Samuel Taylor Coleridge - The Critical Heritage - Volume 1 - 1794–1834

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Skyler

Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Critical Heritage, Volume 1 (1794–1834) compiles carefully selected contemporary and near-contemporary criticism to trace how critical attitudes formed toward Coleridge’s work. The collection ranges from major essays in the history of criticism to fragments of opinion, including letters and diaries, and it also adds later-period pieces to show shifts in reputation after the poet’s death. Each volume is organized with an introduction linking reception to the critical tradition.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages675

Reading Time17 h 20 min

AccessFree to download

Acknowledgments

Note on the Text

Introduction

The Fall of Robespierre (1794)

A Moral and Political Lecture (1795)

The Plot Discovered (1795)

The Watchman (1796)

Poems on Various Subjects (1796)

Ode on the Departing Year (1796)

Conciones ad Populum (1795)

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE: THE CRITICAL HERITAGE VOLUME 1, 1794–1834 THE CRITICAL HERITAGE SERIES General Editor: B. C. Southam The Critical Heritage series collects together a large body of criticism on major figures in literature. Each volume presents the contemporary responses to a particular writer, enabling the student to follow the formation of critical attitudes to the writer’s work and its place within a literary tradition. The carefully selected sources range from landmark essays in the history of criticism to fragments of contemporary opinion and little published documentary material, such as letters and diaries. Significant pieces of criticism from later periods are also included in order to demonstrate fluctuations in reputation following the writer’s death. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE VOLUME 1, 1794–1834 THE CRITICAL HERITAGE Edited by J.R.DE J.JACKSON London and New York First Published in 1968 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE & 29 West 35th Street New York, NY10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. Compilation, introduction, notes and index © 1968 J.R.De J.Jackson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data ISBN 0-415-13442-0 (Print Edition) ISBN 0-203-19875-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-19878-6 (Glassbook Format) General Editor’s Preface The reception given to a writer by his contemporaries and nearcontemporaries is evidence of considerable value to the student of literature. On one side we learn a great deal about the state of criticism at large and in particular about the development of critical attitudes towards a single writer; at the same time, through private comments in letters, journals or marginalia, we gain an insight upon the tastes and literary thought of individual readers of the period. Evidence of this kind helps us to understand the writer’s historical situation, the nature of his immediate reading-public, and his response to these pressures. The separate volumes in the Critical Heritage Series present a record of this early criticism. Clearly for many of the highly-productive and lengthily-reviewed nineteenth-and twentieth-century writers, there exists an enormous body of material; and in these cases the volume editors have made a selection of the most important views, significant for their intrinsic critical worth or for their representative quality—perhaps even registering incomprehension! For earlier writers, notably pre-eighteenth century, the materials are much scarcer and the historical period has been extended, sometimes far beyond the writer’s lifetime, in order to show the inception and growth of critical views which were initially slow to appear. In each volume the documents are headed by an Introduction, discussing the material assembled and relating the early stages of the author’s reception to what we have come to identify as the critical tradition. The volumes will make available much material which would otherwise be difficult of access and it is hoped that the modern reader will be thereby helped towards an informed understanding of the ways in which literature has been read and judged. B.C.S. Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS page xii NOTE ON THE TEXT xiii INTRODUCTION 1 The Fall of Robespierre (1794) 1 ‘D.M.’ in Analytical Review 1794 21 2 Review in Critical Review 1794 22 3 Notice in British Critic 1795 23 A Moral and Political Lecture (1795) 4 Review in Critical Review 1795 24 Conciones ad Populum (1795) 5 Review in Analytical Review 1796 25 6 Notice in Monthly Review 1796 27 7 Review in Critical Review 1796 27 8 Review in British Critic 1796 28 The Plot

FAQs

What is the purpose of The Critical Heritage series for Coleridge studies?

The series gathers criticism to help students follow the formation of critical attitudes toward a writer and to understand the writer’s place in a literary tradition.

What kinds of sources are included in this volume?

Sources include landmark critical essays, fragments of contemporary opinion, and little-published documentary materials such as letters and diaries, plus later pieces to show reputation changes after death.

How does the book connect early reception to a broader critical tradition?

Each volume’s introduction discusses the assembled material and relates early stages of the author’s reception to what is identified as the critical tradition.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Skyler