SOURCE: “Poetical Influences,” in The Poetry of Hartley Coleridge, Catholic University of America, 1927, pp. 9-30.

In this biographical and critical article Pomeroy traces the influence of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and their Romantic philosophy on Hartley Coleridge's life and writing.

The poet child of a poet father, Hartley Coleridge is an interesting exception to the generally acknowledged rule that genius is not inherited.¹ Hartley Coleridge had poetical genius—a genius, perhaps, which did not attain perfect fulfilment, but which enabled him, none the less, to write some poems worthy to take their place among the lasting contributions to English literature.

The name “Coleridge” is a memorable one. In the mind of every schoolboy it is associated with the Ancient Mariner, staggering under the weight of the dead albatross, or holding the wedding guest with “his glittering eye.” The more enlightened reader probably thinks of it in connection with Lamb at...