What do the portraits of a great poet tell us about his life, his image of himself, and the ideas of him held by his friends and his public? This text seeks to answer this question, focusing on Coleridge and considering each portrait and its place in the context of the career of its artist.
Morton Paley's collection of the visual material, the first attempt on this scale, is admirably thorough and detailed: it immediately establishes itself as standard.
