Customer Reviews

Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Wordsworth Poetry Library)

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This review relates to the volume -The Works of Samuel
Taylor Coleridge-, published by The Wordsworth Poetry
Library, Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 1994. 614 pp.
There is an "Introduction" by Martin Corner (Kingston
University) and an excellent "Preface" by Ernest
Hartley Coleridge, which not only tells the complete
selection of poems and how they were arrived at
(reprinted here by Wordsworth Editions) but also
includes the publishing history of the various
editions, and how the separately published items
were brought together. This reprinted edition must
be of an edition after 1893, as that is the last
edition mentioned by E.H. Coleridge in his Preface.
This reprint is a wonder for general readers, students,
and scholars (particulary the latter, for the notes,
publishing histories, and first-time inclusions of
items not found elsewhere before this edition are
invaluable).
The notes below major poems, little known items,
and previously not published pieces are extremely
valuable and interesting. The collection of poems
themselves are listed in chronological order under
each year starting with 1787 ("Easter Holidays" [MS.
Letter, May 13, 1787.], "Dura Navis" [B.M. Add. MSS.
34,225], "Nil Pejus est Caelib Vita" [Boyer's -Liber
Aureus.], for instance.
For this edition, E.H. Coleridge in the "Preface"
states: "I desire to express my thanks to my kinsman
Lord Coleridge for opportunity kindly afforded me of
collating the text of the fragments first published in
1893 with the original MSS. in his possession, and of
making further extracts; to Mr. Gordon Wordsworth for
permitting me to print a first draft of the poem addressed
to his ancestor on the 'Growth of an Individual Mind'; and
to Miss Arnold of Fox How for a copy of the first draft of
lines 'On Revisiting the Sea-shore.'
This is a COMPLETE edition or collection of all of
Coleridge's work. Although many people will be interested
in Coleridge as the author of "The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner," "Christabel," and "Kubla Khan," there are the
many lesser known (but no less interesting and insightful)
poems here -- as well as the the obvious influences of
Classical reading and learning on Coleridge.
There are the 9 "Sonnets on Eminent Charcters" (including
Mr. Erskine, Burke, Priestley, La Fayette, Koskiusko,
Pitt, Rev. W.L. Bowles, Mrs. Siddons, William Godwin,
Robert Southey of Baliol College, Oxford, Richard

Brinsley Sheridan, Esq., and Lord Stanhope; two versions
of "Monody on the Death of Chatterton"; "A Mathematical
Problem" (in verse!); "Pantisocracy;" "On the Prospect
of establishing a Pantisocracy in America;" "To the
Nightingale;" "The Eolian Harp;" and, under 1797,
"The Raven" (which predates Edgar Allan Poe's own
famous poem addressed to that subject).
The real treasures, however, are the host of lesser
known but provocative philosophical speculations,

allegorical compositions, and moody meditations.
Among these would be poems like "Psyche;" "A Tombless
Epitaph," "The Visionary Hope;" "Time, Real and
Imaginary: An Allegory;" "To Nature" (1820?); "Limbo;"
"Ne Plus Ultra;" "Sancti Dominici Pallium: A Dialogue
Between Poet and Friend;" "Constancy to an Ideal
Object;" "Epitaphium Testamentarium" and others.
There are sections devoted to "Fragments," "Metrical
Experiments," and the Appendices: (I) First Drafts,
Early Versions, Etc.; which includes versions of
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "The Raven";
and, most interesting, (II) "Allegoric Vision;"
and (III) "Apologetic Preface to 'Fire, Famine,
and Slaughter.'"
This is a fabulous collection of Coleridge and
could only be further recommended by a few of HIS
lines:
In many ways does the full heart reveal
The presence of the love it would conceal;
But in far more th' estranged heart lets know
The absence of the love, which yet it fain would show.
(1826).
-- Robert Kilgore.

Admitedly I do not read a lot of poetry, and this is my first review on Amazon of a poetry book (and I have several hundred reviews). Given this caveat, Coleridge is my favorite poet, and I enjoyed this collection of his works. There are a lot of poems here, arranged roughly in chronological order, which makes for an interesting progression in the poet's thoughts and styles. Of course, the composition dates of all the poems are not known exactly, and some were rewritten over a number of years. It does give this collection a randomness in subject matter that makes reading it cover-to-cover an easier matter than if poems had been arranged by subject matter (although not so good for reference purposes, I suppose). Similarly, it is a good book for picking up and choosing a random page to read.

There are some technical issues that disappoint me about this volume. There are voluminous notes, but they are confusingly numbered. There is no translation (unless supplied by Coleridge himself) of Greek phrases - I'm sure that the majority of Coleridge's original audience had enough Greek to make sense of these passages, but I do not. The typeface is quaintly archaic, but ultimately a little hard on the eyes. These minor issues are enough for me to deduct a star in the star ratings. I would also have liked to have seen the "early drafts" printed beside the final drafts so that a direct comparison could have been easily accomplished, instead of having to flip back and forth to the appendix. This is a personal preference and I'm sure many would prefer it the way it is, with early drafts and alternate versions collected in the appendix and only the published version in the main body of the book.