Reviews

Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems (1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth

petrareadssometimes's review against another edition

5.0

The first edition's genesis was not as meticulously planned, as some might believe, and yet, the book is very cohesive, and all poems in it are up to a certain standard. I prefer Coleridge to Wordsworth, but still, both are rightfully outstanding poets in the English literary canon.

libellum_aphrodite's review against another edition

2.0

Although I like nature, which Wordsworth goes on about ad infinitem, I found Wordsworth himself to be rather bossy, which diminished my enjoyment of his writings.

veechronicles's review against another edition

3.0

they're okay

lardytatoes's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jdrags's review against another edition

3.0

poems were very very hit or miss for me. some definitely need a couple more rereads to understand but others i think were just not good? i dont know. i love romantic era poetry and lyrical ballads is a keystone collection, but i expected more.

franchenstein's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes

It's interesting how modern the romantic poetry sounds. Yes, there's a bit more rhyme and metric, the language sounds old, but the structure still strucks as modern. Most of the poems were very narrative, with a focus on the emotional world of their characters. The lush descriptions of nature also resound to a modern audience worried about what we will lose as climate disaster approaches.

isabellajcast's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

truly amazing so glad i read. fav poem was probably "Seven"

devilmann69's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

4.25

kerry2046's review against another edition

4.0

I absolutely loved Coleridge's poems in this collection but Wordsworths were not all that good to me. I love the romantic poets, their work is amazing.... Keats, Shelley, Byron and I think Coleridge actually deserved to have more space in their collaborative collection but, Alas! WOrdsworth was a selfish old goat who even told Keats that his (superior) poetry was rubbish. Wordsworth struggled being overshadowed and the believed himself above all other poets when in fact, I found Coleridge's Rime of the Ancyent Marinere and three other contributions bizarre and mystifying and far more intriguing than the majority of Wordsworth's poems. Not to say that I dislike all works of Wordsworth, he is one of the early romantics and influenced the greats. Some of his poems are brilliant like Harry Gill and Goody Blake but they did not all have the draw or charm of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's work.

bareruinedchoirs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0