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Title: Biographia Literaria: Biographical Sketches of my Literary Life & Opinions (Collected Works of Samuel Taylor) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, James Engell, W. Jackson Bate, B. Winer ISBN: 0691018618 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 February, 1985 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67
Rating: 4
Summary: Awesome erudition
Comment: I am almost as much in awe of the erudition of the editors (James Engell and W Jackson Bates of the Bolingen edition) as that of Coleridge himself. I think it is often easier to parade one's own wide reading than to recognize someone elses's references. These editors track down the most obscure of Greek, German and Latin quotations and it's an education to read their notes.
There are really three themes in the book. One part is philosophy, one is literary criticism, and one is straight autobiography. These are dispersed throughout.
As regards the philosophy I am probably what he would have called "ignorant of his understanding." Coleridge shows a remarkable knowledge of German philosophy, read in the original language. As far as I know his philosophical ideas have not been highly regarded by pure philosophers.
The literary criticism is the most powerful and original part although the texts he uses will be unfamiliar and even anaccessible to most modern readers.
The fragments of autobiography such as chapter 10 and the first of the Satyrayane's Letters are the most readable.
While this is an unboubted work of genius I have denied it the fifth star because of a certain lack of redability. It is not, for the modern reader, a page-turning work of entertainment. It contains many gems, and much wit, but is one of those we take up today for instruction rather than diversion.
Rating: 5
Summary: From a "universal mind"
Comment: Bede Griffiths, in his book The Golden String, referred to STC as "one of the most universal minds in English literature."
I don't know of anything comparable to Biographia Literaria. At times it's the narrative of a great poet's life. He may veer off into literary criticism or even parody (see the, to me, hilarious section in which he gives "The House that Jack Built" in the rhetorical manner of a recent poet). He powerfully attacks the positivism of his age (and ours). He evokes the wonder of being human.
This scholarly edition is the one to get, if you're going to put in the time to read this rich classic at all.
Rating: 5
Summary: Ageless visions in prose and circumstances in timeless words
Comment: Coleridge was on the romantic side of poetry, however, when reading Kubla Khan, and Rime of the Ancient Mariner, you can't help but think there was some what of an explorer, an adventuristic style in his words that, save opium, had no way to bud a grow with all around hearts-a-bursting. I liken Pablo Neruda to Coleridge, their visions, love, and spirit's ferosity seem to have been forged from the same mettle. Grecian Urn, Nightingale and others should all be required reading for the young. I guarantee there would be a lot more wonder, and a little more love in this world.
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Title: The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Keach ISBN: 0140423532 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Lyrical Ballads and Related Writings (New Riverside Editions) by William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Richey, Daniel Robinson, Paul Lauter ISBN: 0618107320 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.56 |
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Title: Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834 by Richard Holmes ISBN: 0375708383 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 29 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Coleridge: Early Visions, 1772-1804 by Richard Holmes ISBN: 0375705406 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Prelude: 1799, 1805, 1850 (Norton Critical Edition) by William Wordsworth, Jonathan Wordsworth, M. H. Abrams, Stephen Charles Gill ISBN: 039309071X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 1980 List Price(USD): $20.60 |
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