Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English literary critic, poet, theologian, and philosopher. Along with his friend William Wordsworth, he founded the Romantic Movement. He was also a member of Lake Poets. He also collaborated with Robert Southey, Charles Lamb, and Charles Lloyd, and shared volumes with volumes.
He is also known for his well-known works such as Kubla Khans, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and critical work Biographia Literaria. He wrote highly influential work, particularly his works on William Shakespeare. He also attempted to introduce the philosophy of German Idealist to the English culture. He coined terms and phrases in his English language; for example, the phrase “willing suspension of disbelief.” He had been an influential figure in American transcendentalism and inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A Short Biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was on 21st October 1772 in Devonshire, England. His father was a master of grammar in English school and a vicar of a parish. Coleridge had thirteen siblings. He was the youngest and studied at the school of his father. In 1781, his father died, and Coleridge went to Christ’s Hospital School in London. Over there, he met Charles Lamb, who turned out to be his life-long friend.
Meanwhile, in London, he met another classmate Tom Evans. Tom Evan introduced his new friend to his family. Soon Coleridge fell in love with his sister, Mary.
In 1971, Coleridge attended Jesus College, University of Cambridge. In order to fulfill his father’s desire to become a clergyman, he focused more on his future in the Church of England. But the view of Coleridge started to change during the first year at Cambridge University. He started supporting the Unitarian beliefs of William Frend. William Frend was his college fellow and a controversial figure because of his Unitarian beliefs.
Coleridge also mounted up a large debt, which was paid off by his brother. Throughout his life, he was plagued with financial problems. He was consistently dependent and supported by others.
In June 1794, Coleridge met Robert Southey while he was en route to Wales. Robert Southey was a student, and they both strike with instant friendship. For several weeks, Coleridge postponed his trip. In this time, Southey and Coleridge shared their philosophical ideas.
They created a vision of pant-isocracy, equal government for all, after being influenced by the Republic of Pluto. Southey and Coleridge proposed that all men should share the equal workload, philosophical discussions, a great library, and freedom of expression of political and religious beliefs.
After visiting Wales, Coleridge came back to England. In England, he found out Robert Southey had engaged to Edith Fricker. For the communal living in the New World (the world where there is pant-isocracy), marriage is an important part. That is why Coleridge decided to marry Sarah Fricker, sister of Edith Fricker. They married in 1795. However, he continued to love Mary Evans. The marriage life of Coleridge was unhappy. He spent most of his life apart from his wife.
In 1975 Coleridge and Southey published a play in collaboration titled The Fall of Robespierre. The idea of pant-isocracy was still in progress; however, Southey, to pursue a heritage in law, abandoned the project. There was no alternative plan with Coleridge, so he spent the rest five years of his life to start a writing career. He did not finish his degree at Cambridge University.
Coleridge became a friend with William Wordsworth in 1795. William Wordsworth got greatly inspired by the poetry of Coleridge. The early works of Coleridge were more conventional and celebratory. But, he started writing in a natural style in his later works. Coleridge employed the experiences of his friends in his “conversation poems.” His conversational poems include “The Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” and “The Eolian Harp.”
In 1796, Coleridge published Poems on Various Subjects, the first volume of poetry. He also started working on a book The Watchman discussing the first ten issues of the liberal political publication. In the following two years, Coleridge lived near to William Wordsworth. In 1798, Wordsworth and Coleridge collaborated on the publication of the joint volume Lyrical Ballad. The collection is regarded as the founding work of the Romantic Movement and the romantic school of poetry. The collection contains one of Coleridge’s famous poems, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
In the same year, Coleridge and Wordsworth traveled together to the Continent. Coleridge employed much of his time in Germany. In Germany, he studied the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, G.E. Lessing, and Jakob Boehme. He also mastered the German language and started translating the philosophy books. In 1800, he returned to England and settled at Keswick with family and friends.
For the next two decades, Samuel Taylor Coleridge delivered lectures on philosophy and literature. He also wrote about political religion theory in these years. He also spent two years as a secretary to the governor on the Island of Malta. This job was a result of his struggle to overcome his ill health and addiction to opium. The financial conditions were still very bad. In 1816, he shifted with James Gillman, a physician, because of his consistent addiction to opium.
He published the finest literary criticism work Biographia Literaria in 1817. He also published numerous prose and poetic works. The most notable works include Sibylline Leave, published in 1817, Aids to Reflection published in 1825, and Church and State published in 1830.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge died on 25th July 1834 in London.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Writing Style
The poetry of Age of Reason had become limited in its scope. It no longer appealed to the readers. It became hard and rough for the reader to digest it easily. Furthermore, the poetry of reason was not poetry for the sake of poetry. The prime function of poetry was teaching moral lessons. Consequently, the poetry was unable to appeal to the senses.
On the other hand, Romantic poetry is the poetry of senses. It always appeals to the mind of readers. It is poetry for the sake of poetry, and is not boring, but brings pleasure in reading. Even if there is any moral lesson, it appeals to the readers. The Romantic Movement in poetry is pioneered by William Wordsworth and S.T. Coleridge.
The writing style of Coleridge is satisfying. The events in his poems are not unconnected like dreams or hallucinations. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in contradiction to the preceding poetry of reason, introduced supernatural elements in his poetry. Besides this, he also introduces the willing suspension of disbelief. He employed magic realism, and elements of medievalism are also present.
William Wordsworth and T.S. Coleridge published a collaborated collection of Lyrical Ballads in 1798. The Romantic Movement in English poetry officially started with the publication of Lyrical Ballads. With the publication of Lyrical Ballad, Coleridge established himself as one of the leading poets of the eighteenth century.
As a matter of fact, Coleridge uses “conversational style” in his poems. The use of conversational style in poetry is a practice to keep up to the ideals of the Romantic Movement, which states that poetry should be written about and for common readers. The poems of Coleridge are most of the time conversation between Coleridge and an unseen and unknown listener. In the poetic monologues of Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of William Wordsworth, Coleridge’s son, and Sara Hutchins appear.
In his works, Coleridge appears to be concerned with the power of the natural world and supernatural elements. For example, his masterpiece poem “Kubla Khan” illustrates the building of a splendid “pleasure dome” that is created as by strange nature or supernatural elements of icy caves under a sunlit sky.
Similarly, Coleridge, in his poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” combines the natural world with the elements of the supernatural world. The elements of the natural world are Albatross; whereas, the elements of the supernatural world are the strange sea creature. He uses these elements to describe the connection between the unseen world and the seen world, as well as the connection of human beings with both of the worlds.
Coleridge celebrates nature in poems. His poems dealing with nature are “Sonnet: To the River Otter” and “Frost at Midnight.” The poem “Frost at Midnight” is a thoughtful meditation on nature.
Coleridge’s tone is melancholy and somber in his poetry. His melancholy tone can easily be seen in the poem “Dejection: An Ode.” It also appears in the first part of the poem “Frost at Midnight.”
Coleridge, like most of the Romantics, took a personal stance in his poems. He wrote his poetry in response to his personal experiences in life, or his personal views on any topic of the event. His poem “Dejection: An Ode” describes his unrequited love. Similarly, the poem “France: an Ode” is a thoughtful meditation on his disappointment with The French Revolution in France.
Most of the poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge is lyrical. His poetry has song-like qualities. His poetry suits reading, and even singing aloud. Coleridge also blends his famous writing style with his own poetic style. In “Christabel,” he does not base the scheme on the pattern on accented and unaccented syllables.
Coleridge, though a creative writer, often appears to be unsatisfied with his own writings. Most of his famous poems are either rewritten or fragmentary. For example, his poem “The Rime of Ancient Mariner” exists in two different versions. Moreover, his two most influential works, “Christabel” and “Kubla Khan” are incomplete. It is Coleridge’s mastery of poetry and wordcraft that even his fragmented and incomplete poems are able to change the world of poetry.
Wordsworth has been rescued from his depression by Coleridge’s philosophy and belief in a powerful “life consciousness” in all individuals. With his influence, Wordsworth was able to look at nature from an entirely new perspective and characterized his contribution to the new life which was shared in his collection Lyrical Ballads. Coleridge’s philosophy is also readily present in his poetry.
The mode of Coleridge’s poetry is informal. The tone and rhythm he used to provide unity to the poem. “Frost at Midnight” is one of the successful poems that provides the account of the quiet frosty night in Somerset. The poem proceeds over a reflection between the quiet breathing of a sleeping baby and Coleridge’s quiet work. The Speaker of the poem concludes with the thought that the child should be brought up as a child of nature. The Speaker wants to impart his sympathies with nature in the education of the child.
At the end of the poem, Coleridge touches another philosophical theme.
“…so shalt thou see and hear
The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible
Of that eternal language, which thy God
Utters, who from eternity doth teach
Himself in all, and all things in himself.”
Coleridge also attempted to learn the language and then trace it back to the ancient traditions of humankind. His poetry also contains the works of comparative mythology and religion. In his poems, he tried to exploit all the mythical traditions and religions. He asserts that almost all mythical traditions and religions agree upon the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. These concepts sprang from consciousness and are collected and shaped by human genius.
When these assumptions were at the peak, he composed a poetic fragment, “Kubla Khan,” under the influence of opium. In the poem, he employed exotic imagery and rhythmic chants. This makes many critics to read the poem as “meaningless reverie,” and to enjoy the poem merely for its sensuous and vivid qualities.
When the poem, “Kubla Khan,” is analyzed under Coleridge’s interest in mythology and psychology, it suggests that the poem has complex structure meaning, and is based upon the nature of human genius. The first two stanzas of the poem show the two sides of the “commanding genius.” The first side is creative aspiration in time of peace, described in the symbolism of splendid “pleasure dome.” The second side is the destructive fountain, which is shown in the second stanza through the voices forecasting war.
In the last stanza, Coleridge talks about the condition of ‘absolute genius.” In this state, he appears to be endowed with the creative and divine power of Apollo, the Greek god of sun and poetry and presented, and inspired by the visionary “Abyssinian maid.”
Coleridge applied the same themes in another masterpiece poem, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The attractive combination of sensitivity and vividness is reflected in the poem. The poem was placed at the beginning of the Lyrical Ballads. The poem was intended to provide a context of supernatural elements that bring wonder in human life.
Amongst the Romantic poets, the most imaginative mind is that of Coleridge. Coleridge is a master of portraying the vivid imagery. He can easily carry the audience in the realm of the imagery world by making them suspend their disbelief willingly and to accept the non-existence as real. Due to this quality, Coleridge is able to incorporate effective and convincing mystical elements. For example, the description of the palace in the poem “Kubla Khan” makes readers believe in its existence.
Moreover, most of the poems of Coleridge have a dream-like quality. His major poems were influenced by reveries. His poetry is the visualized form of his dreams. “Kubla Khan” is the best example of reverie. Coleridge recounts the detail of his dream in the poem.
The poetry of Coleridge appears to be devoted to the spirit of the Middle Ages. The romance and legends of the middle ages stimulated Coleridge’s love for supernatural elements. Coleridge creates a mysterious setting and a sense of remoteness in his poetry by employing the elements of medievalism.
Initially, Coleridge was a pantheist and treated nature as a moral teacher. However, he changed his attitude towards nature. He asserts that our interpretation of nature depends on our temperature and mood. In his poem Dejection: An ode, he reflects his mood as:
“O Lady! We receive but what we give,
And in our life alone doth Nature live
Ours is her wedding garment, ours her shroud!”
Coleridge has mastered the art of storytelling or narrative skills. Probably, this is the strongest quality of his poetry. He knows that in order to narrate the story successfully, the story must have continuous evocation of interest or gripping suspense. For example, in the poem “Kubla Khan,” Coleridge engages the readers by mentioning the romantic chasm. He says
“But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
……………………………………
……………………………………..
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
And ‘mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Lastly, Coleridge was a humanist. He always shows his concern for humanity and their well-being. He shows his love for humanity by supporting the French Revolution. Assuming that this revolution will free the masses from oppression from the dictatorship, he strongly supported the upheaval. However, when the revolutionaries deviated from their principles, Coleridge windrowed his support. He shows his dissatisfaction with the French revolution in his poem “French: An Ode.”
Major Themes of Coleridge’s Work
The Metamorphic Power of the Imagination
According to Coleridge, strong and unpleasant circumstances can be overcome by active and strong imagination. Most of his poems are driven by imagination or escape to the imagery world. The Speaker in the poem temporarily abandons the real world and escapes to the world of completely new and fabricated experience.
Coleridge uses the imagination in both surprising and empowering ways as it does not confine the poetry to time and place. Coleridge rewards the Speaker of his poem for the mental and emotional jump to the realm of the imaginary world. Coleridge uses his best imagination in his poem “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” published in 1797. In the poem, the Speaker used a keen and poetic mind that permits him to take the journey that is impossible in the real world.
When the Speaker returns back to the real world, he is rewarded with many things that he can take pleasure from. These things include trees, leaves, and shadows, etc. it is the power of imagination that transforms a prison into a pleasant spot.
The Relationship of Philosophy, Piety, and Poetry
With the help of poetry, Coleridge explores the contradictory and conflicting issues of religious piety and philosophy. Several critics viewed that the interest in philosophy by Coleridge was mainly because of his struggle to comprehend intellectual impulses and imagination that he used in his poetry. Coleridge linked his imagination and intellectual impulses to God, worship and spirituality to support his claim that these things derived from the natural world.
There is a clash between piety, poetry and philosophy in his works. This clash creates disorder in his life and works both. For example, in the poem “The Eolian Harp,” the Speaker struggles hard to settle the three forces. The philosophical tendencies of the Speaker are that all living things are brushed with the consciousness of “intellectual breeze.” However, his wife is orthodox and completely condemns unconventional beliefs and forces him to focus on Christ.
The wife is not as troubling as the Speaker is troubled with his spiritual conflict. He is caught between the individual spirituality that makes nature equal to God and Christianity. The poem finishes with the Speaker overlooking the spirit of a pantheist and privileging Christ and God over nature. He also praised them for healing his spiritual wounds that were caused by the unorthodox views.
The Growth of the Individual and Nature
Coleridge and other Romantics admired the imaginative soul of the youth. They find images in nature to describe the imaginative soul of youth. For them, nature and the experiences of nature is an important part of the growth of the soul, and it also gives a sense of personhood.
Death of Coleridge’s father made him study in a school far away from his rural native town. In his poems, he laments about the missed opportunities of his native town and the adolescence in the city. For example, in his poem “Frost at Midnight” is the best example of his lamentation of not living in the rural idylls.
In the poem, the speaking is sitting quietly next to the fire and is meditating on life. His infant son is sleeping next to him. The Speaker recalls his life at the boarding school. In the boarding school, the Speaker would daydream and lull himself to sleep, nostalgic about his home that is far away from the city. He affirms to his son that he will be a “child of nature” and the way he has suffered separation from nature, he will never make his son suffer the same.
His son, unlike the Speaker, shall enjoy the seasons and learn about God through the bounty and beauty of the natural world. He will provide his son with the opportunity to establish a strong relationship with God. The Speaker and God both were deprived of this opportunity. According to Coleridge, nature can teach love, joy, piety, and freedom. These characteristics are crucial for the growth and development of a worthy individual.
