On Receiving an Account that his only Sister's Death was Inevitable was composed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1794, and deals with the death of Coleridge's step-sister Ann (1791), as well as that of his brother Luke (1790). A later poem ('To a Friend'), was written for Coleridge's friend Charles Lamb and seeks to comfort him after the loss of his sister.

After Coleridge's father died when he was young, he would often experience feelings of loneliness. He was distant from his mother, and his education at Christ's Hospital, London separated him from any of his relatives. However, while attending the school he did become close to his brothers George and Luke and sister Nancy. When Coleridge received notice of the death of his brother Luke in February 1790 and later of his sister Ann during March 1791 near the end of his school career, he decide to compose the sonnet "On Receiving an Account that his only Sister's Death was Inevitable". The poem was published over 40 years later in an edition of his works in 1834.

In December 1794, Coleridge composed a second poem that partially deals with the events of his sister's death. The poem, "To a Friend", was sent on 29 December to Lamb when Coleridge received notice that Lamb's sister was ill. Within the poem, Coleridge invokes the memory of his own sister in order to comfort his friend. The poem was sent along with his Religious Musings. "To a Friend" was published in Coleridge's 1796 edition of poems and later in the 1797 and 1803 editions.

"On Receiving an Account" is a "schoolboy sonnet" and begins:

The tear which mourn'd a brother's fate scarce dry—
Pain after pain, and woe succeeding woe—
Is my heart destin'd for another blow?
O my sweet sister! and must thou too die?

— lines 1–4

Coleridge then uses the exclamation "ah", a standard in his poetry, in order to express feelings of regret:

Ah! how has Disappointment pour'd the tear
O'er infant Hope destroy'd by early frost!
How are ye gone, whom most by soul held dear!