Poems

THE POEMS

OF

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

A NEW EDITION

LONDON

EDWARD MOXON

1854

DESCRIPTION

(ii) + 388 + (ii)

Book measures 165mm x 105mm approximately.

Nicely bound in full tan calf. Spine with four gilt-ruled raised bands with elaborate gilt decoration to the compartments. Twin gilt fillet borders to both boards and superb gilt inner dentelle to board inners. Marbled end-papers and paste-downs. All edges in gilt. Engraved author portrait frontispiece.

CONDITION

In overall very good condition. The binding is in firm and tight condition. The boards exhibit some general scuffs, marks and knocks, and some light rubbing of hinges and bumping to board corners. Internally the pages are clean and bright although with some occasional foxing spots, to the title page and rear end-papers. Small neat previous owner signature to top of front end-paper and bookplate to front paste-down.

Overall, a nicely bound volume in good condition.

INTERESTING

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 to 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as the major prose work Biographia Literaria. His critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture.

Throughout his adult life Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder, which had not been defined during his lifetime. He was physically unhealthy, which may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these conditions with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opium addiction.

Coleridge is one of the most important figures in English poetry. His poems directly and deeply influenced all the major poets of the age. He was known by his contemporaries as a meticulous craftsman who was more rigorous in his careful reworking of his poems than any other poet, and Southey and Wordsworth were dependent on his professional advice. His influence on Wordsworth is particularly important because many critics have credited Coleridge with the very idea of "Conversational Poetry".

As important as Coleridge was to poetry as a poet, he was equally important to poetry as a critic. His philosophy of poetry, which he developed over many years, has been deeply influential in the field of literary criticism.

Coleridge is arguably best known for his longer poems, particularly The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Its words have given the English language the metaphor of an albatross around one's neck, the quotation of "water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink".