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In 1798, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were engaged in a top secret experiment. This was not, as many assume, the creation of a book of poetry. A book emerged, to be sure—the landmark Lyrical Ballads. But in Murder Ballads, David John Brennan posits that the two poets were in fact pursuing far different ends: to birth from their poems a singular, idealized Poet. Despite their success, such Frankensteinian pursuits proved rife with consequence for the men. Doubts and questions plagued them: What does it mean to be a poet if your work is not your own? Who is best fit to lay claim to a parcel of poetic property that was collaboratively crafted and bequeathed to a fictitious Poet? How does one kill a Poet born of one’s own hand? Blending critical examination with jocular playlets-in-verse featuring the authors of the two books in baffled conversation, Murder Ballads reopens a 200-year-old cold case that never received a proper investigation: Who was the first true Author of Lyrical Ballads, and how exactly did he die?

Literary studies: poetry & poets --- English poetry --- History and criticism. --- Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, --- Wordsworth, William, --- Lyrical ballads (Wordsworth, William). --- Wœ̄tsawœ̄t, Winlīam, --- Wurdzwurth, Wilyam, --- Varḍsavartha Viliyama, --- Axiologus, --- Coleridge, S. T. --- Kolʹridzh, Samuil, --- Кольридж, Самуил, --- Kolʹridzh, Samuil Teĭlor, --- Кольридж, Самуил Тейлор, --- Kūlīridzh, Ṣāmwīl Tīlūr, --- קולרידג׳, סמיואל טיילור --- Kūlīridj, Ṣāmwīl Tīlūr, --- كولردج، صمويل تيلور, --- קאָלרידש, ס. ט., --- poetry --- criticism --- Wordsworth --- plays --- experimental poetry