Poets Through Their Letters: From the Tudors to Coleridge

This is neither a history of letter-writing in England nor an exhaustive
survey of every letter written by every poet. It is a series of studies of
poets made through their personal letters. Only in one isolated case,
that of Swift’s Letter of Advice to a Young Poet, have I discussed at
any length an ‘open’ letter, intended for publication. Some poets,
such as Shakespeare, left no letters; they have not been discussed.
Others, such as Jonson, left few, and have been dealt with com¬
paratively briefly. The letters of yet others—Burns, for example—
though numerous, are not as revealing as one could wish; these have
also been accorded shorter treatment.
This volume is devoted to British poets from Wyatt to Coleridge
(born 1772); a succeeding one will deal with British and American
poets from Byron to Frost.