Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge)/Effusion 6, to Sheridan

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Effusion 5, to Erskine
Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge)
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Effusion 6, to Sheridan
Effusion 7, to Siddons
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To Sheridan or To Richard Brinsley Sheridan was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 29 January 1795 Morning Chronicle. As the last poem running as part of the 'Sonnets on Eminent Characters' series, it describes Coleridge's appreciation of Richard Brinsley Sheridan and his theatre talents. Coleridge, unlike most, preferred Sheridan's somber works over his comedies and emphasizes them within the poem.

3275743Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge) — Effusion 6, to SheridanSamuel Taylor Coleridge
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EFFUSION VI.

IT was some spirit, Sheridan! that breath'd
O'er thy young mind such wildly-various power!
My soul hath mark'd thee in her shaping hour,
Thy temples with[1] Hymettian flowrets wreath'd:
And sweet thy voice, as when o'er Laura's bier
Sad music trembled thro' Vauclusa's glade;
Sweet, as at dawn the love-lorn Serenade
That wafts soft dreams to Slumber's list'ning ear.
Now patriot Rage and Indignation high
Swell the full tones! And now thine eye-beams dance
Meanings of Scorn and Wit's quaint revelry!
Writhes inly from the bosom-probing glance
Th' Apostate by the brainless rout ador'd,
As erst that elder Fiend beneath great Michael's sword.

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  1. ↑ Note 3.
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