The Collected Poems of Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (Edinburgh Critical Editions of Nineteenth-century Texts)

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge was a key figure in the history of both women’s poetry and fin-de-siècle poetics. Coleridge, the great grand niece of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is best known for her gothic lyrics, ‘The Other Side of a Mirror’ and ‘The Witch’, poems that expose the undercurrents of desire and suffering housed within the Victorian domestic sphere. This collection provides a new understanding of the rich intellectual, aesthetic and spiritual breadth of Coleridge’s poetry. Drawing on Coleridge’s unpublished letters and manuscripts, it allows readers to trace the fascinating history of the poetry’s composition and to understand its role in the friendships and family ties of this important and often overlooked late-Victorian poet.