Le dit du vieux marin - Suivi de Christabel et de Kubla-Khan

Eté 1797 : pour Coleridge commence l'"année miraculeuse". Sous l'influence de son nouvel ami Wordsworth, il conçoit les chefs-d'oeuvre qui le feront passer à la postérité (La Chanson du vieux marin, Chrislabel, Kubilaï Khan). A la demande du prestigieux théâtre de Drury Lane, il écrit sa première tragédie, Oseria. Mais la pièce est refusée sans raison valable. Nullement découragé, après en avoir publié deux extraits dans les Ballades lyriques, acte fondateur du Romantisme, il la révise entièrement, en améliore la trame et le style, et parvient finalement, au bout de quinze ans d'efforts, à lui faire connaître un triomphe sous le titre de Remords. Dans la lignée shakespearienne, Coleridge imagine une terrible histoire autour de la jalousie d'un frère pour son aîné. Il la situe dans l'Espagne de la Reconquista, dans un climat inquiétant de luttes religieuses, mêlant avec une rare habileté complots familiaux et politiques, intrigues fictives et faits historiques. Il donne vie à de fascinants personnages, tiraillés entre devoirs et sentiments, désirs de vengeance et rêves d'amour, au centre desquels dominent deux frères déchirés, incarnations du destin de tout un pays. Cette édition propose, traduites pour la première fois en français, les deux versions de cette pièce. Ces deux textes sont complémentaires et s'éclairent l'un l'autre. Une longue introduction retrace son histoire complexe et mouvementée : sa gestation, les obstructions qui empêchèrent sa représentation, sa résurrection et l'influence qu'elle eut sur la deuxième génération romantique anglaise. Des notes détaillées et une bibliographie exhaustive complètent une approche critique sans équivalent. En annexe sont donnés le prologue et l'épilogue lus lors des premières représentations.

Remords suivi d'Osorio

Propos de table

Poemes (Bilingue)

It has been my lot to have had my name introduced both in conversation, and in print, more frequently than I find it easy to explain, whether I consider the fewness, unimportance, and limited circulation of my writings, or the retirement and distance, in which I have lived, both from the literary and political world. Most often it has been connected with some charge which I could not acknowledge, or some principle which I had never entertained. Nevertheless, had I had no other motive or incitement, the reader would not have been troubled with this exculpation. What my additional purposes were, will be seen in the following pages. It will be found, that the least of what I have written concerns myself personally. I have used the narration chiefly for the purpose of giving a continuity to the work, in part for the sake of the miscellaneous reflections suggested to me by particular events, but still more as introductory to a statement of my principles in Politics, Religion, and Philosophy, and an application of the rules, deduced from philosophical principles, to poetry and criticism. But of the objects, which I proposed to myself, it was not the least important to effect, as far as possible, a settlement of the long continued controversy concerning the true nature of poetic diction; and at the same time to define with the utmost impartiality the real poetic character of the poet, by whose writings this controversy was first kindled, and has been since fuelled and fanned.

Biographia Literaria

Notebooks

It is the honourable characteristic of Poetry that its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind. The evidence of this fact is to be sought, not in the writings of Critics, but in those of Poets themselves.

The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure. Readers accustomed to the gaudiness and inane phraseology of many modern writers, if they persist in reading this book to its conclusion, will perhaps frequently have to struggle with feelings of strangeness and aukwardness: they will look round for poetry, and will be induced to enquire by what species of courtesy these attempts can be permitted to assume that title. It is desirable that such readers, for their own sakes, should not suffer the solitary word Poetry, a word of very disputed meaning, to stand in the way of their gratification; but that, while they are perusing this book, they should ask themselves if it contains a natural delineation of human passions, human characters, and human incidents; and if the answer be favourable to the author's wishes, that they should consent to be pleased in spite of that most dreadful enemy to our pleasures, our own pre-established codes of decision.

Lyrical Ballads

'Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.'Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features illustrations by Gustave Doré, the most remarkable wood engraver of the nineteenth century, and an introduction by writer and journalist Ned Halley. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, one of the best-known and best-loved poems in the English language, a grizzled old sailor stops a man on his way to a wedding and tells a terrifying story. He speaks of how he doomed the crew of his ship by shooting dead an albatross, awakened the wrath of ocean spirits, met Death himself, and must now walk the earth for ever and share his tragic tale of sin, guilt and - ultimately - redemption.

Le dit du vieux marin - Suivi de Christabel et de Kubla-Khan

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