The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Vol 1 and 2

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

PREFACE

The Preface is the same as that of 1808 and 1828, with the addition of the following passage (quoted as a foot-note to the sentence:—'I have pruned the double-epithets with no sparing hand; and used my best efforts to tame the swell and glitter both of thought and diction.')—'Without any feeling of anger, I may yet be allowed to express some degree of surprize, that after having run the critical gauntlet for a certain class of faults, which I had, viz. a too ornate, and elaborately poetic diction, and nothing having come before the judgement-seat of the Reviewers during the long interval, I should for at least seventeen years, quarter after quarter, have been placed by them in the foremost rank of the proscribed, and made to abide the brunt of abuse and ridicule for faults directly opposite, viz. bald and prosaic language, and an affected simplicity both of matter and manner—faults which assuredly did not enter into the character of my compositions.—Literary Life, i. 51. Published 1817.' In the Biog. Lit. (loc. cit.) the last seven lines of the quotation read as follows—'judgement-seat in the interim, I should, year after year, quarter after quarter, month after month (not to mention sundry petty periodicals of still quicker revolution, 'or weekly or diurnal') have been for at least seventeen years consecutively dragged forth by these into the foremost rank of the proscribed, and forced to abide the brunt of abuse, for faults directly opposite, and which I certainly had not. How shall I explain this?'

Contents.—The Contents of Vols. I and III are identical with the Contents of Vols. I and III of 1828 (No. XX): A 'Song' (Tho' veiled in spires of myrtle wreath), p. 78, and 'The Alienated Mistress: A Madrigal' (If Love be dead, &c.), p. 93 of Vol. II, 1828, are omitted in Vol. II of 1829; and 'The Allegoric Vision,' 'The Improvisatore, or John Anderson, My Jo, John' [New Thoughts on old Subjects], and 'The Garden of Boccaccio' are inserted in Vol. II of 1829; between 'The Wanderings of Cain' and 'Remorse', pp. 116-42. The text of 1829, which J. D. Campbell followed in P. W., 1893, differs from that of 1828.

XXII

The / Poetical Works / Of / Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats. / Complete in One Volume. / Paris / Published by A. and W. Galignani / No. 18, Rue Vivienne / 1829. /

[8^o.

Collation.—General half-title, one leaf; The imprint, Printed by Jules Didot Senior, / Printer to His Majesty, Rue du Pont-de-Lodi, No. 6, is on the reverse of the half-title; Title, one leaf, unpaged; Notice of the Publishers, one leaf, unpaged; half-title, The / Poetical Works / of / Samuel Taylor Coleridge. / pp. [i-ii]; Contents, pp. [iii]-iv; Memoir of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, pp. [v]-xi; Text, pp. [1]-225.

[Note.—A lithographed vignette of a Harp, &c., is in the centre of the title-page. The frontispiece consists of three portraits of Coleridge (Northcote), Shelley, and Keats, engraved by J. T. Wedgwood.

The contents are identical with those of 1829, with the following additions: (1) 'Recantation—illustrated in the story of the Mad Ox'; (2) 'The Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladie' (as published in the Morning Post, Dec. 21, 1799); (3) 'The Composition of a Kiss'; (4) 'To a Friend together with an unpublished Poem'; (5) 'The Hour when we shall meet again'; (6) 'Lines to Joseph Cottle'; (7) 'On the Christening of a Friend's Child'; (8) 'The Fall of Robespierre'; (9) 'What is Life?'; (10) 'The Exchange'; (11) Seven Epigrams, viz. (1) 'Names'; (2) Job's Luck'; (3) 'Hoarse Maevius', &c.; (4) 'There comes from old Avaro's', &c.; (5) 'Last Monday', &c.; (6) 'Your Poem ', &c. (7) 'Swans sing', &c. ('Job's Luck' had been republished in The Crypt, 1827, and the other six in The Keepsake, 1829.) 'Fancy in Nubibus, or the Poet in the Clouds' (vide ante, p. [435]), p. 216, was repeated on p. 217, under the title 'Sonnet, composed by the Seaside, October 1817', with two variants, 'yield' for 'let' in line 4, and 'To' for 'Own' in line 5. 'Love's Burial-Place', and Song, 'Tho' veiled', &c., which had appeared in 1828, were not included in Galignani, 1829.]

XXIII

The Devil's Walk; / A Poem. / By / Professor Porson. / Edited with a Biographical Memoir and Notes, By / H. W. Montagu, / Author of Montmorency, Poems, etc. etc. etc. / Illustrated with Beautiful Engravings on wood by Bonner and / Sladen, After the Designs of R. Cruikshank. / Γνωθι σεαυτον / London: / Marsh and Miller, Oxford Street. / And Constable and Co. Edinburgh. [1830.]

[12^o.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, p. [iii]; The Imprint, London: / Printed by Samuel Bentley, / Dorset-Street, Fleet-Street, is in the centre of p. [iv]; Preface, pp. [v]-viii; Text, pp. [9]-32; 'Variations', p. 33; Advertisement of New Works Published by Marsh and Miller, p. [34]-[36].

[Note.—The motto Γνωθι κ.τ.λ may have suggested Coleridge's lines entitled 'Self-knowledge' (ante, p. 487). The Pamphlet is enclosed in a paper cover, The Devil's Walk; / By / Professor Porson. / With Illustrations by R. Cruikshank. / London: / Marsh and Miller. / 1830. / Price One Shilling. / The Illustrations consist of a Frontispiece and five others to face pp. 10, 14, 19, 24, and 31.]

XXIV

The Devil's Walk; / a Poem. / By / S. T. Coleridge, Esq. / And / Robert Southey, Esq. L.L. D. etc. / Edited with a Biographical Memoir, &c. (five lines as in No. XXIII). Γνωθι σεαυτον / Second Edition. / London: Alfred Miller, 137, Oxford Street; / And Constable, Edinburgh; / Griffin, Glasgow; and Milliken, Dublin. / [1830].

[12^o.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, p. [iii]; The Imprint, as in No. XXIII, is in the centre of p. [iv]; Advertisement, pp. [v]-vi; Preface, pp. [vii]-x; Text, pp. 11-32; Variations, p. 33; Advertisement (as in No. XXIII), p. [34].

[Note.—The Advertisement, which is dated October, 1830, states that the 'Devil's Walk' 'has now put forth its fifteen thousandth copy', and apologizes for 'an error respecting its authorship'. The Second edition forms part of a volume entitled Facetiae, Being a General Collection of the Jeux d' Esprit which have been illustrated by Robert Cruikshank. London: William Kidd, 6, Old Bond Street. MDCCCXXXI. It is followed by the 'Devil's Visit', and 'The Real Devil's Walk.']

XXV

Ten Etchings, / Illustrations of the / Devil's Walk. / By / Thomas Landseer. / London: / Published by R. G. Standing, / 24, Cornhill. / 1831. /

[Folio.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, unpaged; The imprint, London: / Henry Baylis, Johnson's Court, Fleet-Street. /, is at the foot of the Reverse. The Devil's Walk. A Word at Starting, pp. 1-14, is followed by the illustrations, unpaged, with a single stanza at the foot of each illustration.

XXVI

The Poetical Works Of / S. T. Coleridge / Vol. I, Vol. II, &c. / London / William Pickering / 1834 /

[8^o.

Collation.—Vol. I. Half-title, The Poetical Works Of / S. T. Coleridge / In Three Volumes / Vol. I, one leaf, p. ; Title, one leaf, pp. [iii]-[iv]; The Imprint, Charles Whittingham / London /, is at the foot of p. [iv]; Preface, pp. [v]-x; Contents, pp. [xi]-xiv; Text, pp. [1]-288; The Imprint, London: / Printed by C. Whittingham, Tooks Court. /, is at the foot of p. 288.

Vol. II. Half-title (as in Vol. I), Vol. II, one leaf, pp. -[ii]; Title, one leaf, pp. [iii]-[iv]; The Imprint (as in Vol. I) is at the foot of p. iv: Contents, pp. [v]-vi; Text, pp. [1]-338; The Imprint (as in Vol. I) is at the foot of p. 338.

Vol. III. Half-title (as in Vol. I), pp. -[ii]; Title, one leaf, pp. [iii]-[iv]; The Imprint (as in Vol. I) is at the foot of p. [iv]; Half-title, The Piccolomini, &c., p. [1]; Preface to the First Edition, p. [3]; Text, pp. [5]-330; 'Love, Hope, and Patience in Education', p. 331; Erratum, p. [332]; The Imprint (as in Vol. I) is at the foot of p. [332].

[Note.—This edition, the last printed in the lifetime of the author, was reprinted in 1835, 1840, 1844, 1847, &c. The Title-page is ornamented with the Aldine device and motto as in No. XXI.]

CONTENTS

[Preface, same as 1829, No. XXI, pp. [v]-x; the titles of Poems not published or collected before 1834 are italicized.]

			Page	Page of the
			1834	present
				edition
Half-title
Juvenile Poems			[1]
Genevieve			3	[19]
Sonnet. To the Autumnal Moon			3	[5]
Anthem for the Children of Christ's Hospital			4	[5]
Time, real and imaginary			5	[419]
Monody on the Death of Chatterton			6	[13]
Songs of the Pixies			13	[40]
The Raven			18	[169]
Music			20	[28]
Devonshire Roads			21	[27]
Inside the Coach			22	[26]
Mathematical Problem			23	[21]
The Nose			27	[8]
Monody on a Tea-Kettle			29	[18]
Absence, a Farewell Ode			30	[29]
Sonnet. On Leaving School			31	[29]
To the Muse			32	[9]
With Fielding's Amelia			33	[37]
Sonnet. On hearing that his Sister's Death was inevitable			33	[20]
On Seeing a Youth affectionately welcomed by a Sister			34	[21]
The same			35	[78]
Pain			35	[17]
Life			36	[11]
Lines on an Autumnal Evening			36	[51]
The Rose			40	[45]
The Kiss			41	[63]
To a Young Ass			43	[74]
Happiness			44	[30]
Domestic Peace			48	[71]
The Sigh			48	[62]
Epitaph on an Infant			49	[68]
On Imitation			50	[26]
Honor			50	[24]
Progress of Vice			53	[12]
Lines written at the King's Arms, Ross			54	[57]
Destruction of the Bastile			55	[10]
Lines to a beautiful Spring in a Village			57	[58]
On a Friend who died of a Frenzy Fever induced by calumnious reports			58	[76]
To a Young Lady, with a Poem on the French Revolution			60	[64]
Sonnet	I.	"My Heart has thanked thee, Bowles"	62	[84]
——	II.	"As late I lay in Slumber's Shadowy Vale."	63	[80]
——	III.	"Though roused by that dark vizir Riot rude"	64	[81]
——	IV.	"When British Freedom for a happier land"	64	[79]
——	V.	"It was some Spirit, Sheridan!"	65	[87]
——	VI.	"O what a loud and fearful shriek"	66	[82]
——	VII.	"As when far off"	66	[82]
——	VIII.	"Thou gentle look"	67	[47]
——	IX.	"Pale Roamer through the Night!"	68	[71]
——	X.	"Sweet Mercy!"	68	[93]
——	XI.	"Thou Bleedest, my Poor Heart!".	69	[72]
——	XII.	To the Author of the Robbers.	70	[72]
Lines composed while climbing Brockley Coomb			70	[94]
Lines in the Manner of Spenser			71	[94]
Imitated from Ossian			73	[38]
The Complaint of Ninathoma			74	[39]
Imitated from the Welsh			75	[58]
To an Infant			75	[91]
Lines in Answer to a Letter from Bristol			76	[96]
To a Friend in Answer to a melancholy Letter			80	[90]
Religious Musings			82	[108]
The Destiny of Nations, a Vision			98	[131]
Half-title
Sibylline Leaves. / I. Poems occasioned by Political Events / Or Feelings Connected / With them. /			[119]
Motto—When I have borne in memory, &c. (fourteen lines), Wordsworth			[120]
Ode to the Departing Year			[121]	[160]
France, an Ode			128	[243]
Fears in Solitude			132	[256]
Fire, Famine, and Slaughter			141	[237]
II. Love Poems			[145]
Motto—eleven lines from a Latin poem of Petrarch			[145]
Love			[145]	[330]
The Ballad of the Dark Ladie. A Fragment			150	[293]
Lewti, or the Circassian Love Chaunt			152	[253]
The Picture, or the Lover's Resolution			155	[369]
The Night Scene, a Dramatic Fragment			162	[421]
To an Unfortunate Woman			166	[172]
To an Unfortunate Woman at the Theatre			167	[171]
Lines Composed in a Concert Room			168	[324]
The Keepsake			170	[345]
To a Lady, with Falconer's Shipwreck			172	[424]
To a Young Lady on her recovery from a Fever			173	[252]
Something Childish, but very Natural			174	[313]
Home-sick: written in Germany			175	[314]
Answer to a Child's Question			176	[386]
A Child's Evening Prayer			176	[401]
The Visionary Hope			177	[416]
The Happy Husband			178	[388]
Recollections of Love			179	[409]
On revisiting the Sea-Shore			181	[359]
III. Meditative Poems. / In Blank Verse			[183]
Motto—eight lines translated from Schiller			[183]
Hymn before Sunrise, in the Vale of Chamouni			183	[376]
Lines written in the Album at Elbingerode in the Hartz Forest			187	[315]
On observing a Blossom on the First of February			189	[148]
The Æolian Harp			190	[100]
Reflections on having left a place of Retirement			393	[106]
To the Rev. George Coleridge			196	[173]
Inscription for a Fountain on a Heath			199	[381]
A Tombless Epitaph			200	[413]
This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison			201	[178]
To a Friend, who had declared his intention of writing no more Poetry			205	[158]
To William Wordsworth, composed on the night after his recitation of a Poem on the growth of an individual mind			206	[403]
The Nightingale			211	[264]
Frost at Midnight			216	[240]
The Three Graves			219	[267]
Odes and Miscellaneous Poems			235
Dejection, an Ode			235	[362]
Ode to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire			241	[335]
Ode to Tranquillity			244	[360]
To a Young Friend, on his proposing to domesticate with the Author			246
Lines to W. L. while he sang a song to Purcell's Music			249	[286]
Addressed to a Young Man of Fortune			249	[157]
Sonnet. To the River Otter			250	[48]
—— Composed on a journey homeward after hearing of the birth of a son			251	[153]
—— To a Friend			252	[154]
The Virgin's Cradle Hymn			252	[417]
Epitaph on an Infant			253	[417]
Melancholy, a Fragment			253	[73]
Tell's Birth Place			254	[309]
A Christmas Carol			256	[338]
Human Life			258	[425]
Moles			259	[430]
The Visit of the Gods			259	[310]
Elegy, imitated from Akenside			261	[69]
Separation			262	[397]
On Taking Leave of ——			263	[410]
The Pang more sharp than all			263	[457]
Kubla Khan			266	[295]
The Pains of Sleep			270	[389]
Limbo			272	[429]
Ne plus ultra			273	[431]
Apologetic Preface to Fire, Famine, and Slaughter			274
END OF VOL. I
Volume II
The Ancient Mariner.
Part	I.		1	[187]
"	II.		5	[189]
"	III.		7	[192]
"	IV.		10	[196]
"	V.		13	[198]
"	VI.		18	[202]
"	VII.		23	[206]
Christabel, Part I			28	[213]
Conclusion to Part I			39	[225]
Part II			41	[227]
Conclusion to Part II			53	[235]
Half-title
Miscellaneous Poems			[55]
Motto Ἔρωϛ ἀεί, &c. In many ways, &c. (four lines)
Alice du Clos; or, the Forked Tongue. A Ballad			57	[469]
The Knight's Tomb			64	[432]
Hymn to the Earth			65	[327]
Written during a temporary blindness, 1799			67	[305]
Mahomet			68	[329]
Catullian Hendecasyllables			69	[307]
Duty surviving Self-Love			69	[459]
Phantom or Fact? a dialogue in Verse			70	[484]
Phantom			71	[393]
Work without Hope			71	[447]
Youth and Age			72	[439]
A Day Dream			74	[385]
First Advent of Love			76	[443]
Names			76	[318]
Desire			77	[485]
Love and Friendship opposite			77	[484]
Not at home			77	[484]
To a Lady offended by a sportive observation			78	[418]
Lines suggested by the Last Words of Berengarius			79	[460]
Sancti Dominici Pallium			80	[448]
The Devil's Thoughts			83	[319]
The two round Spaces on the Tombstone			87	[353]
Lines to a Comic Author			89	[476]
Constancy to an Ideal Object			90	[455]
The Suicide's Argument			91	[419]
The Blossoming of the Solitary Date Tree			92	[395]
From the German			95	[311]
Fancy in Nubibus			96	[435]
The Two Founts			96	[454]
The Wanderings of Cain			99	[288]
Allegoric Vision			109	[1091]
New Thoughts on Old Subjects			117	[462]
The Garden of Boccaccio			127	[478]
On a Cataract			131	[308]
Love's Apparition and Evanishment			132	[488]
Morning Invitation to a Child			133
Consolation of a Maniac			135
A Character			137	[451]
The Reproof and Reply			140	[441]
Cholera Cured beforehand			142
Cologne			144	[477]
On my joyful departure from the same City			144	[477]
Written in an Album			145
To the Author of the Ancient Mariner			145
Metrical Feet. Lesson for a Boy			145	[401]
The Homeric Hexameter described and exemplified			146	[307]
The Ovidian Hexameter described and exemplified			146	[308]
To the Young Artist, Kayser of Kayserworth			147	[490]
Job's Luck			147
On a Volunteer Singer			148
On an Insignificant			148
Profuse Kindness			148
Charity in Thought			148	[486]
Humility the Mother of Charity			149	[486]
On an Infant which died before Baptism			149	[312]
On Berkeley and Florence Coleridge			149
"Γνῶθι σεαυτόν, &c.			150	[487]
"Gently I took," &c.			151	[488]
My Baptismal Birthday			151	[490]
Epitaph			152	[491]
Half-title
Remorse! / A Tragedy. / In Five Acts. /			[153]
Dramatis Personae.			[154]	[819]
Remorse.			155	[820]
Appendix.			[237]	881
Half-title, Motto, &c.
Zapolya: / A Christmas Tale / In Two Parts /			[241]
Advertisement.			[242]	[883]
Zapolya.			[243]	[884]
END OF VOL. II
Volume III
Half-title
The Piccolomini; / Or, the First Part of Wallenstein. / A Drama. /Translated from the German of Schiller. /			[1]
Preface to the First edition			[3]	[598]
The Piccolomini			[5]	[600]
Half-title
The / Death of Wallenstein. / A Tragedy. / In Five Acts: /			[193]
Preface of The Translator / To the First Edition. /			[195]	[724]
Dramatis Personae			[198]	[726]
The Death of Wallenstein			[199]	[726]
Love, Hope, and Patience in Education			331	[481]
Erratum			[332]

XXVII

The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge; With a Life of the Author. London: John Thomas Cox, 84 High Holborn. mdcccxxxvi.

[8^o, pp. lxxviii + 403.

The Life of the Author is followed by an Appendix containing 'Coleridge's Will', and 'Contemporary Notices of the Writings and Character of Coleridge'.

The Contents consist of the Poems published in 1797, together with 'The Nightingale'; 'Love'; 'The Ancient Mariner'; 'The Foster Mother's Tale'; four poems and seven sonnets reprinted from 1796; 'On a late Connubial Rupture'; and the 'Three Sonnets . . . in the manner of Contemporary Writers' reprinted from the Poetical Register. The Poems conclude with 'A Couplet, written in a volume of Poems presented by Mr. Coleridge to Dr. A.'—a highly respected friend, the loss of whose society he deeply regretted—

To meet, to know, to love—and then to part,
Is the sad tale of many a human heart.

For the 'Couplet', vide ante, p. [410], 'To Two Sisters', ll. 1, 2. Dr. A. was probably John Anster, LL.D., the translator of Goethe's Faust.

The Dramatic Works consist of 'The Piccolomini' and 'The Death of Wallenstein'.

XXVIII

The Poetical And Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with a Life of the Author. London: Tho^s. Allman 42 Holborn Hill 1837.

[16^mo, pp. viii + 392.

Note.—The 'Life of the Author' does not form part of this edition. The Contents are identical with those of No. XXVII. The frontispiece depicts the 'Ancient Mariner' and the 'Wedding Guest'. The title-page, 'Drawn and Engraved by J. Romney,' is embellished with a curious vignette depicting a man in a night-cap lying in bed. A wife, or daughter, is in attendance. The vignette was probably designed to illustrate some other work.

XXIX

The Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge with Life of the Author. London: Charles Daly, 14, Leicester Street, Leicester Square, n. d.

[16^mo, pp. xxxii + [35]-384.

The Contents consist of 'The Ancient Mariner' (with the marginal glosses printed at the end of the poem); the Poems of 1796, 1797, with a few exceptions: 'The Piccolomini'; 'The Death of Wallenstein'; 'The Dark Ladié'; 'The Raven'; 'A Christmas Carol'; and 'Fire, Famine, and Slaughter'—i. e. of poems then out of copyright, or reprinted from the Morning Post.

XXX

The Ancient Mariner, and other Poems. By S. T. Coleridge. Price Sixpence. London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, Paternoster-Row. mdcccxliii. J. Scott, Printer, 50, Hatfield Street.

[16^mo, pp. iv + 148.

Note.—This edition formed one of the 'Pocket English Classics'. An illustrated title-page depicts the 'skiff-boat' with its crew of the Ancient Mariner, the Holy Hermit, the Pilot, and the Pilot's boy, who is jumping overboard. The flag bears the legend 'The Antient Mariner and Minor Poems By S. T. Coleridge'. The Contents include 'The Ancient Mariner', with the marginal glosses printed at the end of the poem; and a selection of poems published in 1796, 1797.

XXXI

The Poems of S. T. Coleridge [Aldine device and motto] London William Pickering 1844.

[8^o, pp. xvi + 372.

Note.—The Contents of this volume, issued by Mrs. H. N. Coleridge as sole editress, consist of the Poems (not the Dramatic Works) included in 1834, with the following omissions, (1) Music, (2) Devonshire Roads, (3) Inside the Coach, (4) Mathematical Problem, (5) The Nose, (6) Monody on a Tea-kettle, (7) 'The Same,' 'I too a sister had', &c., (8) On Imitation, (9) Honor, (10) Progress of Vice, (11) The Two round spaces on the Tombstone; and the following additions, already republished in Lit. Remains, 1836, Vol. I, (1) Epigram, 'Hoarse Mævius', &c., (2) Casimir ad Lyram, (3) On the Christening of a Friend's Child, (4) Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladie, (5) An Ode to the Rain, (6) The Exchange, (7) Complaint, 'How seldom, Friend', &c., (8) 'What is Life', (9) Inscription for a Time-Piece, (10) Ἐπιτάφιον αὐτόγραπτον. Four songs from the dramas were also included. The German originals of (1) Schiller's 'Lines on a Cataract', (2) Friederike Brun's 'Chamouny at Sunrise', and (3) Schiller's distiches on the 'Homeric Hexameter' and the 'Ovidian Elegiac Metre' are printed on pp. 371, 372.

XXXII

The Poems of S. T. Coleridge [Aldine device and motto] London William Pickering 1848.

[8^o, pp. xvi + 372.

The Contents are identical with those of No. XXXI, with the exception of two additional 'Notes' (pp. 371, 372) containing the German original of Matthisson's Milesisches Märchen, and two stanzas of Cotton's Chlorinda, of which 'Separation' (ante, p. 397) is an adaptation.

XXXIII

The Raven, A Christmas Tale, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Esq. Illustrated with Eight Plates, By an Old Traveller. [n. d.]

Collation.—Oblong folio, pp. i-vi + eight scenes unpaged, faced by eight lithographs.

XXXIV

The Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Edited by Derwent and Sara Coleridge. A New Edition. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. 1852.

[8^o, pp. xxvii ('Advertisement', and 'Editors' Preface to the
Present Edition', pp. [v]-xiv) + 378 + 'Notes', pp. [379]-388.

ADVERTISEMENT

This volume was prepared for the press by my lamented sister, Mrs. H. N. Coleridge, and will have an additional interest to many readers as the last monument of her highly-gifted mind. At her earnest request, my name appears with hers on the title-page, but the assistance rendered by me has been, in fact, little more than mechanical. The preface, and the greater part of the notes, are her composition:—the selection and arrangement have been determined almost exclusively by her critical judgment, or from records in her possession. A few slight corrections and unimportant additions are all that have been found necessary, the first and last sheets not having had the benefit of her own revision.

Derwent Coleridge.

St. Mark's College, Chelsea,
May 1852.

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION [1852]

As a chronological arrangement of Poetry in completed collections is now beginning to find general favour, pains have been taken to follow this method in the present Edition of S. T. Coleridge's Poetical and Dramatic Works, as far as circumstances permitted—that is to say, as far as the date of composition of each poem was ascertainable, and as far as the plan could be carried out without effacing the classes into which the Author had himself distributed his most important poetical publication, the 'Sibylline Leaves,' namely, Poems occasioned by Political Events, or Feelings connected with them; Love Poems; Meditative Poems in blank verse; Odes and Miscellaneous Poems. On account of these impediments, together with the fact, that many a poem, such as it appears in its ultimate form, is the growth of different periods, the agreement with chronology in this Edition is approximative rather than perfect: yet in the majority of instances the date of each piece has been made out, and its place fixed accordingly.

In another point of view also, the Poems have been distributed with relation to time: they are thrown into three broad groups, representing, first the Youth,—secondly, the Early Manhood and Middle Life,—thirdly, the Declining Age of the Poet; and it will be readily perceived that each division has its own distinct tone and colour, corresponding to the period of life in which it was composed. It has been suggested, indeed, that Coleridge had four poetical epochs, more or less diversely characterised,—that there is a discernible difference betwixt the productions of his Early Manhood and of his Middle Age, the latter being distinguished from those of his Stowey life, which may be considered as his poetic prime, by a less buoyant spirit. Fire they have; but it is not the clear, bright, mounting fire of his earlier poetry, conceived and executed when 'he and youth were house-mates still.' In the course of a very few years after three-and-twenty all his very finest poems were produced; his twenty-fifth year has been called his annus mirabilis. To be a 'Prodigal's favourite—[1169:1]then, worse truth! a Miser's pensioner,' is the lot of Man. In respect of poetry, Coleridge was a 'Prodigal's favourite,' more, perhaps, than ever Poet was before.

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[The poems] produced before the Author's twenty-fourth year [1796], devoted as he was to the 'soft strains' of Bowles, have more in common with the passionate lyrics of Collins and the picturesque wildness of the pretended Ossian, than with the well-tuned sentimentality of that Muse which the overgrateful poet has represented as his earliest inspirer. For the young they will ever retain a peculiar charm, because so fraught with the joyous spirit of youth; and in the minds of all readers that feeling which disposes men 'to set the bud above the rose full-blown' would secure them an interest, even if their intrinsic beauty and sweetness were less adequate to obtain it.

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The present Editors have been guided in the general arrangement of this edition by those of 1817 and 1828, which may be held to represent the author's matured judgment upon the larger and more important part of his poetical productions. They have reason, indeed, to believe, that the edition of 1828 was the last upon which he was able to bestow personal care and attention. That of 1834, the last year of his earthly sojourning, a period when his thoughts were wholly engrossed, so far as the decays of his frail outward part left them free for intellectual pursuits and speculations, by a grand scheme of Christian Philosophy, to the enunciation of which in a long projected work his chief thoughts and aspirations had for many years been directed, was arranged mainly, if not entirely, at the discretion of his earliest Editor, H. N. Coleridge . . . Such alterations only have been made in this final arrangement of the Poetical and Dramatic Works of S. T. Coleridge, by those into whose charge they have devolved, as they feel assured, both the Author himself and his earliest Editor would at this time find to be either necessary or desirable. The observations and experience of eighteen years, a period long enough to bring about many changes in literary opinion, have satisfied them that the immature essays of boyhood and adolescence, not marked with any such prophetic note of genius as certainly does belong to the four school-boy poems they have retained, tend to injure the general effect of a body of poetry. That a writer, especially a writer of verse, should keep out of sight his third-rate performances, is now become a maxim with critics; for they are not, at the worst, effectless: they have an effect, that of diluting and weakening, to the reader's feelings, the general power of the collection. Mr. Coleridge himself constantly, after 1796, rejected a certain portion of his earliest published Juvenilia: never printed any attempts of his boyhood, except those four with which the present publication commences, and there can be no doubt that the Editor of 1834 would ere now have come to the conclusion, that only such of the Author's early performances as were sealed by his own approval ought to form a permanent part of the body of his poetical works.

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It must be added, that time has robbed of their charm certain sportive effusions of Mr. Coleridge's later years, which were given to the public in the first gloss and glow of novelty in 1834, and has proved that, though not devoid of the quality of genius, they possess upon the whole, not more than an ephemeral interest. These the Editors have not scrupled to omit on the same grounds and in the same confidence that has been already explained.

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S. C.

Chester Place, Regent's Park.
March, 1852.

The Contents of 1852 correspond with those of 1844, 1848, with the following omissions: (1) Anthem for the Children of Christ's Hospital; (2) Sonnet, 'Farewell, parental scenes', &c.; (3) To the Muse; (4) With Fielding's Amelia; (5) Sonnet, 'On receiving an account', &c.; (6) Sonnet, 'On seeing a Youth', &c.; (7) Pain; (8) Epigram, 'Hoarse Mævius', &c.; (9) Casimir ad Lyram; (10) 'On the Christening', &c.; (11) Elegy imitated from Akenside; (12) Phantom; (13) Allegoric Vision; (14) Reproof and Reply; (15) Written in an Album, 'Parry', &c.; (16) To the Author of the Ancient Mariner; (17) Job's Luck; (18) On a Volunteer Singer; together with four songs from the dramas.

The additions were (1) Sonnet to Pitt, 'Not always', &c.; (2) Sonnet, 'Not Stanhope', &c.; (3) To the Author of Poems published anonymously at Bristol; (4) The Day-Dream, 'If thou wert here', &c.; (5) The Foster-Mother's Tale; (6) A Hymn; (7) The Alienated Mistress. A Madrigal; (8) To a Lady, 'Tis not the lily brow', &c.; (9) Song, 'Tho' veiled', &c.; (10) L'envoy. 'In vain we supplicate', &c.

The Notes, pp. 379-88, contain, inter alia, the Latin original of 'Kisses' (vide ante, p. [46]), and the Sonnet, 'No more my visionary Soul shall dwell', attributed by Southey to Favell (vide ante, p. [68]).

XXXV

The Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Edited by Derwent Coleridge. A New Edition. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. 1852.

[8^o, pp. xvi + 427.

CONTENTS

Remorse. A Tragedy in Five Acts.

Zapolya. A Christmas Tale. In two Parts. Part I. The Prelude, &c.

Zapolya. Part II. The Sequel, entitled 'The Usurper's Fate.'

The Piccolomini; or the first part of 'Wallenstein.' A Drama. Translated from Schiller.

The Death of Wallenstein. A Tragedy. In Five Acts.

Notes.

Note.—The Preface contains a critical estimate of Remorse and Zapolya, and of the translation of Schiller's Wallenstein. At the close of the Preface [pp. xii-xiv] the Editor comments on the strictures of a writer in the Westminster Review, Art. 3 July 1850 (vide ante, p. [811]), and upholds the merits of the Translation as a whole. The Preface is dated 'St. Mark's College, Chelsea, July, 1852'.

XXXVI

The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. With an Introductory Essay upon his Philosophical and Theological opinions. Edited by Professor Shedd. In Seven Volumes. Vol. vii. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Nos. 329 and 331 Pearl Street, Franklin Square. 1853.

Second Title.—The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1853.

[8^o, pp. xiv + 15-702.

The Contents are identical with those of 1834, with ten additions first collected in 1844. The Fall of Robespierre is included in the Dramatic Works. 'Lines in Answer to a Letter from Bristol', pp. 67-70, are reprinted as 'Lines Written at Shurton Bars near Bridgewater', pp. 103-5 (vide ante, p. [96]). Vol. vii was republished with an Index to the preceding six volumes in 1854.

XXXVII

The Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Edited by Derwent and Sara Coleridge. With a Biographical Memoir By Ferdinand Freiligrath. Copyright Edition. Leipzig Bernhard Tauchnitz 1860.

Collation.—General Half-title, one leaf, Collection of British Authors. Vol. 512. The Poems, &c. (4 lines). In One Volume, p. ; Title, p. [iii]; Half-title, Biographical Memoir of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. By Ferdinand Freiligrath, p. [iv]; Advertisements, p. [v]; Biographical Memoir, pp. [vi]-xxviii; Advertisement (to ed. of 1852), p. xxix; Preface, pp. [xxxi]-xl; Contents, pp. [xli]-xlv. Text, pp. [1]-336; Notes, pp. [337]-344.

XXXVIII

The Poems of S. T. Coleridge. London: Bell and Daldy. 1862.

[16^mo, pp. xiii + 299.

XXXIX

The Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Edited by Derwent and Sara Coleridge. With an Appendix. A New Edition. London: Edward Moxon & Co., Dover Street. 1863.

[8^o, pp. xxvii + [1]-378 + Notes, pp. [379]-388 + Appendix, pp. [391]-404.

The text of the Poems is identical with that of 1852, but a fresh 'Advertisement', pp. [iii]-iv, is prefixed to the 'Advertisement' dated May, 1852.

ADVERTISEMENT

The last authorised edition of S. T. Coleridge's Poems, published by Mr. Moxon in 1852, bears the names of Derwent and Sara Coleridge, as joint editors. In writing my name with my sister's, I yielded to her particular desire and request, but the work was performed almost entirely by herself. My opinion was consulted as to the general arrangement, and more especially as to the choice or rejection of particular pieces. Even here I had no occasion to do more than confirm the conclusions to which she had herself arrived, and sanction the course which she had herself adopted. I shared in the responsibility, but cannot claim any share in the credit of the undertaking. This edition I propose to leave intact as it came from her own hands. I wish it to remain as one among other monuments of her fine taste, her solid judgment, and her scrupulous conscientiousness.

A few pieces of some interest appear, however, to have been overlooked. Two characteristic sonnets, not included in any former edition of the Poems, have been preserved in an anonymous work, entitled 'Letters, Recollections, and Conversations of S. T. Coleridge.' These with a further selection from the omitted pieces, principally from the Juvenile Poems, have been added in an Appendix. So placed, they will not at any rate interfere with the general effect of the collection, while they add to its completeness.

All these buds of promise were once withdrawn, and, afterwards reproduced by the Author. It is not easy now to draw a line of separation, which shall not be deemed either too indulgent, or too severe. [The concluding lines of the 'Advertisement' dealt with questions of copyright].

Derwent Coleridge.