This I think is a matter of taste. The letter is more spontaneous and
confessional, but I prefer "Dejection: An Ode" to the letter,
though I'm very glad to have it, because I cherish the controlled distance
from the churn, as well as the formal patterns of the firmer butter that
results.
What lines were you thinking of?
David Latane
On Thu, 20 Apr 2000, Robin Hamilton wrote:
> From: "David E. Latane" <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > This comes in part from the widespread preference for the young man's
> > Prelude (1805) over the posthumous version (1850). Thus one gets the
> first
> > Morning Chronicle version of "Dejection: An Ode" and the 1798 version of
> > the "Ancyent Marinere". Both of these are manifestly inferior to the
> > later versions as poetry.
>
> But +all+ the versions of "Dejection" published in Coleridge's lifetime are
> inferior to the original MS "Dejection: A Letter". It's understandable, I
> suppose, why Coleridge changes "Sarah" to "Lady", but why oh why does he
> have to cut all the best lines as well?
>
> Robin Hamilton
>
>
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