by Coleridge · Cluster: Wonder and Gratitude · Sublime · Storm
Abstract
A witty paradoxical compliment to ‘Fanny’ framed as a poem about nothing, since nothing is softer and more beautiful than she; a jeu d’esprit on paradox and the inexpressible.
Connections
Topoi: Inexpressibility Themes & Concepts: Paradox, Beauty Forms & Genres: Epigram, Lyric
Testo integrale / Full text
On nothing, Fanny, shall I write?
Shall I not one charm of thee indite?
The Muse is most unruly,
And vows to sing of what’s more free,
More soft, more beautiful than thee; —
And that is Nothing, truly!
First published in the Gazette of Fashion, Feb. 22, 1822. Reprinted
(by Mr. Bertram Dobell) in N. and Q., 10th Series, vol. vi, p. 145.
Now collected for the first time.