The Friendship: Wordsworth and Coleridge

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?

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 an

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.