Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Eolian Harp

Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1795

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

Coleridge’s poem “The Eolian Harp” is the earliest of a group of poems that have come to be known as “Conversation Poems” since George McLean Harper’s denomination of them as such in 1928. Distinguishing these from “the Mystery Poems”, i.e., “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, “Christabel”, and “Kubla Khan”, Harper also calls them “Poems of Friendship” because they are connected with specific intimate relationships and precise locations associated with those people whose presences—or absences—inform the poems. Harper identifies the following poems as “Conversation Poems” or “Poems of Friendship”: “The Eolian Harp”, “Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement”, “This Lime-Tree B…

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2511 words

Citation: Robinson, Daniel. "The Eolian Harp". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 February 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23049, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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