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Literary Passion · Keswick, Cumbria (Cumberland)

Greta Hall — Coleridge, Opium & 'Asra'

Under one Keswick roof: a poet drowning in laudanum, a marriage in ruins, and a hopeless love for his best friend's sister-in-law.

StatusDocumented history
Date1800–1803 (Coleridge's residence)
The peopleSamuel Taylor Coleridge, Sara Hutchinson ('Asra'), Sara Fricker Coleridge, Robert Southey
The siteGreta Hall, Main Street, Keswick (home of Coleridge and later Southey)
Coordinates54.60130, -3.13800 (confidence 4/5)

The story

one Keswick house, a poet on laudanum, a dying marriage and a hopeless love for "Asra." The story: 1800–1803 residence; Sara Hutchinson code; the Asra poems; Southey's takeover. What survives: Greta Hall (Grade II, private/holiday lets — exterior views). Visiting: private; photograph exterior from public ground.

More stories at this spot

  • Coleridge coded his love for Sara Hutchinson as 'Asra'; the passion was, by most accounts, unconsummated and unrequited
  • His collapsing marriage to Sara Fricker and opium addiction played out here
  • Southey took over the tenancy, creating a household of three sisters and their families

Sources

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Documented historyHot spot

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