The Complete Poems

I feel like a hypocrite adding this, since its a collected edition and I'm only really a fan of a few of his poems. The thing is, the few I'm a fan of are some of the best poems I've ever read. 'Rime', 'Aeolian Harp', 'Frost At Midnight'.He could barely contain the imagination he held so close in some of these masterpieces. Read him at his best and you won't be dissapointed.He used to walk fervently up the street, conversation companion in tow, talking loudly and forcefully, switching sides ever [...]

This volume is a compendium of Coleridge's poems. I essentially focused my reading on one of them, the longest and, perhaps, the most famous, namely: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The story told is somewhat tortuous: a ships gets lost in Antactica, the mariner shoots an albatross, he then has to carry the bird's corpse as a burden, a phantom ship appears and the crew dies Finally the mariner reaches the homeland and is rescued by a hermit.But what really is fascinating about this poem are t [...]

YES I HAVE READ ALL OF THEM I EVEN CITED "CRISTOBEL" IN A PAPER ABOUT LESBIAN VAMPIRES IN SEVENTIES FRENCH CINEMA

I mainly read this for the classic poems, while keeping an eye out for any lesser-known gems. I found The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to be very much deserving of fame. I’ve never read anything quite like that! (I’m rather late to the party, I know). I’m pleased that I never had it ruined by having it taught to me in a school, as drudging through it line by line would take away from its immediate punch. Christabel was interesting, but felt very much unfinished to me. Kubla Khan is utterly [...]

Christabel = best ever what a ledge

Coleridge's work ignited my love of poetry. The depths and heights of his emotion have significantly influenced my view of the world and have inspired my imagination. His greatness as a poet lies in his capacity to create vivid pictures through succinct and unforgettable lines. This is a nice collection, and an upgrade from the only works of his that I own (an anthology which only included Kublai Khan, Dejection: an Ode, and a few of his other works). This collection of works contains some of th [...]

excellent compilation

Did Coleridge ever right a word that wasn't great? I haven't come across anything he's written, criticism included, that I didn't think was brilliant. One of my favorites, hands down.

IntroductionAcknowledgementsTable of DatesFurther Reading--Easter Holidays--Dura navis--Nil pejus est caelibe vita--Sonnet to the Autumnal Moon--Julia--Quae nocent docent--The Nose--Life--To the Muse--Destruction of the Bastile--Anthem for the Children of Christ's Hospital--Progress of Vice--Monody on the Death of Chatterton (first version)--Monody on the Death of Chatterton (second version)--An Invocation--Anna and Harland--To the Evening Star--Pain--On a Lady Weeping--Monody on a Tea-Kettle--G [...]

Picked off the shelf on a whim and what a pleasure. My favourite poet. His work is superb and his letters are intelligent and full of feeling and wisdom.

"No more my visionary soul shall dwellOn joys that were; no more endure to weighThe shame and anguish of the evil day,Wisely forgetful! O'er the ocean swellSublime of Hope, I seek the cottag'd dellWhere Virtue calm with the careless step may stray,And dancing to the moonlight roundelay,The wizard Passions weave an holy spell. Eyes that have ach'd with Sorrow! Ye shall weepTears of doubt-mingled joy, like theirs who start From Precipices of distemper'd sleep, On which the fierce-eyed Fiends, thei [...]

Had my fix for a while. Star ratings for a poet like Coleridge are a bit of a nonsense: for three poems (Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christable, Kubla Khan), ten, one hundred, a thousand stars are not enough. However, his poem on the joys of leaving Cologne Okay, I can kind of do without those (and skipped a lot while reading this again today). There are some good notes with this, and the 4 stars are for the *book* rather than the actual poetry, which ranges from "no human has ever written like [...]

It's taken me about a year to get through this brick of a book, so forgive my broad overview of the collection as a whole. Five stars easily for the classics--the experience of reading "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is still unlike almost anything else in the English language, and the mystery behind "Kubla Khan" is as intoxicating as the otherworldly visions it presents. Many of the earlier and later poems do little to add to his status, but they also barely detract--and it is refreshing to s [...]

I read this as part of a Wordsworth/Coleridge class in graduate school and I was so upset that we focused more on Wordsworth than Coleridge. Coleridge's poems are strange and supernatural, reflecting that more occult side of Romanticism that carried over from the brief Gothic period. This collection allows readers to see Coleridge's shifts in style and focus, which reflect the more general shift in the greater literary movement from 1790s Gothic to our more traditional understanding of Romantici [...]

Romantic-Era poetry is characterised as being light and airy in tone, and most go in assuming that'll be the case. Coleridge's poetry does have elements of this, however at some points I was tempted into thinking if I smudged my fingers into the words, lead flakes would come off the loops and hangings of the letters! He could get incredibly heavy handed, and it shows.

I had read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" several times with great pleasure, so I hoped to find in The Complete Poems more of the same, and there is "Christabel", Kubla Khan, To a Young Ass, The Raven, but soon I did not enjoy the others so much, related to obselete subjects, superstition, mysticism or religion.

"Underneath an old oak treeThere was of a swine a huge company,That grunted as they crunched the mast:For that was ripe, and fell full fast."The RavenI loved Coleridge style! Especially in the Raven, I think it's my favorite. Nonetheless reading the poems was entertaining. I thought I would be bored as with Keats but no I was engrossed by it so I read it really fast.

It's like peanut butter: I bet most fans of chunky (myself included) would take coleridge over that creamy wimp wordsworth any day. At the end of the day it's still going to stick to the roof of your mouth, but somehow being able to really put your teeth into it makes all the difference.

The only poems I really remember are Kubla Khan and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Not bad

Kubla Khan - Coleridge's efforts to remember a lush, elusive dream, made all the more haunting by his inability to capture its full essence with words.

Yay, loved this. I know some people say he stole ideas. Maybe he just stole good ones then?

Who doesn't love Ancient Mariner or Xanadu? Funny how a little opium can enhance your creativity!

Penguin, not Coleridge, is the problem.

A ver cómo diría yo esto. Todo lo que Coleridge dejó a la mitad es diez veces mejor que la mayoría de lo que sus poetas contemporáneaos dejaron terminado y editado.

I love Coleridge. But you haven't heard "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" until you've heard Iron Maiden's song . . .

Worthwhile mostly for Kubla Khan and the Mariner

Coleridge is one of the most sublime poets in the English language. His poetry is essential to anyone who appreciates the beautiful use of language.

This book is a great read!