals provides an indication of the existence of a small number of delocalized Wannier-like excitons photogenerated by light polarized perpendicular to the polymer chains. The majority of excited states are, however, generated parallel to the chains forming Frenckel excitons. In addition, we present results of electroabsorption measurements on disordered (spin cast) poly(2,5-pyridinediyl) films in a typical polymer light emitting diode configuration (sandwiched between indium tin oxide and gold electrodes). We observe that the electroabsorption signal is reduced by a factor of 100--1000 when compared to the planar configuration, indicating a high intrinsic order and alignment of the polymer chains parallel to the substrate in exact agreement with elliposometric results on spun cast films. This property is a consequence of the rigid rod nature of the poly(2,5-pyridinediyl) chain.