In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

HUMANITIES 251 the work B is occupied by a description and exact reproduction of the Frere MS (the Toronto transcriptions on which the texts are based), a small selection of introductory material and notes prepared by Owen Barfield, who at one time was the designated editor for these volumes in the Collected Coleridge, and a 148-page index to the whole. It is an important work and in every respect a first-rate piece of editorial presentation. (JACK STILLINGER) Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Marginalia V. Edited by H.J. Jackson and George Whalley Volume 12 of Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Princeton University Press 1999. xxiii, 867. US $165.00 The fifth (and penultimate) volume of Coleridge=s Marginalia contains his notes on over sixty books in alphabetical order by author, from Sherlock to Unidentified. Each marginal note is accompanied by the original passage that evidently provoked his commentary, and the editorial apparatus provides explanatory notes, cross-references to other works by Coleridge, and the approximate date of each set of marginalia. Heather Jackson, the chief editor of this volume, has wisely chosen to follow in the editorial footsteps of the late George Whalley, who edited volumes 1B2 of the Marginalia, and who devised the innovative publication format for this unprecedented editorial project. As Whalley pointed out in his magisterial introduction to the first volume, Coleridge=s marginalia are unparalleled by those of any other writer in their range, scope, and depth of response to an incredible variety of subject matter. In the present volume, Coleridge is mainly engaged with literature, religion, and philosophy, with occasional side-trips into politics, history, travel writing, and science. This volume contains marginalia on several important literary figures, including Sir Philip Sidney, Jonathan Swift, and Alfred Tennyson. Coleridge also perceptively criticizes the poetry of Charles Tennyson Turner, the brother of Alfred Tennyson. Among the most personally revealing marginalia in this volume are Coleridge=s comments on various works by Robert Southey. In about 1814, Coleridge made some acerbic comments on Joan of Arc, a work that he coauthored with Southey in 1796, but which he later came to despise for its Jacobinical politics and its sophomoric use of poetic language. Coleridge invents special acronyms to indicate Southey=s characteristic faults as a poet: >S.E. means Southey=s English, i.e. no English at all. N. means Nonsense. J. means discordant Jingle of sound.= Coleridge also criticizes his own contributions to Joan of Arc, remarking at one point that >these are very fine Lines ... but hang me, if I know or ever did know the meaning of them.= Elsewhere, however, his comments on Southey=s works are more sympathetic and judicious. Coleridge provides extensive, 252 LETTERS IN CANADA 2000 thoughtful commentary on Southey=s Life of Wesley (1820), which he describes as >the book more often in my hands than any other in my ragged book-regiment.= These remarkable marginalia on Southey=s Life of Wesley express (by turns) enthusiasm, bewilderment, stern critique, and amiable rejoinder; they exemplify the rich complexity and emotional depth of Coleridge=s response to his former friend and collaborator. Theological controversy is the single most prevalent topic in Coleridge=s Marginalia. Volume 5 contains over two hundred pages of marginalia on the works of Jeremy Taylor, a seventeenth-century English divine with whom Coleridge felt an especially close affinity. Coleridge=s running commentary on Taylor=s Polemicall Discourses (1674) offers sharp rebuttal on various points of disagreement; yet the predominant tone of these marginalia is one of affectionate colloquy with a kindred spirit. Coleridge particularly admires Taylor=s penchant for digressions, reflections, and interjections: >these are the costly gems which glitter, loosely set, on the Chain Armour of his polemic Pegasus.= Coleridge is considerably less sympathetic in his response to the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Although he admires Swedenborg=s >profound insight into the nature of Spirit,= he is nevertheless quite critical of Swedenborg=s intolerance towards other religious creeds. In Coleridge=s view, >mutual intolerance is the pledge of mutual ignorance.= This volume offers substantial additions to our existing knowledge of Coleridge=s development as a philosopher. It contains extensive marginalia (never before published) on Benedict Spinoza, Heinrich...

pdf

Share