![]() In this period, the energetic Coleridge drew together a lively group of like-minded writers, and the two friends produced their most famous collaboration: the volume Lyrical Ballads. Coleridge became intensely devoted to his friend: in his poem "To William Wordsworth," he refers to him as "my comforter and my guide!" Coleridge shortly afterward moved to the Wordsworths' native Lake District. At this point, Wordsworth was in a period of crisis, having recently returned from France, where he had fathered a child. His arrival prompted a period of intense collaboration for all three writers, who were, at the time, in their mid-twenties. The friendship began in 1797, when Coleridge-who had previously had only a short meeting with Wordsworth-arrived at the Dorset home of Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. The Prelude, however, is a poetic work, and while it can provide a great deal of insight into Wordsworth's life, it doesn't tell the full story of these two poets' tumultuous friendship. ![]() Wordsworth, back in England, is hopeful for his friend's improvement and remains endlessly grateful to him. ![]() Later in The Prelude, the friends are separated when Coleridge leaves for Italy to improve his health. This version of Coleridge learns to love nature, to care for humankind, and, of course, to develop poetic genius above all odds. Whereas Wordsworth portrays himself as having had the artistic and psychological benefits of an idyllic, enriching childhood-despite being orphaned at a young age-he portrays Coleridge as having overcome disadvantage with great effort. Readers get the impression of a man with a deprived childhood, or at least a childhood deprived of nature. The version of Coleridge he creates is drawn in broad strokes. Instead, Wordsworth addresses Coleridge regularly throughout the text, building out his friend as a character within the poem itself. ![]() This dedication to fellow Romantic poet and collaborator Samuel Taylor Coleridge wasn't merely a behind-the-scenes fact of the work's creation. While he was working on the poem, he referred to it in letters as merely "Poem (title not yet fixed upon) to Coleridge," and in fact the work was intended to function as a precursor to a collaborative work called The Recluse, which was never completed. The title of The Preludewas selected posthumously, not chosen by William Wordsworth himself. ![]()
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