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1772–1834

NAMES

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I ask'd my fair one happy day, What I should call her in my lay; By what sweet name from Rome or Greece; Lalage, Neaera, Chloris,

Sappho, Lesbia, or Doris, Arethusa or Lucrece. ‘ Ah!’ replied my gentle fair, ‘ Belovéd, what are names but air?

Choose thou whatever suits the line; Call me Sappho, call me Chloris, Call me Lalage or Doris, Only, only call me Thine.’

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NAMES · Samuel Taylor Coleridge · Poetry Cove