Coleridge and the Abyssinian Maid

First published in 1967, this book seeks to show the causes which led to ColeridgeΓÇÖs breakdown in 1802 and to indicate how his views on poetry changed as a result of it. The approach is selective in that it only focuses on one part of ColeridgeΓÇÖs life (roughly 1793-1810); however the author attempts to relate a number of different areas of his activity and to trace his emotional and moral development more closely than might be possible in a full-scale biography. The account of ColeridgeΓÇÖs life ends in 1810, when his relationship with the two key figures in his life Asra and Wordsworth had ruptured, as this reflected which of ColeridgeΓÇÖs Notebooks were available at the time.