Alethea HayterCritiques
Auteur de A Sultry Month: Scenes of London Literary Life in 1846
Critiques
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This review is from: A Voyage in Vain: Coleridge's Journey to Malta in 1804 (Paperback)
Covering six weeks in 1804 when the poet Samuel Taylor-Coleridge embarked on a voyage to Malta for the sake of his health (plus his other issues: "terrifying intermissions of poetic impulse, the raw decay of his marriage, unfulfilled love for another woman, unacknowledged servitude to opium.")
Referring to his diaries and letters, Alethea Hayter gives a picture of life on board a small ship, Coleridge's illnesses and inspirations from the sea and landscape.
Yet this is not just an account of those few weeks: as we read of his letters to friends, they too are introduced into the narrative from their homes in - mainly - the Lake District, and something of their personal circumstances.
Also, this was the era of the Napoleonic War: Coleridge's ship, like all British ships in the Mediterranean, was obliged to travel in a convoy, under the supervision of a commodore, to protect them from the French and corsairs. And so Hayter introduces a certain amount of naval history - we even meet Nelson.
Although well-researched, this for me was 'neither one thing nor the other.' Readers with an interest in Coleridge will want to find out what happened to him (and his friends) after his ship docked in Malta. Those whose interest lies with naval warfare will again not find enough to satisfy them.