Samuel Taylor Coleridge Complete Works – World’s Best Collection E-Book

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

• Herausgeber: Imagination Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 2839

Beschreibung

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Complete Works World's Best Collection

This is the world’s best Coleridge collection, including the most complete set of Austen’s works available plus many free bonus materials.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, founded the Romantic Movement in England. Some of his works are the most famous in English literature.

The ‘Must-Have’ Complete Collection

In this irresistible collection you get a full set of Coleridge’s work, All his legendary poems, All his prose, All his famous works, and All his long works. We also include an unusual autobiography written by Coleridge himself, plus other bonus material.

Works Included:

Poems Including among others:

The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Kubla Khan

To The Evening Star

Songs Of The Pixies

The Rose

Kisses

The Death Of The Starling

The Faded Flower

The Outcast

Ode To The Departing Year

The Raven

To An Unfortunate Woman At The Theatre

Christabel

Fire, Famine, And Slaughter A War Eclogue

The Devil’s Thoughts

The Mad Monk

Ode To Tranquility

Dramatic Works Including:

The Fall Of Robespierre

Osorio

The Piccolomini

The Death Of Wallenstein

Epigrams

Jeux D’Esprit

Metrical Experiments

Your Free Special Bonuses

Fragments From A Notebook Circa 1796-98- intriguing fragments from Coleridge’s notebooks.

Biographia Literaria - an unusual autobiography written by Coleridge himself

The Life Of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - a biopgraphy of Coleridge and his fascinating life.

Historical Context and Literary Context Notes - Detailed explanations of the Regency Era and Romanticism, written specially for this collection.

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This is the best Coleridge collection you can get, so get it now and start enjoying and being inspired by his world like never before!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE REGENCY PERIOD

LITERARY CONTEXT: ROMANTICISM AND THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT

PREFACE

ABBREVIATIONS

POEMS - 1787

POEMS – 1789

POEMS – 1790

POEMS – 1791

POEMS – 1792

POEMS – 1793

POEMS – 1794

POEMS - 1795

POEMS - 1796

POEMS - 1797

POEMS – 1798

POEMS - 1799

POEMS – 1800

POEMS - 1801

POEMS - 1802

POEMS - 1804

POEMS - 1805

POEMS - 1806

POEMS - 1807

POEMS – 1808

POEMS - 1809

POEMS – 1810

POEMS - 1811

POEMS - 1812

POEMS – 1813

POEMS – 1814

POEMS - 1815

POEMS - 1817

POEMS – 1820

POEMS - 1823

POEMS – 1824

POEMS – 1825

POEMS – 1826

POEMS – 1827

POEMS - 1828

POEMS – 1829

POEMS – 1830

POEMS – 1832

POEMS - 1833

DRAMATIC WORKS

EPIGRAMS

JEUX D'ESPRIT

FRAGMENTS FROM A NOTEBOOK CIRCA 1796-98

METRICAL EXPERIMENTS

BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA

THE LIFE OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE COMPLETE WORK – WORLD’S BEST COLLECTION

Edited By Darryl Marks

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Complete Works World’s Best Collection - Original Publication Dates Poems and Works of Coleridge – circa 1834 The Life Of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - James Gillman – 1838 First Imagination Books edition published 2018 Copyright © 2018 by Darryl Marks and Infinite Eternity Entertainment LLC All Rights Reserved."HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE REGENCY ERA”, “LITERARY CONTEXT: ROMANTICISIM” By Darryl Marks Copyright © 2018 by Darryl Marks and Infinite Eternity Entertainment LLC All Rights Reserved.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE REGENCY PERIOD

The Regency Period

Coleridge wrote within what is known as the Regency Era. This Regency Era or Regency Period can refer to various stretches of time, although the formal Regency lasted from 1811–1820. This period began in 1810 when George III was taken seriously ill. Due to fits of madness he was declared incapable of ruling because of his mental incapacity. In 1788 there had been a Regency Act that had been created because of George’s fits of madness. This act made it possible for his son, the Prince Regent, to rule as head of the country. In 1810, when George III’s madness became untenable, the act was formally passed, making George III’s son Regent and head of state. The Regency Period itself lasted until George III’s death in 1820 when the Regent officially became King George IV and was able to rule in his own right.

In 1837, Victoria became Queen, heralding the beginning of the Victorian Era.

It is easy to see why various different time periods can be classed as the Regency period. For certain historians, the period from 1795 to 1837 (which includes the latter part of the reign of George III and the reigns of his sons George IV and William IV) is sometimes regarded as the Regency era.

The Prince Regent Himself

George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, was 48 when he was appointed Prince Regent to his father, King George III. Notable for his extravagant lifestyle, the Regent was heavy drinker and compulsive gambler, who was gifted with charming manners, and musical ability in the form of singing and the cello.

The Regent though, was considered untrustworthy, hated his father George III, and this led him down several wayward paths: he colluded and allied himself with the Whig opposition in Parliament; he illegally and secretly married Maria Fitzherbert in 1785; he also married Princess Caroline of Brunswick, in 1795, despite hating her as well.

The Characteristics of the Regency

Regardless of time period used the Regency period is characterized by distinctive trends in British architecture, literature, fashions, politics, and culture.

Some of the basic characteristics of the period include:

Like the Regent himself, is characterized by freedom and extravagance compared with the ascetic lifestyle of his father George III.

Society was also considerably stratified, and there was a large class divide between the rich, opulence of the higher classes (sometimes bordering on debauchery) and the dingy, darker side of the lower classes.

There may have been rich, sumptuous, glamorous elements to life in higher class Regency society, but there was also the less affluent areas of London, where thievery, womanizing, gambling, and constant drinking was rampant.

Poverty was addressed only marginally and the betterment of society was far from the minds of the ruling class.

In fact, the formation of the Regency after George III saw the end of a pious, reserved society, and gave birth of a frivolous, ostentatious one. This was influenced by the Regent himself, who was kept removed from politics and military exploits and only channeled his energies into the pursuit of pleasure (also partly as his sole form of rebellion against what he saw as disapproval and censure in the form of his father).

Saul David in his biography of George IV describes the Regency “in its widest sense (1800-1830)” as a “devil-may-care period of low morals and high fashion”.

This societal gap was even exploited in the popular media and literature: One of the driving forces in the changes in the world at that time was the industrial revolution and its effects. Steam printing allowed a massively improved method to produce printed materials, and this gave rise to wildly popular fashionable novels about the rich and aristocratic. Publishers secretly hinted at the specific identity of these individuals in the books in order to drive sales. The gap in the hierarchy of society was so great that those of the upper classes were viewed by those below as wondrous and fantastical (like a fiction or living legend).

Such novels and literature from this period is still popular today, as is the period novel itself.

Society

One of the main draw-cards for the Regency’s popularity is its elegance and achievements in the fine arts and architecture. Although this was an era where war was waged (such as with Napoleon), the Regency was also a period of great refinement and cultural achievement. This shaped and molded the whole societal structure of Britain as a whole.

The Regency is popular mostly because of the so-called ‘Feel of the Regency’ period, associated with such period romances, glamorous elegance and etiquette, extravagant follies, and melodramatic emotions; filled with balls and duels, unrequited love, and romantic liaisons.

In terms of the prevailing literature movement of the time, it was the Romantic Movement that was well-established by the time the Regency started. Rich in literature, poetry and prose, it was the time of the Romantic poets like Wordsworth, Byron, Coleridge and Shelley and the Romantic novelist, Sir Walter Scott.

Romanticism was a revolt against the aristocratic, social, and political norms of the Enlightenment period (and its rationalistic attitude) which preceded it. Romanticism stressed emotion as a source of literary experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as anxiety, horror, and the feeling when observing nature. All of these themes are evident in the best-known classic Regency works.

Of course the works of Jane Austen are inextricably linked to the Regency, and her works have become known as archetypal Regency romances. It was a decade of particular etiquette and fashions with traits that include a highly developed sense of social standing for the characters, emphasis on "manners" and class issues, and the emergence of modern social thought amongst the upper classes of England.

In the British Regency, a marriage based on love was rarely an option for most women and instead, securing a steady and sufficient income was the first consideration for both the woman and her family.

This led to the Regency period yielding o many examples of both novel and poetry that echoed literary romance: it gave many the opportunity to live through the work's heroine, who generally married someone she loved deeply.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was published in 1818, also falling within the Regency era. It also was part of the Romantics era and many consider it to be the single piece of British literature that best reflects the interests and concerns of the time - fascination with and fear of the science and technological advances of the times, while dredging up the emotions of horror and terror.

Major writers of classic Regency fiction

Jane Austen (1775–1817)

Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849)

Susan Ferrier (1782–1854)

ETA Hoffman (1776–1822)

Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)

Mary Shelley (1797–1851)

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)

Johann David Wyss (1743–1818)

Major writers of modern Regency fiction

Mary Balogh (born 1944)

Jo Beverley (born 1947)

Susan Carroll (born 1952)

Loretta Chase (born 1949)

Lecia Cornwall

Georgette Heyer (1902–1974)

Mary Jo Putney

Events of the Regency Era

1811

George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, begins his nine-year tenure as regent and became known as The Prince Regent.

1812

Prime Minister Spencer Perceval assassinated in the House of Commons.

The British were victorious over French armies at the Battle of Salamanca).

Gas company (Gas Light and Coke Company) founded. Charles Dickens, English writer and social critic of the Victorian era, was born on 7 February 1812.

1813

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was published.

William Hedley's Puffing Billy – which was an early steam locomotive - runs on smooth rails.

1814

Invasion of France by allies led to the Treaty of Paris, ended one of the Napoleonic Wars.

Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.

Gas lighting introduced in London streets.

1815

Napoleon I of France defeated by the Seventh Coalition at the Battle of Waterloo.

Napoleon now exiled to St. Helena.

1816

Income tax abolished.

A "year without a summer" followed a volcanic eruption in Indonesia.

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein.

1817

Antonin Carême created a spectacular feast for the Prince Regent at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.

The death of Princess Charlotte (the Prince Regent's daughter) from complications of childbirth changed obstetrical practices.

1818

Queen Charlotte died at Kew. Manchester cotton spinners went on strike. Frankenstein published.

Emily Brontë born.

1819

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott was published.

Sir Stamford Raffles, a British administrator, founded Singapore. First steam-propelled vessel (the SS Savannah) crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Liverpool from Savannah, Georgia.

1820

Death of George III and accession of The Prince Regent as George IV.

Historical Context of the Regency - Periods in English History

Prehistoric Britainuntil c. 43

Roman Britainc. 43–410

Anglo-Saxonc. 500–1066

Norman1066–1154

Plantagenet1154–1485

Tudor1485–1603

Elizabethan1558–1603

Stuart1603–1714

Jacobean1603–1625

Caroline1625–1649

(Interregnum)1649–1660

Restoration1660–1714

Georgian1714–1837

Regency1811–1820

Victorian1837–1901

Edwardian1901–1914

First World War1914–1918

Interwar Britain1918–1939

Second World War1939–1945

LITERARY CONTEXT: ROMANTICISM AND THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT

Romanticism and the Romantic Movement

Coleridge echoes many of the ideals of this Romantic movement. To fully appreciate his work, it can be useful to understand this time in literary history.

The Romantic era was caused by a variety of factors.

Firstly, it was largely a reaction to the Age of Enlightenment, a period of time defined by strict rules, intellectualism, as well as aristocratic social and political norms.

Romanticism was also partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and modernity, as well as the scientific rationalization of nature.

Historical Context

Romanticism, as an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement, began in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. Because of Romanticism beginning in slightly different time periods in various different countries (ranging from Scotland, Great Britain, to France, Germany and beyond), it is a matter of debate exactly when the movement began.

There are even scholars who identify the French Revolution, which began in 1789, as being another ‘source’ of the inspiration that led to the Era, with its rejection of the rules and class structures of the preceding era.

Despite this debate, it is generally accepted that the Romantic Era began in the late 18th Century and reached its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850.

The period of time that preceded Romanticism is known as the Age of Enlightenment, which was characterized by the concepts of Rationalism and Classicism.

Enlightenment was ruled by concepts of rationality, of sciences, mathematics and numbers. By strict rules in regard to literature and the arts. Enlightenment also rejected many elements of the past, such as the Middle Ages and Medieval periods.

Its main focus was on intellectualism, on essentially endeavoring to define the concept of life according to intellect and reason.

Romanticism, Romantic Literature and Romantic Poetry was a direct reaction against this intellectualism and reason.

Instead of the rationality and the rules that Enlightenment held, Romanticism focused on human experience as defined by emotion.

From a poetry point of view, Romantic Poetry was a reaction against the set standards and conventions of eighteenth century poetry and neoclassic poetry. As explained by William J. Long, “The Romantic Movement was marked, and is always marked, by a strong reaction and protest against the bondage of rule and custom which in science and theology as well as literature, generally tend to fetter the free human spirit.”

Besides from the French Revolution as being cited as an influence in the beginning of the movement, some of the other main factors that gave rise to the era can be traced back to the German “Sturm und Drang” movement. Meaning "Storm and Drive" or "Storm and Urge" or "Storm and Stress", this was as a proto-Romantic movement between the 1760s and 1780s in German literature and music.

It emphasized individual subjectivity, extreme emotional states, free expression, all of which were in direct opposition to the objectivity and rule-based rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment. The period takes it’s named from Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play Sturm und Drang, which was first performed in 1777.

Another German influence came in the form of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In 1774, Goethe wrote the novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” and its protagonist struck a strong chord with young men throughout Europe - he was a young, passionate sensitive artist wand many young men in Germany sought to emulate him.

In English literature, the key figures of the Romantic movement are considered to be the group of poets including William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the much older William Blake, followed later by the isolated figure of John Clare. In Scotland, Robert Burns became a leading figure in the Romantic Movement and influenced many other writers all across Europe (even becoming the people’s poet of Russia).

In England, it was the 1798 publication of Lyrical Ballads (from Wordsworth and Coleridge) that is said to have started the movement officially.

The poems of Lyrical Ballads intentionally re-imagined the way poetry should sound. As Wordsworth put it: "By fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men…"

In other words, Wordsworth wanted to show the true emotions men and women felt and find a way to construct poetry and art that evoked that emotion, and moved people emotionally.

As he said: “I have said before that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin in emotion recollected in tranquility: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind…”

The Romantic movement spread across Europe and even found it influenced artists in America, such as Longfellow.

Etymology

Although common usage of the word Romantic has attached concepts such as love, romance and passion, the word in context of the Romantic Era and Romanticism is derived from different sources and has different connotations.

Essentially, the word is derived from the root word "Roman", which is found in various European languages, such as "romance" and "Romanesque".

In earlier periods, Romantic or romantique, as an adjective could be used to describe praise for natural phenomena such as views and sunsets. In other words, it wasn’t only used for the idea of Romance between people within a relationship.

Elements of Romanticism

Emotion

As explained, Romanticism was a direct Counter-Enlightenment movement and its focus was on the filtering of natural emotion through the human mind in order to create meaning. Whereas Enlightenment focused on Rationality, Romanticism focused on Emotion.

Although the concept may seem natural to us now, this was not so in the period of Enlightenment - strict rules and a focus of Objectivity, made poetry and literature of that period very different.

It was the Romantic movement itself that gave rise to the concept of using emotion in art, of trying to evoke and emulate true human emotional experience in words.

At the time, this was seen as difficult and the movement was revolutionary for its ability to convey that true emotion.

Because of this, the poets and writers themselves often wrote down much of their own emotion in their work, and so much of romantic poetry invited the reader to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves.

The emotions it emphasized were vast, ranging from love to intense emotions such as apprehension, horror and terror, and awe.

Imagination

Belief in the importance of the imagination is a distinctive feature of romantic poets such as John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and P. B. Shelley.

This was unlike the neoclassical poets who put greater importance on a set of rules that dictated what a work should look like.

Indeed, for Wordsworth and Blake, as well as Victor Hugo and Alessandro Manzoni, they saw imagination is a spiritual force. They also believed that literature, especially poetry, could improve the world.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others believed there were natural laws the imagination would unconsciously follow through artistic inspiration if left alone. So it was an essential part of Romanticism that the content of art had to come from the imagination of the artist, with as little interference as possible from "artificial" rules dictating what a work should consist of. The influence of these models from other works was considered to impede the creator's own imagination.

The concept of the genius/artist who was able to produce his own original work through this process of creation from nothingness, is key to Romanticism, and to be derivative was the worst sin. This idea is often called "romantic originality.”

Rejection of Satire

Predominately, Romanticism tended to regard satire as something unworthy of serious attention.

The work of the Romantics was intended to be about true emotion and satire detracted from this.

Spontaneity

Being spontaneous and not following strict rules was highly admired by the Romantic artists. An example of this was an impromptu musical recital, what might be called a ‘jam session’ today.

Instead of a tightly set out set of rule based structure of music, with its required crescendos and codas, it was more important to the Romantics to be spontaneous and to see what happened in the music.

Nature poetry

For most of the Romantics, love for nature was another important feature of romantic poetry, as well a source of inspiration. Their connection to external nature and places, and a belief in pantheism, was paramount.

Wordsworth considered nature as a living thing, teacher, god and everything, as expressed in his epic poem The Prelude.

Keats and Shelley were also nature poets, who also believed that nature is a living thing and there is a union between nature and man.

Coleridge differs from other romantic poets of his age, in that he has a realistic perspective on nature. Coleridge believed that joy does not come from external nature, but from the reaction an individual has to that nature based on their own feelings at the time.

Still, nature was very important to many Romantics of the time. The cliché of the poet sitting under a tree, alone in a meadow, comes from this Romantic period.

Isolation of the Poet

Love of nature and that idea of the Poet alone also ties into the idea of a poet’s isolation.

In order to create this wholly original piece of art, it was generally emphasized that the artists should be alone, working on his own.

This was in contrast to the usually very social art of the Enlightenment.

Melancholy

Melancholy and sadness occupied a prominent place in romantic poetry, and served as an important source of inspiration for the Romantic poets. Again, this emotion was in contrast to the Objectivity of Enlightenment.

Medievalism, Hellenism and Exoticism

Romantic poetry was attracted to nostalgia, in particular the Middle Ages, the heroes and tales of the Medieval period, and the classical Greek writings. They were also attracted to exotic, remote and obscure places, which is shown in much of their writing.

Supernaturalism

Although not essential to all Romantics, many of the romantic poets used supernatural elements in their poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is the leading romantic poet in this regard, and "Kubla Khan" is full of supernatural elements. Romantic writers in literature often used Supernatural elements, such as Edgar Allen Poe. This supernatural element often gave the work an even more intense emotional content.

Subjectivity

Romantic poetry is the poetry of sentiments, emotions and imagination, as opposed to the objectivity of neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poets avoided describing their personal emotions in their poetry, but the Romantics often placed themselves into the poem emotionally.

Nationalism

Although much of English Romanticism was not nationalistic, in other parts of Europe, for example Germany, there was a great deal of nationalism in the Romantic works. Even writers such as Robert Burns (who is known as the Poet Laureate of Scotland) evoked a certain sense of national pride in their writing.

End of Romanticism

The end of the Romantic era is marked in some areas by a new style…Realism. Some scholars see this new movement as another reaction against the previous era – in other words, Realism was the reaction against Romanticism.

This Realism movement was led by France, with Balzac and Flaubert in literature and Courbet in painting. It affected literature, especially the novel and drama, painting, and even music, through Verismo opera.

The reasons for this are also complicated but it was partly because the Early Romantic visionary optimism and belief that the world was in the process of great change and improvement had largely vanished, especially in northern Europe.

As a result, art became more conventionally political as its creators engaged polemically with the world.

Legacy

Many of the Romantics ideas about nature, individuality, purpose of art, above all the pre-eminent importance of originality, remained important for later generations, and often underlie modern views.

We accept those concepts as in inherent part of the art and literature we see every day, but we should remember that it was these writers that actually created those concepts in art.

PREFACE

The aim and purport of this edition of the Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge is to provide the general reader with an authoritative list of the poems and dramas hitherto published, and at the same time to furnish the student with an exhaustive summary of various readings derived from published and unpublished sources, viz. (1) the successive editions issued by the author, (2) holograph MSS., or (3) contemporary transcriptions. Occasion has been taken to include in the Text and Appendices a considerable number of poems, fragments, metrical experiments and first drafts of poems now published for the first time from MSS. in the British Museum, from Coleridge's Notebooks, and from MSS. in the possession of private collectors.

The text of the poems and dramas follows that of the last edition of the Poetical Works published in the author's lifetime—the three-volume edition issued by Pickering in the spring and summer of 1834.

I have adopted the text of 1834 in preference to that of 1829, which was selected by James Dykes Campbell for his monumental edition of 1893. I should have deferred to his authority but for the existence of conclusive proof that, here and there, Coleridge altered and emended the text of 1829, with a view to the forthcoming edition of 1834. In the Preface to the 'new edition' of 1852, the editors maintain that the three-volume edition of 1828 (a mistake for 1829) was the last upon which Coleridge was 'able to bestow personal care and attention', while that of 1834 was 'arranged mainly if not entirely at the discretion of his latest editor, H. N. Coleridge'. This, no doubt, was perfectly true with regard to the choice and arrangement of the poems, and the labour of seeing the three volumes through the press; but the fact remains that the text of 1829 differs from that of 1834, and that Coleridge himself, and not his 'latest editor', was responsible for that difference.

I have in my possession the proof of the first page of the 'Destiny of Nations' as it appeared in 1828 and 1829. Line 5 ran thus: 'The Will, the Word, the Breath, the Living God.' This line is erased and line 5 of 1834 substituted: 'To the Will Absolute, the One, the Good' and line 6, 'The I am, the Word, the Life, the Living God,' is added, and, in 1834, appeared for the first time. Moreover, in the 'Songs of the Pixies', lines 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, as printed in 1834, differ from the readings of 1829 and all previous editions. Again, in 'Christabel' lines 6, 7 as printed in 1834 differ from the versions of 1828, 1829, and revert to the original reading of the MSS. and the First Edition. It is inconceivable that in Coleridge's lifetime and while his pen was still busy, his nephew should have meddled with, or remodelled, the master's handiwork.

The poems have been printed, as far as possible, in chronological order, but when no MS. is extant, or when the MS. authority is a first draft embodied in a notebook, the exact date can only be arrived at by a balance of probabilities. The present edition includes all poems and fragments published for the first time in 1893. Many of these were excerpts from the Notebooks, collected, transcribed, and dated by myself. Some of the fragments (vide post, p. 996, n. 1) I have since discovered are not original compositions, but were selected passages from elder poets—amongst them Cartwright's lines, entitled 'The Second Birth', which are printed on p. 362 of the text; but for their insertion in the edition of 1893, for a few misreadings of the MSS., and for their approximate date, I was mainly responsible.

In preparing the textual and bibliographical notes which are now printed as footnotes to the poems I was constantly indebted for information and suggestions to the Notes to the Poems (pp. 561-654) in the edition of 1893. I have taken nothing for granted, but I have followed, for the most part, where Dykes Campbell led, and if I differ from his conclusions or have been able to supply fresh information, it is because fresh information based on fresh material was at my disposal.

No apology is needed for publishing a collation of the text of Coleridge's Poems with that of earlier editions or with the MSS. of first drafts and alternative versions. The first to attempt anything of the kind was Richard Herne Shepherd, the learned and accurate editor of the Poetical Works in four volumes, issued by Basil Montagu Pickering in 1877. Important variants are recorded by Mr. Campbell in his Notes to the edition of 1893; and in a posthumous volume, edited by Mr. Hale White in 1899 (Coleridge's Poems, &c.), the corrected parts of 'Religious Musings', the MSS. of 'Lewti', the 'Introduction to the Dark Ladié', and other poems are reproduced in facsimile. Few poets have altered the text of their poems so often, and so often for the better, as Coleridge. He has been blamed for 'writing so little', for deserting poetry for metaphysics and theology; he has been upbraided for winning only to lose the 'prize of his high calling'. Sir Walter Scott, one of his kindlier censors, rebukes him for 'the caprice and indolence with which he has thrown from him, as if in mere wantonness, those unfinished scraps of poetry, which like the Torso of antiquity defy the skill of his poetical brethren to complete them'. But whatever may be said for or against Coleridge as an 'inventor of harmonies', neither the fineness of his self-criticism nor the laborious diligence which he expended on perfecting his inventions can be gainsaid. His erasures and emendations are not only a lesson in the art of poetry, not only a record of poetical growth and development, but they discover and reveal the hidden springs, the thoughts and passions of the artificer.

But if this be true of a stanza, a line, a word here or there, inserted as an afterthought, is there use or sense in printing a number of trifling or, apparently, accidental variants? Might not a choice have been made, and the jots and tittles ignored or suppressed?

My plea is that it is difficult if not impossible to draw a line above which a variant is important and below which it is negligible; that, to use a word of the poet's own coining, his emendations are rarely if ever 'lightheartednesses'; and that if a collation of the printed text with MSS. is worth studying at all the one must be as decipherable as the other. Facsimiles are rare and costly productions, and an exhaustive table of variants is the nearest approach to a substitute. Many, I know, are the shortcomings, too many, I fear, are the errors in the footnotes to this volume, but now, for the first time, the MSS. of Coleridge's poems which are known to be extant are in a manner reproduced and made available for study and research.

Six poems of some length are now printed and included in the text of the poems for the first time.

The first, 'Easter Holidays' (p. 1), is unquestionably a 'School-boy Poem', and was written some months before the author had completed his fifteenth year. It tends to throw doubt on the alleged date of 'Time, Real and Imaginary'.

The second,'An Inscription for a Seat,' &c. (p. 349), was first published in the Morning Post, on October 21, 1800, Coleridge's twenty-eighth birthday. It remains an open question whether it was written by Coleridge or by Wordsworth. Both were contributors to the Morning Post. Both wrote 'Inscriptions'. Both had a hand in making the 'seat'. Neither claimed or republished the poem. It favours or, rather, parodies the style and sentiments now of one and now of the other.

The third, 'The Rash Conjurer' (p. 399), must have been read by H. N. Coleridge, who included the last seven lines, the 'Epilogue', in the first volume of Literary Remains, published in 1836. I presume that, even as a fantasia, the subject was regarded as too extravagant, and, it may be, too coarsely worded for publication. It was no doubt in the first instance a 'metrical experiment', but it is to be interpreted allegorically. The 'Rash Conjurer', the âme damnée, is the adept in the black magic of metaphysics. But for that he might have been like his brothers, a 'Devonshire Christian'.

The fourth, 'The Madman and the Lethargist' (p. 414), is an expansion of an epigram in the Greek Anthology. It is possible that it was written in Germany in 1799, and is contemporary with the epigrams published in the Morning Post in 1802, for the Greek original is quoted by Lessing in a critical excursus on the nature of an epigram.

The fifth, 'Faith, Hope, and Charity' (p. 427), was translated from the Italian of Guarini at Calne, in 1815.

Of the sixth, 'The Delinquent Travellers' (p. 443), I know nothing save that the MS., a first copy, is in Coleridge's handwriting. It was probably written for and may have been published in a newspaper or periodical. It was certainly written at Highgate.

Of the epigrams and jeux d'esprit eight are now published for the first time, and of the fragments from various sources twenty-seven have been added to those published in 1893.

Of the first drafts and alternative versions of well-known poems thirteen are now printed for the first time. Two versions of 'The Eolian Harp', preserved in the Library of Rugby School, and the dramatic fragment entitled 'The Triumph of Loyalty', are of especial interest and importance.

An exact reproduction of the text of the 'Ancyent Marinere' as printed in an early copy of the Lyrical Ballads of 1798 which belonged to S. T. Coleridge, and a collation of the text of the 'Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladié', as published in the Morning Post, Dec. 21, 1799, with two MSS. preserved in the British Museum, are included in Appendix No. I.

The text of the 'Allegoric Vision' has been collated with the original MS. and with the texts of 1817 and 1829.

A section has been devoted to 'Metrical Experiments'; eleven out of thirteen are now published for the first time. A few critical notes by Professor Saintsbury are, with his kind permission, appended to the text.

Numerous poems and fragments of poems first saw the light in 1893; and now again, in 1912, a second batch of newly-discovered, forgotten, or purposely omitted MSS. has been collected for publication. It may reasonably be asked if the tale is told, or if any MSS. have been retained for publication at a future date. I cannot answer for fresh discoveries of poems already published in newspapers and periodicals, or of MSS. in private collections, but I can vouch for a final issue of all poems and fragments of poems included in the collection of Notebooks and unassorted MSS. which belonged to Coleridge at his death and were bequeathed by him to his literary executor, Joseph Henry Green. Nothing remains which if published in days to come could leave the present issue incomplete.

A bibliography of the successive editions of poems and dramas published by Coleridge himself and of the principal collected and selected editions which have been published since 1834 follows the Appendices to this volume. The actual record is long and intricate, but the history of the gradual accretions may be summed up in a few sentences. 'The Fall of Robespierre' was published in 1795. A first edition, entitled 'Poems on Various Subjects', was published in 1796. Second and third editions, with additions and subtractions, followed in 1797 and 1803. Two poems, 'The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere' and 'The Nightingale, a Conversation Poem', and two extracts from an unpublished drama ('Osorio') were included in the Lyrical Ballads of 1798. A quarto pamphlet containing three poems, 'Fears in Solitude,' 'France: An Ode,' 'Frost at Midnight,' was issued in the same year. 'Love' was first published in the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, 1800. 'The Three Graves,' 'A Hymn before Sunrise, &c.,' and 'Idoloclastes Satyrane', were included in the Friend (Sept.-Nov., 1809). 'Christabel,' 'Kubla Khan,' and 'The Pains of Sleep' were published by themselves in 1816. Sibylline Leaves, which appeared in 1817 and was described as 'A Collection of Poems', included the contents of the editions of 1797 and 1803, the poems published in the Lyrical Ballads of 1798, 1800, and the quarto pamphlet of 1798, but excluded the contents of the first edition (except the 'Eolian Harp'), 'Christabel', 'Kubla Khan', and 'The Pains of Sleep'. The first collected edition of the Poetical Works (which included a selection of the poems published in the three first editions, a reissue of Sibylline Leaves, the 'Wanderings of Cain', a few poems recently contributed to periodicals, and the following dramas—the translation of Schiller's 'Piccolomini', published in 1800, 'Remorse'—a revised version of 'Osorio'—published in 1813, and 'Zapolya', published in 1817) was issued in three volumes in 1828. A second collected edition in three volumes, a reissue of 1828, with an amended text and the addition of 'The Improvisatore' and 'The Garden of Boccaccio', followed in 1829.

Finally, in 1834, there was a reissue in three volumes of the contents of 1829 with numerous additional poems then published or collected for the first time. The first volume contained twenty-six juvenilia printed from letters and MS. copybooks which had been preserved by the poet's family, and the second volume some forty 'Miscellaneous Poems', extracted from the Notebooks or reprinted from newspapers. The most important additions were 'Alice du Clos', then first published from MS., 'The Knight's Tomb' and the 'Epitaph'. 'Love, Hope, and Patience in Education', which had appeared in the Keepsake of 1830, was printed on the last page of the third volume.

After Coleridge's death the first attempt to gather up the fragments of his poetry was made by his 'latest editor' H. N. Coleridge in 1836. The first volume of Literary Remains contains the first reprint of 'The Fall of Robespierre', some thirty-six poems collected from the Watchman, the Morning Post, &c., and a selection of fragments then first printed from a MS. Notebook, now known as 'the Gutch Memorandum Book'.

H. N. Coleridge died in 1843, and in 1844 his widow prepared a one-volume edition of the Poems, which was published by Pickering. Eleven juvenilia which had first appeared in 1834 were omitted and the poems first collected in Literary Remains were for the first time included in the text. In 1850 Mrs. H. N. Coleridge included in the third volume of the Essays on His Own Times six poems and numerous epigrams and jeux d'esprit which had appeared in the Morning Post and Courier. This was the first reprint of the Epigrams as a whole. A 'new edition' of the Poems which she had prepared in the last year of her life was published immediately after her death (May, 1852) by Edward Moxon. It was based on the one-volume edition of 1844, with unimportant omissions and additions; only one poem, 'The Hymn', was published for the first time from MS.

In the same year (1852) the Dramatic Works (not including 'The Fall of Robespierre'), edited by Derwent Coleridge, were published in a separate volume.

In 1863 and 1870 the 'new edition' of 1852 was reissued by Derwent Coleridge with an appendix containing thirteen poems collected for the first time in 1863. The reissue of 1870 contained a reprint of the first edition of the 'Ancient Mariner'.

The first edition of the Poetical Works, based on all previous editions, and including the contents of Literary Remains (vol. i) and of Essays on His Own Times (vol. iii), was issued by Basil Montagu Pickering in four volumes in 1877. Many poems (including 'Remorse') were collated for the first time with the text of previous editions and newspaper versions by the editor, Richard Herne Shepherd. The four volumes (with a Supplement to vol. ii) were reissued by Messrs. Macmillan in 1880.

Finally, in the one-volume edition of the Poetical Works issued by Messrs. Macmillan in 1893, J. D. Campbell included in the text some twenty poems and in the Appendix a large number of poetical fragments and first drafts then printed for the first time from MS.

The frontispiece of this edition is a photogravure by Mr. Emery Walker, from a pencil sketch (circ. 1818) by C. R. Leslie, R.A., in the possession of the Editor. An engraving of the sketch, by Henry Meyer, is dated April, 1819.

The vignette on the title-page is taken from the impression of a seal, stamped on the fly-leaf of one of Coleridge's Notebooks.

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 the lines 'On Revisiting the Sea-shore'.

I have also to acknowledge the kindness and courtesy of the Authorities of Rugby School, who permitted me to inspect and to make use of an annotated copy of Coleridge's translation of Schiller's 'Piccolomini', and to publish first drafts of 'The Eolian Harp' and other poems which had formerly belonged to Joseph Cottle and were presented by Mr. Shadworth Hodgson to the School Library.

I am indebted to my friend Mr. Thomas Hutchinson for valuable information with regard to the authorship of some of the fragments, and for advice and assistance in settling the text of the 'Metrical Experiments' and other points of difficulty.

I have acknowledged in a prefatory note to the epigrams my obligation to Dr. Hermann Georg Fiedler, Taylorian Professor of the German Language and Literature at Oxford, in respect of his verifications of the German originals of many of the epigrams published by Coleridge in the Morning Post and elsewhere.

Lastly, I wish to thank Mr. H. S. Milford for the invaluable assistance which he afforded me in revising my collation of the 'Songs of the Pixies' and the 'Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladié', and some of the earlier poems, and the Reader of the Oxford University Press for numerous hints and suggestions, and for the infinite care which he has bestowed on the correction of slips of my own or errors of the press.

Ernest Hartley Coleridge.

ABBREVIATIONS

MS. B. M.=MS. preserved in the British Museum.

MS. O.=MS. Ottery: i. e. a collection of juvenile poems in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge (circ. 1793).

MS. O. (c.)=MS. Ottery, No. 3: a transcript (circ. 1823) of a collection of juvenile poems by S. T. Coleridge.

MS. S. T. C.=A single MS. poem in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge.

MS. E.=MS. Estlin: i. e. a collection of juvenile poems in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge presented to Mrs. Estlin of Bristol circ. 1795.

MS. 4o=A collection of early poems in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge (circ. 1796).

MS. W.=An MS. in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge, now in the possession of Mr. Gordon Wordsworth.

MS. R.=MS. Rugby: i. e. in the possession of the Governors of Rugby School.

An. Anth.=Annual Anthology of 1800.

B. L.=Biographia Literaria.

C. I.=Cambridge Intelligencer.

E. M.=English Minstrelsy.

F. F.=Felix Farley's Bristol Journal, 1818.

F. O.=Friendship's Offering, 1834.

L. A.=Liber Aureus.

L. B.=Lyrical Ballads.

L. R.=Literary Remains.

M. C.=Morning Chronicle.

M. M.=Monthly Magazine.

M. P.=Morning Post.

P. R.=Poetical Register, 1802.

P. & D. W.=Poetical and Dramatic Works.

P. W.=Poetical Works.

S. L.=Sibylline Leaves (1817).

S. S.=Selection of Sonnets.

POEMS - 1787

EASTER HOLIDAYS

Verse 1st

Hail! festal Easter that dost bring

Approach of sweetly-smiling spring,

When Nature's clad in green:

When feather'd songsters through the grove

With beasts confess the power of love 5

And brighten all the scene.

Verse 2nd

Now youths the breaking stages load

That swiftly rattling o'er the road

To Greenwich haste away:

While some with sounding oars divide 10

Of smoothly-flowing Thames the tide

All sing the festive lay.

Verse 3rd

With mirthful dance they beat the ground,

Their shouts of joy the hills resound

And catch the jocund noise: 15

Without a tear, without a sigh

Their moments all in transports fly

Till evening ends their joys.

Verse 4th

But little think their joyous hearts

Of dire Misfortune's varied smarts 20

Which youthful years conceal:

Thoughtless of bitter-smiling Woe

Which all mankind are born to know

And they themselves must feel.

[2]

Verse 5th

Yet he who Wisdom's paths shall keep 25

And Virtue firm that scorns to weep

At ills in Fortune's power,

Through this life's variegated scene

In raging storms or calm serene

Shall cheerful spend the hour. 30

Verse 6th

While steady Virtue guides his mind

Heav'n-born Content he still shall find

That never sheds a tear:

Without respect to any tide

His hours away in bliss shall glide 35

Like Easter all the year.

1787.

FOOTNOTES:

From a hitherto unpublished MS. The lines were sent in a letter to Luke Coleridge, dated May 12, 1787.

DURA NAVIS

To tempt the dangerous deep, too venturous youth,

Why does thy breast with fondest wishes glow?

No tender parent there thy cares shall sooth,

No much-lov'd Friend shall share thy every woe.

Why does thy mind with hopes delusive burn? 5

Vain are thy Schemes by heated Fancy plann'd:

Thy promis'd joy thou'lt see to Sorrow turn

Exil'd from Bliss, and from thy native land.

Hast thou foreseen the Storm's impending rage,

When to the Clouds the Waves ambitious rise, 10

And seem with Heaven a doubtful war to wage,

Whilst total darkness overspreads the skies;

Save when the lightnings darting wingéd Fate

Quick bursting from the pitchy clouds between

In forkéd Terror, and destructive state 15

Shall shew with double gloom the horrid scene?

Shalt thou be at this hour from danger free?

Perhaps with fearful force some falling Wave

Shall wash thee in the wild tempestuous Sea,

And in some monster's belly fix thy grave; 20

Or (woful hap!) against some wave-worn rock

Which long a Terror to each Bark had stood

Shall dash thy mangled limbs with furious shock

And stain its craggy sides with human blood.

Yet not the Tempest, or the Whirlwind's roar 25

Equal the horrors of a Naval Fight,

When thundering Cannons spread a sea of Gore

And varied deaths now fire and now affright:

The impatient shout, that longs for closer war,

Reaches from either side the distant shores; 30

Whilst frighten'd at His streams ensanguin'd far

Loud on his troubled bed huge Ocean roars.

What dreadful scenes appear before my eyes!

Ah! see how each with frequent slaughter red,

Regardless of his dying fellows' cries 35

O'er their fresh wounds with impious order tread!

From the dread place does soft Compassion fly!

The Furies fell each alter'd breast command;

Whilst Vengeance drunk with human blood stands by

And smiling fires each heart and arms each hand. 40

Should'st thou escape the fury of that day

A fate more cruel still, unhappy, view.

Opposing winds may stop thy luckless way,

And spread fell famine through the suffering crew,

Canst thou endure th' extreme of raging Thirst 45

Which soon may scorch thy throat, ah! thoughtless Youth!

Or ravening hunger canst thou bear which erst

On its own flesh hath fix'd the deadly tooth?

Dubious and fluttering 'twixt hope and fear

With trembling hands the lot I see thee draw, 50

Which shall, or sentence thee a victim drear,

To that ghaunt Plague which savage knows no law:

Or, deep thy dagger in the friendly heart,

Whilst each strong passion agitates thy breast,

Though oft with Horror back I see thee start, 55

Lo! Hunger drives thee to th' inhuman feast.

These are the ills, that may the course attend—

Then with the joys of home contented rest—

Here, meek-eyed Peace with humble Plenty lend

Their aid united still, to make thee blest. 60

To ease each pain, and to increase each joy—

Here mutual Love shall fix thy tender wife,

Whose offspring shall thy youthful care employ

And gild with brightest rays the evening of thy Life.

1787.

FOOTNOTES:

First published in 1893. The autograph MS. is in the British Museum.

State, Grandeur [1792]. This school exercise, written in the 15th year of my age, does not contain a line that any clever schoolboy might not have written, and like most school poetry is a Putting of Thought into Verse; for such Verses as strivings of mind and struggles after the Intense and Vivid are a fair Promise of better things.—S. T. C. aetat. suae 51. [1823.]

I well remember old Jemmy Bowyer, the plagose Orbilius of Christ's Hospital, but an admirable educer no less than Educator of the Intellect, bade me leave out as many epithets as would turn the whole into eight-syllable lines, and then ask myself if the exercise would not be greatly improved. How often have I thought of the proposal since then, and how many thousand bloated and puffing lines have I read, that, by this process, would have tripped over the tongue excellently. Likewise, I remember that he told me on the same occasion—'Coleridge! the connections of a Declamation are not the transitions of Poetry—bad, however, as they are, they are better than "Apostrophes" and "O thou's", for at the worst they are something like common sense. The others are the grimaces of Lunacy.'—S. T. Coleridge.

NIL PEJUS EST CAELIBE VITÂ

[IN CHRIST'S HOSPITAL BOOK]

I

What pleasures shall he ever find?

What joys shall ever glad his heart?

Or who shall heal his wounded mind,

If tortur'd by Misfortune's smart?

Who Hymeneal bliss will never prove, 5

That more than friendship, friendship mix'd with love.

II

Then without child or tender wife,

To drive away each care, each sigh,

Lonely he treads the paths of life

A stranger to Affection's tye: 10

And when from Death he meets his final doom

No mourning wife with tears of love shall wet his tomb.

III

Tho' Fortune, Riches, Honours, Pow'r,

Had giv'n with every other toy,

Those gilded trifles of the hour, 15

Those painted nothings sure to cloy:

He dies forgot, his name no son shall bear

To shew the man so blest once breath'd the vital air.

1787.

FOOTNOTES:

First published in 1893.

POEMS – 1788

SONNET : TO THE AUTUMNAL MOON

Mild Splendour of the various-vested Night!

Mother of wildly-working visions! hail!

I watch thy gliding, while with watery light

Thy weak eye glimmers through a fleecy veil;

And when thou lovest thy pale orb to shroud 5

Behind the gather'd blackness lost on high;

And when thou dartest from the wind-rent cloud

Thy placid lightning o'er the awaken'd sky.

Ah such is Hope! as changeful and as fair!

Now dimly peering on the wistful sight; 10

Now hid behind the dragon-wing'd Despair:

But soon emerging in her radiant might

She o'er the sorrow-clouded breast of Care

Sails, like a meteor kindling in its flight.

1788.

FOOTNOTES:

First published in 1796: included in 1803, 1829, 1834. No changes were made in the text.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion xviii, To the, &c.: Sonnet xviii, To the, &c., 1803.

POEMS – 1789

ANTHEM FOR THE CHILDREN OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL

Seraphs! around th' Eternal's seat who throng

With tuneful ecstasies of praise:

O! teach our feeble tongues like yours the song

Of fervent gratitude to raise—

Like you, inspired with holy flame 5

To dwell on that Almighty name

Who bade the child of Woe no longer sigh,

And Joy in tears o'erspread the widow's eye.

Th' all-gracious Parent hears the wretch's prayer;

The meek tear strongly pleads on high; 10

Wan Resignation struggling with despair

The Lord beholds with pitying eye;

Sees cheerless Want unpitied pine,

Disease on earth its head recline,

And bids Compassion seek the realms of woe 15

To heal the wounded, and to raise the low.

She comes! she comes! the meek-eyed Power I see

With liberal hand that loves to bless;

The clouds of Sorrow at her presence flee;

Rejoice! rejoice! ye Children of Distress! 20

The beams that play around her head

Thro' Want's dark vale their radiance spread:

The young uncultur'd mind imbibes the ray,

And Vice reluctant quits th' expected prey.

Cease, thou lorn mother! cease thy wailings drear; 25

Ye babes! the unconscious sob forego;

Or let full Gratitude now prompt the tear

Which erst did Sorrow force to flow.

Unkindly cold and tempest shrill

In Life's morn oft the traveller chill, 30

But soon his path the sun of Love shall warm;

And each glad scene look brighter for the storm!

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

This Anthem was written as if intended to have been sung by the Children of Christ's Hospital. MS. O.

[3]

yours] you MS. O.

[14]

its head on earth MS. O.

JULIA

[IN CHRIST'S HOSPITAL BOOK]

Medio de fonte leporum

Surgit amari aliquid.

Julia was blest with beauty, wit, and grace:

Small poets lov'd to sing her blooming face.

Before her altars, lo! a numerous train

Preferr'd their vows; yet all preferr'd in vain,

Till charming Florio, born to conquer, came 5

And touch'd the fair one with an equal flame.

The flame she felt, and ill could she conceal

What every look and action would reveal.

With boldness then, which seldom fails to move,

He pleads the cause of Marriage and of Love: 10

The course of Hymeneal joys he rounds,

The fair one's eyes danc'd pleasure at the sounds.

Nought now remain'd but 'Noes'—how little meant!

And the sweet coyness that endears consent.

The youth upon his knees enraptur'd fell: 15

The strange misfortune, oh! what words can tell?

Tell! ye neglected sylphs! who lap-dogs guard,

Why snatch'd ye not away your precious ward?

Why suffer'd ye the lover's weight to fall

On the ill-fated neck of much-lov'd Ball? 20

The favourite on his mistress casts his eyes,

Gives a short melancholy howl, and—dies.

Sacred his ashes lie, and long his rest!

Anger and grief divide poor Julia's breast.

Her eyes she fixt on guilty Florio first: 25

On him the storm of angry grief must burst.

That storm he fled: he wooes a kinder fair,

Whose fond affections no dear puppies share.

'Twere vain to tell, how Julia pin'd away:

Unhappy Fair! that in one luckless day— 30

From future Almanacks the day be crost!—

At once her Lover and her Lap-dog lost.

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

First published in the History of . . . Christ's Hospital. By the Rev. W. Trollope, 1834, p. 192. Included in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 33, 34. First collected P. and D. W., 1877-80.

LINENOTES:

Medio, &c.] De medio fonte leporum. Trollope.

[12]

danc'd] dance (T. Lit. Rem.)

QUAE NOCENT DOCENT

[IN CHRIST'S HOSPITAL BOOK]

O! mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos!

Oh! might my ill-past hours return again!

No more, as then, should Sloth around me throw

Her soul-enslaving, leaden chain!

No more the precious time would I employ

In giddy revels, or in thoughtless joy, 5

A present joy producing future woe.

But o'er the midnight Lamp I'd love to pore,

I'd seek with care fair Learning's depths to sound,

And gather scientific Lore:

Or to mature the embryo thoughts inclin'd, 10

That half-conceiv'd lay struggling in my mind,

The cloisters' solitary gloom I'd round.

'Tis vain to wish, for Time has ta'en his flight—

For follies past be ceas'd the fruitless tears:

Let follies past to future care incite. 15

Averse maturer judgements to obey

Youth owns, with pleasure owns, the Passions' sway,

But sage Experience only comes with years.

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

First published in 1893.

THE NOSE

Ye souls unus'd to lofty verse

Who sweep the earth with lowly wing,

Like sand before the blast disperse—

A Nose! a mighty Nose I sing!

As erst Prometheus stole from heaven the fire 5

To animate the wonder of his hand;

Thus with unhallow'd hands, O Muse, aspire,

And from my subject snatch a burning brand!

So like the Nose I sing—my verse shall glow—

Like Phlegethon my verse in waves of fire shall flow! 10

Light of this once all darksome spot

Where now their glad course mortals run,

First-born of Sirius begot

Upon the focus of the Sun—

I'll call thee ——! for such thy earthly name— 15

What name so high, but what too low must be?

Comets, when most they drink the solar flame

Are but faint types and images of thee!

Burn madly, Fire! o'er earth in ravage run,

Then blush for shame more red by fiercer —— outdone! 20

I saw when from the turtle feast

The thick dark smoke in volumes rose!

I saw the darkness of the mist

Encircle thee, O Nose!

Shorn of thy rays thou shott'st a fearful gleam 25

(The turtle quiver'd with prophetic fright)

Gloomy and sullen thro' the night of steam:—

So Satan's Nose when Dunstan urg'd to flight,

Glowing from gripe of red-hot pincers dread

Athwart the smokes of Hell disastrous twilight shed! 30

The Furies to madness my brain devote—

In robes of ice my body wrap!

On billowy flames of fire I float,

Hear ye my entrails how they snap?

Some power unseen forbids my lungs to breathe! 35

What fire-clad meteors round me whizzing fly!

I vitrify thy torrid zone beneath,

Proboscis fierce! I am calcined! I die!

Thus, like great Pliny, in Vesuvius' fire,

I perish in the blaze while I the blaze admire. 40

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

First published in 1834. The third stanza was published in the Morning Post, Jan. 2, 1798, entitled 'To the Lord Mayor's Nose'. William Gill (see ll. 15, 20) was Lord Mayor in 1788.

LINENOTES:

Title] Rhapsody MS. O: The Nose.—An Odaic Rhapsody MS. O (c).

[5]

As erst from Heaven Prometheus stole the fire MS. O (c).

[7]

hands] hand MS. O (c).

[10]

waves of fire] fiery waves MS. O (c).

[15]

I'll call thee Gill MS. O. G—ll MS. O (c).

[16]

high] great MS. O (c).

[20]

by fiercer Gill outdone MS. O.: more red for shame by fiercer G—ll MS. O (c).

[22]

dark] dank MS. O, MS. O (c).

[25]

rays] beams MS. O (c).

[30]

MS. O (c) ends with the third stanza.

TO THE MUSE

Tho' no bold flights to thee belong;

And tho' thy lays with conscious fear,

Shrink from Judgement's eye severe,

Yet much I thank thee, Spirit of my song!

For, lovely Muse! thy sweet employ 5

Exalts my soul, refines my breast,

Gives each pure pleasure keener zest,

And softens sorrow into pensive Joy.

From thee I learn'd the wish to bless,

From thee to commune with my heart; 10

From thee, dear Muse! the gayer part,

To laugh with pity at the crowds that press

Where Fashion flaunts her robes by Folly spun,

Whose hues gay-varying wanton in the sun.

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet I. To my Muse MS. O.

DESTRUCTION OF THE BASTILE

I

Heard'st thou yon universal cry,

And dost thou linger still on Gallia's shore?

Go, Tyranny! beneath some barbarous sky

Thy terrors lost and ruin'd power deplore!

What tho' through many a groaning age 5

Was felt thy keen suspicious rage,

Yet Freedom rous'd by fierce Disdain

Has wildly broke thy triple chain,

And like the storm which Earth's deep entrails hide,

At length has burst its way and spread the ruins wide. 10

* * * * *

IV

In sighs their sickly breath was spent; each gleam

Of Hope had ceas'd the long long day to cheer;

Or if delusive, in some flitting dream,

It gave them to their friends and children dear—

Awaked by lordly Insult's sound 15

To all the doubled horrors round,

Oft shrunk they from Oppression's band

While Anguish rais'd the desperate hand

For silent death; or lost the mind's controll,

Thro' every burning vein would tides of Frenzy roll. 20

V

But cease, ye pitying bosoms, cease to bleed!

Such scenes no more demand the tear humane;

I see, I see! glad Liberty succeed

With every patriot virtue in her train!

And mark yon peasant's raptur'd eyes; 25

Secure he views his harvests rise;

No fetter vile the mind shall know,

And Eloquence shall fearless glow.

Yes! Liberty the soul of Life shall reign,

Shall throb in every pulse, shall flow thro' every vein! 30

VI

Shall France alone a Despot spurn?

Shall she alone, O Freedom, boast thy care?

Lo, round thy standard Belgia's heroes burn,

Tho' Power's blood-stain'd streamers fire the air,

And wider yet thy influence spread, 35

Nor e'er recline thy weary head,

Till every land from pole to pole

Shall boast one independent soul!

And still, as erst, let favour'd Britain be