The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)

When Marx stated that religion was the opiate of the people he certainly meant it in a derogatory sense; once the dictatorship of the proletariat began there would be no need for this treatment.But with the failure of communist experiments, the continued problem of poverty and the now known catastrophic side effects of opiates one might ask if religion provides a safer and still necessary opiate for those who feel overwhelmed by the world.The poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge was verse in the classic sense: a keen attentiveness to form matched by the ability to recreate a child’s sense of wonder by fresh depictions of the everyday. But I also found that reading Coleridge is something of an intellectual opiate. The words are sonorous, the images are vivid and the themes are perennial. It all makes for unusually enjoyable reading.Given that Coleridge was one of history’s earliest opioid victims, the obvious question might be raised between the relationship between the author’s own addiction and the effect of his poetry. Nevertheless, I would argue that the opiate of Coleridge can be, like religion, taken in a positive sense. In other words, there is nothing like the Romantics for adding a sense of romance into one’s life. Highly recommended.

This Penguin collection compares very well with my own Oxford Edition of 1935, and I particularly like the fact that the price is reasonable, so more people may decide to buy the book instead of just getting the two or three poems available in a typical anthology. Samuel Taylor Coleridge suffered a lot during his life: unrequited love, drug addiction, inferiority complex. Yet what a wonderful legacy for all of us fortunate enough to read his verses. My favorite poem is Christabel and I can't help picture the entire poem in my mind as if it were a gothic-horror film. The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner is his most famous work, but all of his other great and not-so great works are here, too: Dejection, an Ode; To Mathilda Betham from a Stranger; Kubla Khan; Ode to the Departing Year; The Nightingale; A Stranger Minstrel, etc. Coleridge represents the departure from the Neo-Classic and the introduction to the Romantic. He and his friend Wordsworth are pivotal in achieving that change. His religious poems may seem odd to a modern reader, but mysticism was nothing new back then, and the man was trying to make sense of his very difficult life, anchoring his hopes in his religion. Anyone who purchases, or borrows, this book, must know that hundreds of pages worth of poetry tell us a lot about the poet, since we are reading his life's work. Excellent book dedicated to the labor of a great author, and at a very convenient price. If you like the Romantics, or are interested in the period, this is a book for you.

I just received this book earlier today and all I can say is wow! A complete and total genius! This is a must have for your library of poetry. As soon as you get it I would recommend you to fully reading the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.This just blew me away;Water, water, everywhere,And all the boards did shrink;Water, water, everywhere,Nor any drop to drink.Genius with words and master of painting pictures with them to really make you think and envision what he is trying to show you! The list goes and the poems are just amazing! You need to buy this book!

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Because I love Coleridge, this book is perfect. I a currently using the book for UIL competition, but I will keep it for my own use after.

Great product and service.

Thank you!!!

Having paid for this ebook, rather than downloading the free versions of Coleridge's poems, I assumed it would be easy to navigate. Unfortunately there does not seem to be a table of contents, certainly not one that is linked to the chapters, which makes navigating through the book a nightmare. I love Coleridge's poetry but I would like to be able to jump to individual poems rather than simply reading them all through in order.

Wonderful to have this complete collection from Samuel Taylor Coleridge on my Kindle. Many thanks!

The book was delivered complete and undamaged and timed to perfection. I believe this book will be a source of immense pleasure for many years to come

Coleridge is known for his Rime which is gift for whoever has read it, notwithstanding the criticism it aroused on publication. However, this exhaustive chronological collection of Coleridge's poetic work exposes the reader to more obscure but not less compelling work such as the Moles, Suicide's Argument or The three Graves.

This is a great collection, and his poems are just lovely! I hadn't read many Coleridge poems before, so hesitated at getting his entire collection. However, after receiving this book, I was not disappointed!

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