Product Description

Published in 1798, Lyrical Ballads is a dazzling collaboration containing twenty-three poems by close friends, William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) - two major figures of English Romanticism. The volume heralded a new approach to poetry and expresses the poetsÂ’ reflections on mankindÂ’s relationship with the forces of the world. ColeridgeÂ’s contribution includes the nightmarish vision of ‘The Rime of the Ancyent MarinereÂ’, one of the works for which he became best known, as well as the fantastical conversational poem ‘The Foster-MotherÂ’s TaleÂ’ and the melancholic ‘The NightingaleÂ’. WordsworthÂ’s ‘We are SevenÂ’ depicts a childÂ’s naïve optimism in the face of the cruel mortality, while ‘Goody Blake and Harry GillÂ’ and ‘Simon LeeÂ’ celebrate the simplicity and strength he perceived in country people, and ‘Tintern AbbeyÂ’ explores the healing powers of nature. Published as part of the Penguin Poetry First Editions series in which the greatest collections of poetry in English will be published in their original form. All texts have been completely reset and some minor changes made to punctuation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14016 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Coleridge (1772-1834) has been criticized as a political turn-coat, drug addict and plagiarist whose wrecked career left only a handful of magical early poems. But the shaping influence of his highly imaginative criticism is now generally accepted,and his position, along with Wordsworth (1770-1850), as one of the two great progenitors of the English Romantic spirit is assured. A great innovator, Wordsworth permanently enlarged the range of English poetry both in subject matter and treatment. Michael Schmidt is Professor of English and Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is the author of the critical history LIVES OF THE POETS (1999), THE STORY OF POETRY (five volumes, 2001-), and THE FIRST POETS: LIVES OF THE ANCIENT GREEK POETS.

Customer Reviews

Lyrical Ballads 1798

Thank you Penguin, for publishing the original 1798 edition of Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth was an inveterate revisor of his poems. Whenever Lyrical ballads was republished, he took the opportunity to revise poems, add extra ones and change the order in which the originals appeared. In this edition, we get his (and Coleridge's)original ideas. These are the poems of Wordsworth and Coleridge when they were young men and still radical in their poetics as well as their politics. Anyone interested in how these two giants of Romanticism and Radicalism developed, should own a copy of this edition of Lyrical Ballads. It is instructive to compare the version of the poems in this edition with those from the 1802 edition and later ones. Great stuff.

Not totally inspired, but, something other than Shakespeare
For my English Lit A level I am currently studying this text. When reading this (if you decide to) the first thing to remember is that the poetic style were purely experimental and thus meant to be taken lightly. That is important to bare in mind because you might be reading it and thinking what is this.

The collection is written predominately by Wordsworth (only 4 Coleridge poems are in it) and definitely display's boldness and flare in execution and deliverance. You may find it interesting to read because Wordsworth draws upon the characteristics of many Seventeenth century vagrants, it is amazing to think that even than there were marginal members of society. However, his poetry does not only involve itself with solitary characters but also themes such as the supernatural, the sacred nature of children, loss, isolation and of course the sublime.

One of the collections greatest poems is Tintern Abbey which deals exclusively with the sublime, it is a great account of Wordsworth's relationship with nature as a young boy and man. It may challenge you to look at your own attitude towards nature.

Lyrical ballads is an oxymoron, which obviously suggests that the poetry will inhabit some kind of paradoxical elements. These aspects allow the reader to think and engage with the subjects and themes connected. Do not expect to read some fluently written masterpiece, he is not Shakespeare if anything he draws away from that.

I wont say it is the best poetry I ever read but it is influential and most importantly authentic and this really is depicted throughout the poetry.