Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116508 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Synopsis
Originally published 200 years ago, "Lyrical Ballads" is published here as it was compiled by Wordsworth and Coleridge. Accepted as one of the most influential books of English poetry, it includes "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey".

Customer Reviews

The Best Edition
I had previously read the poems that appear here in their final forms, but to read the collection in it's first form was a true revelation. It has passed into poetic lore, the revolutionary nature of this poetry and the driven 'Preface' that appeared in the second edition. Here however, perhaps more is revealed about the true character of valid revolution; a simple advertisement preceeds the poems, and a current of uncertainty runs throughout.
The advertisements claim that these poems "were written chiefly as an experiment" reads like a disclaimer, while invoking the authority of the enlightenments Sir Joshua Reynolds' view that poetry can only be judged after intense protection all seem like self-protection on Wordsworth's part.
This uncertainty, which is the most charming feature of this edition, runs through all of the Wordsworth poems. 'The Female Vagrant' "thus her artless story told"; 'Goody Blake and Harry Gill', we are told, is a true story; 'Lines left upon a seat in a Yew-Tree' - it is as if Wordsworth is reluctant to take any credit for the compositions, fearing a critical backlash. Which is perhaps why he collaborated with Coleridge here; it is easier to hide between two names and the uncertainty of the specific writer than to set out on your own revolution.
The same device that seems meant to protect Wordsworth seems to have freed Coleridge; two of his poems start the collection, in the most avant-garde fashion. The disorientating, sequential non-sequitirs of 'The Rime of the ancyent marinere' does something new with English poetry; it confounds the search for meaning, a la David Lynch, which paired with the supernatural themes of the poem is very magical. In it's first edition form it is free from textual glosses, which surprisingly, doesn't detract from the poetry in any way. 'The Foster-Mothers Tale', a "dramatic fragment", frustrates in a similar way.
The collection ends with Wordsworths 'Tintern Abbey'; do you need any more recommendation?