Description Samuel Taylor Coleridge Selected Letters offers a deeply intimate and illuminating portrait of one of the most enigmatic and intellectually restless figures of English Romanticism. Spanning from Coleridge’s youth in the 1790s through to the final years of his life in the 1830s, this collection gathers some of his most revealing personal correspondence, charting his literary ambitions, philosophical explorations, emotional struggles, and complex relationships. Edited with scholarly care, the volume presents Coleridge not just as the celebrated poet of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, but as a man of towering intellect and fragile constitution—at once brilliant, self-critical, idealistic, and deeply conflicted. The letters chronicle his friendship with William Wordsworth, his turbulent marriage, his addiction to laudanum, and his wide-ranging intellectual pursuits, from metaphysics and theology to politics and aesthetics. They also reveal his persistent anxiety over his poetic output and his yearning for spiritual and creative fulfilment. What distinguishes these letters is their extraordinary candour and eloquence. Coleridge’s prose style is richly expressive, often moving between confessional outpouring and philosophical musing. In these pages, readers witness a mind perpetually in motion, grappling with the moral, poetic, and psychological dilemmas of the age. This selection not only enhances our understanding of Coleridge’s published works but also humanises the figure behind them. His letters are a vital key to understanding Romanticism’s broader cultural and emotional landscape, capturing the spirit of a time when literature, philosophy, and personal experience were inextricably entwined. Samuel Taylor Coleridge Selected Letters stands as a compelling companion to his poetry and criticism, offering readers a vivid, first-hand encounter with the interior life of one of England’s most profound and complex literary voices. 1988 Paperback edition edited by H.J. Jackson. in very good condition. Some minor pen annotations on a couple of pages. All pages intact.
