Customer Reviews

The Friendship: Wordsworth and Coleridge

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Collaboration between poets is a rare phenomenom. Perhaps the most notable instance in the history of English poetry is that between William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. For a brief period of time they worked together and helped inspire each other to new levels in their respective work. In this examination of their collaboration the dramatic center of this work is the annus mirabilis , the brief time of their working together which led to the publication of 'The Lyrical Ballands'in 1797.
The 'Lyrical Ballads' are the great manifesto of English Romantic poetry. They contain the critical preface in which Wordsworth famously defines poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion recollected in tranquillity." They contain some of the finest poems in the English language including Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey' and Coleridge's masterpiece 'The Ancient Mariner'Sisman explains how Coleridge did much to contribute to Wordsworth's creation of his great poem. Wordsworth supplied two - thirds of the poems and received the thirty guineau payment for them. Wordsworth concentrated on the more simple natural presentations and Coleridge on the supernatural and fantastic.
Both of the poets were to in these early years produce their finest work. Wordsworth went on to staid respectability, to being the Poet Laureate to fifty years of producing relatively uninteresting and mediocre verse. Coleridge's great poetry writing period also did not last long either.
Sisman provides a great deal of political and social background to the friendship especially around the Radical Politics they both shared in their youth. He also tells the story of how Coleridge and Wordsworth moved away from and become disenchanted with each other in their later years.
For all lovers of Poetry this volume should be an incredible treat.

It's been a long time since I picked up a book on literature that I loved as much as this one. I originally had a major in English Literature, and spent four years of studying most British writers, with an emphasis on the poets and the prose of the time from John Donne to the end of the 19th century. I loved the British romanticist that included both Coleridge and Wordsworth, but I didn't realize how deeply entwined their lives were, and how much their poetry owed to this friendship of theirs.

This book brings to life the poetry they wrote and their relationship during their time together. Two different men who placed such a deep importance on literature to change and effect society. We seem to have lost our respect for the ability of words to heal, even though now we know they can do deep harm whether in music or literature or conversation. These two men lived at a time when life was changing from an agrarian society to one that depended upon industry and many were leaving the land and going to cities to find work. The time period also saw the Revolution in the U.S. and then the one in France, and many British were hoping to see changes in politics and other parts of life, in which people would have more say and more freedom. Unfortunately, the French Revolution did not proceed the way that many expected it to, away from t he monarchy and towards freedom, but it fell in on itself probably because of the violence. It left a very bad taste in the mouths of young men like Wordsworth and Coleridge, who hated the violence that the Revolution spawned.

These men wanted to see a return of man to his roots, to understanding and admiring and valuing the natural world around them. They felt that a simple life without dependence upon things or money was of more worth than the lives so many led in the cities or towns of England and other European countries. I think these two men would be horrified at how far we've left behind the simple life and our dependence upon material things has led towards endangering the natural world that we live on. These men were actually early ecologists...

This book was extremely poignant and sad, mainly because Coleridge like many in the early 19th century was introduced to laudanum, an opium drug, that was used widely as aspirin is used now. It was not understood how addictive it was at that time period, though as Coleridge aged he knew he depended too much upon the drug and on alcohol which was their primary drink of that time period because water was considered unsafe. This addiction caused him to lose not only his family and his friends, but Coleridge's ability to write was lost as he became more addicted and sick due to the drug. It was amazing that he lived as long as he did, and it was due to the care that others took of him including Wordsworth and his sister. It must have been horrible for those who loved him to watch his descent into addiction and to watch him lose his great abilities. It was devestating to him and to his ego to lose his brilliant mind and ability to write, and left him jealous of Wordsworth, who was unable to help his friend.

This is an equisite book looking into the relationships of these two poets and their lives. It brings back a time long lost both in England and in the U.S. where we put as much emphasis on the ability to write well, and society paid more attention to men of learning and ability than to sports heroes and celebrities of little worth...

Karen sadler

During the early, idyllic stage of their friendship Wordsworth and Coleridge spent long days wandering around in the natural beauty of the English countryside deep in discussion. Talking for miles and miles they covered philosophy and the nature and purpose of poetry, then interrupted those thoughts to make note of some particular aspect of their surroundings--images of flowers, leaves, light or clouds that they used to turn their philosophical insights into poetry. Accompanying them was Dorothy, Wordsworth's lively, devoted sister who was something of a writer herself. The three of them spent days and weeks almost continually in each other's company. Wordsworth and his sister moved across the country just so they could live within walking distance of Coleridge, and even then they often slept over in each other's homes talking deep into the night. There was no rivalry or reserve. As Coleridge explained it they were "three people but one soul."

Later things went out of balance. Coleridge's abundant praise of Wordsworth's brilliance seemed to sap his own ability to write. Compounding this was his growing addiction to opium, which was considered a medicinal not a dangerous drug. The dazzling energy, intelligence and perception of Coleridge's conversation amazed people, but he went years without composing much of anything. Wordsworth continued to write, but his life became weighted down with family responsibilities. Coleridge, who had a spectacularly unhappy marriage, felt that the adoration of Wordsworth's wife, his wife's sister and Dorothy put blinders on Wordsworth's eyes and kept him from achieving his full measure of greatness. The Recluse, the lengthy philosophical poem Coleridge imagined for Wordsworth, was never finished. Wordsworth attempted parts of it and sought Coleridge's guidance for the rest, but a falling out kept them apart and by the time Coleridge did write down his thoughts for Wordsworth it was long past the time when Wordsworth could take up such an all-consuming project. Neither man completed the poems they felt were their life works and they never were as close again.

The sadness of this was mitigated for me by the fact that late in their lives they took one more long ramble together. They toured Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands with Wordsworth's daughter Dorothy, who was named after her aunt but called Dora to avoid confusion. They no longer were "one soul" and they irritated each other sometimes, but still Dora was able to report that the three of them got along "delightfully."

This book begins with the early lives of Coleridge and Wordsworth, before they meet, including the time of the French Revolution whose ideals influenced both men, and it continues until Coleridge's death in 1834 at the age of sixty one. The portraits of the poets seem balanced, each is presented as both talented and flawed, and I found the book fascinating and moving.

I had a feeling this book was going to be good and I'm happy to say it was. Well written and the pages turn quickly. The emotional connection between these two poets was quite strong and by the end of the story I was attached to their crazy drama. The author is very, very careful not to psychoanalyze to the point that you expect he's almost keeping something from us. What he's doing, though, is laying out all the facts and letting the reader alone to make up her mind on the many undercurrents flowing between Coleridge, Wordsworth, Wordsworth's sister and their many close friends. There are some passages like "Wordsworth may have been unconsciously jealous..." when all evidence points towards his jealousy or whatever. This is also a smart move because these characters are almost too easy to psychoanalyze---why does Coleridge become so attracted to these men and have emotional blow ups with them? ---why does Wordsworth stay living with his sister his whole life? etc... There are too many questions impossible to answer.

You almost want to root for one poet over another as the story plays out. Coleridge was definitely psychologically abusive in his passivity and masochism; Wordsworth was an egoist, a revolutionary turned hardened conservative. I can't see how someone could read this book and subsequently enjoy both poets equally. reading this book forces a litmus test of sorts... Whose side will you choose?

A somewhat disappointing read...expected more and earlier in the narrative on the individuals...covered somewhat towards the end of the book but disappointing in the brief treatment of the...Opium addiction of Colridge and Dorothy Wordsworth...the sexuality of Dorothy Wordsworth her brother and Colridge...religion and Colridge...Godwinism and the infulence it had on this/these relationship(s)...the conflict between Southy and Coleridge...Dorothy Wordsworths and Sara Colridges hostile relationship...homosexuality...etc.

All these conditions are well know to readers of the Lake Districk Poets and would have added texture and fabric to the story of literatry colorbation between these two major Poets instead of being left for a generalized dicussion at themend of the book.

"...so take off all of your clothes!"

"I am getting so hot I'm gonna take my clothes off!"

Awwwww yeeeeeeah! This book made Us want to do all of those things we've heard from Rap Songs! Let there be no doubt about it: William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge can sling an albatross on Our back ANY DAy! Coleridge uses drugs, and Wordsworth was in love with his sister! and his sister was crazy! and Coleridge was crazy! And they all lived in a house!

Reading "The Friendship" was like reading Our so-called Together Stew, which is a stew that We make together. Only, "The Friendship" has poetry in it. Our stew has steer in it. Those are different, like Wordsworth and Coleridge. Coleridge, frankly, was a far more interesting poet. And yet Wordsworth got most of the accolades. Interestingly, when Tennyson was named the second British Poet Laureate, he was wearing Wordsworth's clothes!

Love you.