Details

Title

The Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Author

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Ernest Hartley

Publication Date

1912

Publisher

Henry Frowde

Place of Publication

London

Physical Description

print

Collection

Scans provided by and used with permission of Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library. From the L.M. Montgomery Collection.

Note

Montgomery's copy of Coleridge's poems includes her inscription inside the front cover, various kinds of annotations on the pages, and a variety of clippings and illustrations that she tucked into the book. Note that on the back of one of the illustrations of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (Pogany's "The Upper Air Burst Into Life") that Montgomery has cut from a magazine is the text of an article on "African Game Trails" by Theodore Roosevelt. Coleridge (1772-1834) is considered one of the founders of the Romantic Movement, and his poems influenced many famous poets who came after, including others that will make their way onto the Bookshelf. Montgomery references his "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in "Anne of the Island" (1915), "Anne's House of Dreams" (1917), and "Anne of Windy Poplars" (1936). Most interesting here, however, are the bracketed lines on page 297 above. Montgomery has marked the end of the first stanza of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan." These are the same lines quoted by Walter Blythe in chapter 11 of "Rainbow "Valley" (1919). Una Meredith is reflecting on how much she likes Walter's "book talk" and notes that "Walter had been reading his Coleridge that day, and he pictured a heaven where 'There were gardens bright with sinuous rills / Where blossomed many an incense bearing tree, / And there were forests ancient as the hills / Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.'" Mary Vance, ever the pragmatist, replies, "I didn't know there was any woods in heaven....I thought it was all streets--and streets--and streets." The Blythe children go on to debate whether their "Bible language" is more figurative than literal. In the end, Faith notes that "We _know_ just as much, but Walter can _imagine_," suggesting that the flight of fancy inspired by Coleridge's image is a fitting complement to plain knowledge.

Genre

poetry