The Friendship Wordsworth and Coleridge

by Sisman, Adam

• ISBN13: 9780670038220
• ISBN10: 0670038229
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-02-15
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

The story of the legendary friendship between Wordsworth and Coleridge The friendship between William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge produced dazzling results. From it came Lyrical Ballads, the volume that kick-started the Romantic Movement in England. Rarely have two such gifted writers cooperated so closely. They met in 1795 when both were in their early twenties, and in the euphoria of mutual discovery these brilliant and idealistic young men planned a poem that would succeed where the French Revolution failed—a poem that would, quite literally, change the world. In this wonderfully lively and readable account, acclaimed author Adam Sisman explores their passionate and tempestuous bond and the way in which rivalry bred tension between them. Though much has been written about this extraordinary duo, no previous biographer has considered them together. The result offers insights into the rich yet neglected topic of friendship and tantalizing glimpses of the creative process itself.

Author Biography

Adam Sisman is the author of A.J.P. Taylor: A Biography and Boswell-'s Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Maps
Wordsworth and Coleridge's West Country	p. xii
Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lakes	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
Prologue	p. xxi
Strangers
Revolution	p. 3
Reaction	p. 27
Idealism	p. 61
Sedition	p. 86
Friends
Contact	p. 123
Retreat	p. 151
Communion	p. 176
Collaboration	p. 213
Separation	p. 252
Amalgamation	p. 280
Acquaintances
Subordination	p. 329
Estrangement	p. 381
Coleridge's Plan for The Recluse	p. 427
Acknowledgments	p. 433
Notes	p. 435
Index	p. 457
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