Born on October 21, 1772 in Devonshire, England, Coleridge was a dreamy and thoughtful boy and not one for sports or rough play. When he was eight his father died and Coleridge was sent away to Christ’s Hospital, a charity school in London where stayed for the remainder of his childhood. In 1795, Coleridge met William Wordsworth and the two poets worked closely together to found the Romantic Movement in English literature. Collected together here in this representative volume are Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s most popular poems. In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” we find the ghostly tale of a sailor’s experience following a long voyage at sea. In “Kubla Khan” Coleridge relates an opium influenced dream of the legendary city Xanadu. In “Christabel” the story of its titular character and her encounter with a stranger named Geraldine is told. Along with these three major Coleridge compositions we find the poet’s conversation poems, a collection of eight poems which examine and reflect upon particular life experiences. The poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge endures as some of the best of the Romantic period, whose influence on later generations of poets cannot be overstated. This edition includes an introduction by Julian B. Abernethy and a biographical afterword.
