4.
Author: Daniel Hahn
Title: Poetic Lives: Coleridge
Publication: London: Hesperus Press, 2009..
Pages: 168 pages
Genre: Biography, poetry
Acquisition: December Library Thing Early Review
Date Completed: January 13, 2010
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

In a sentence, Poetic Lives is exactly what it claims to be - a "short, authoritative biograph{y} of {one of} the world's best known poets, illustrated by extracts from {his} work".

My initial reaction to Hahn's biography was not positive; the writing is terse and distant, and the juxtaposition of Hahn's biography and Coleridge's often amazing poetry did not seem flattering to the project as a whole. If asked to write a review based on the first thirty pages or so I would have said that it reads like a wikipedia article with none of the charm.

However, I took a step back from the work, read the back cover (from which I took the above quotation), and settled back in to read the book as it is intended. The "Poetic Lives" series does not claim to present in-depth and thoughtful biographies; rather, the goal seems to be to place a poet's work within the context of their lives so that an audience may better understand the work itself. And this is exactly what Poetic Lives: Coleridge accomplishes. Coleridge was inspired by life, and so looking at some of his work as part of his biography helps focus a reading of his poetry in the proper light. In this way this short volume is very interesting.

Poetic Lives: Coleridge is not an overly-scholarly publication, but I would imagine that it would be very helpful and enlightening for students, particularly undergraduates who are studying the Romantics for the first time. The lack of "scholarship" also opens the book to a wider audience, making it suitable for popular reading for anyone with a passing interest in Coleridge and his work.

Challenges
75-Book Challenge: Book 4
1010 Challenge: Poetry/Plays Book 1
Off-the-shelf: