Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge)/Effusion 7, to Siddons

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To Mrs Siddons was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 29 December 1794 Morning Chronicle as part of the 'Sonnets on Eminent Characters' series. It describes Sarah Siddons, an actress Coleridge became fond of during his visits to London during college. The poem celebrates watching Siddons perform her various roles on stage. The actual authorship of the poem is uncertain, since it was attributed to Charles Lamb in various works. It is possible that Lamb and Coleridge worked on the poem together, and, if so, it would be one of Lamb's earliest works.

3275764Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge) — Effusion 7, to SiddonsSamuel Taylor Coleridge

EFFUSION VII.

AS when a child on some long winter's night
Affrighted clinging to its Grandam's knees
With eager wond'ring and perturb'd delight
Listens strange tales of fearful dark decrees
Mutter'd to wretch by necromantic spell;
Or of those hags, who at the witching time
Of murky midnight ride the air sublime,
And mingle foul embrace with fiends of Hell;
Cold Horror drinks it's blood! Anon the tear
More gentle starts, to hear the Beldame tell
Of pretty babes, that lov'd each other dear,
Murder'd by cruel Uncle's mandate fell:
Ev'n such the shiv'ring joys thy tones impart,
Ev'n so thou, Siddons! meltest my sad heart!

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