Coleridge and Shelley: Textual Engagement

Sally Wests timely study explores Coleridges influence on Shelleys poetic development, while engaging with the larger subject of literary influence. West argues that there is a direct correlation between Shelleys desire for political and social transformation and his appropriation, and transformation, of Coleridge language, imagery, and forms. Coleridges influence on Shelley offers an entree into Wests subtle investigation of how poets become poets.