Samuel taylor coleridge biography ebook

These voices, unified in their scholarly pursuit, offer an intimate exploration of Coleridge's complex persona and his role in shaping the literary landscape of his time. The anthology aligns with historical and cultural movements of the 18th and 19th centuries, enriching our understanding of the Romantic period through the lens of Coleridge's dynamic presence.

With Byron's meticulous compilation, this collection presents a harmonized chorus of perspectives, celebrating the enduring legacy of Coleridge's influence across different genres and ideologies. Readers are invited to immerse themselves in this unique anthology, which serves both as an educational tool and a rich source of inspiration.

The collection encourages a dialogue between the reader and the text, providing a multi-dimensional view of Coleridge's life and works through the lens of those who have studied and admired him. Whether one is a seasoned scholar or a curious newcomer, The Life and Legacy of Coleridge offers a compelling glimpse into the Romantic era, enhancing the contemporary appreciation of this monumental figure's lasting impact.

Coleridge is best known for his long visionary poems, including 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,' 'Christabel,' and 'Kubla Khan,' which are exemplars of his innovative use of symbolism and mysticism that are characteristic of Romantic literature. His biographical works, however, such as 'The Life and Legacy of Coleridge: Biographical Works,' offer deep insight into his life.

From his adventurous youth, opium addiction, and dynamic friendships to his evolving philosophical thought and contributions to literary theory, Coleridge's life was intricate and influential. His prose includes the 'Biographia Literaria,' a seminal work in the field of literary criticism, where he developed key doctrines including the distinction between fancy and imagination.

Firstly, he found a pantheistic note in Nature, like Wordsworth.

Samuel taylor coleridge biography ebook: In 'Biographia Literaria (Complete

But later on, under the influence of the German idealists or transcendentalists, his attitude towards Nature changed. His Frost at Midnight is typically Wordsworthian in spirit and form. His pantheistic influences are visible in the poem when he notices the Divine Spirit permeating through the objects of Nature. According to the poem, there is one spirit, immanent through Man and Nature, and it is this spirit which is the controller of the universe.

Great universal Teacher! Coleridge Under the influence of influence of German idealism But, later on, his estrangement from Wordsworth and the influence of German idealism modified his attitude towards Nature. As a result, he denied a separate life to Nature and made her a mere reflection of human thought and mood. He came to believe that the impressions we receive from Nature do not have any distinct existence.

They are merely the reflections of our own thoughts. Nature is, according to him, what we think her to be.

Samuel taylor coleridge biography ebook: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October –

It appears joyous or mournful according to our own moods. We receive but what we samuel taylor coleridge biography ebook, And in our life alone does Nature live: Ours is her wedding garment, ours her shroud! Coleridge as a Poet of the Supernatural In his treatment of the supernaturalColeridge is supreme among all the Romantic poets.

Furthermore, Coleridge does not invent wonders or gruesome horrors ; but makes the supernatural as psychic phenomena, symbolizing the mystery of life. The mystery, the weirdness, the strangeness of the supernatural cast a peculiar spell on the dreamy imagination of Coleridge. It worked most vigorously when it was called up to evoke a mysterious vision of the unseen world.

Behind and beyond a seen world of natural reality is the unseen world of the supernatural. And this unseen world, populated with mysterious beings and powers, was what Coleridge sought to make real by the power of his imagination. Rather, he presents the supernatural in a psychological manner. And thus, he presents a model for other Romantic poets to follow.

In these poems, he succeeds both in creating an atmosphere of mystery by indefiniteness, subtle suggestion, psychological portraiture of effects, and by creating a proper atmosphere for the supernatural happenings. His supernaturalism is psychological, suggestive, and refined; not crude and sensational like that of Scott. Coleridge as a poet also succeeds in giving an air of realism to his supernatural happenings.

This is most conspicuously achieved by him in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner where he skillfully blends the real and the fantastic. With supernatural incidents, the poet artistically interweaves convincing pictures of Nature like the sun shining brightly in the East, the mist and snow surrounding the ship, and the freezing cold of the Arctic region.

In Christabel, however, the element of the marvel is not portrayed but slightly distilled into the atmosphere. Here the whole scheme is based on supernaturalism. Moreover, Coleridge also infuses a mysterious dread here. We find the spirit of the Middle Ages everywhere in his poetry. The Middle Ages were a store-house of romantic associations for the escape of the erratic mind from the dull pressure of the present.

Coleridge, Scott and Keats—each drew his inspiration from thought elements that fed on the past. Scott was attracted by its pageantry; and Keats by its life of passion and sensuous delights. Medievalism was to Coleridge a necessary atmosphere, from the artistic point of view, for the proper treatment of his theme—the unusual and the marvelous. He begins in medieval associations to give a necessary remoteness and a suitable setting for the marvelous which he only hints at and suggests in a delicate manner.

In Christabel, we have an ancient castle, a wood at night, an oppressive silence, a calm in which the wind forgets to blow, a vague moonlight—the whole romantic machinery with which a sense of medieval times is awakened. This touch of the real is a part and parcel of the art of making the unreal irresistible. As our pity, horror, wonder and other feelings are aroused, the imagination is entertained with sensuous pictures that keep us tied to the earth.

Coleridge handles all the visual details very successfully. His observations, sometimes, seem to go beyond the limits of ordinary visual perceptions. In Frost at Midnightthe working of nature comes alive because of what Coleridge does not hear, as Keats sees nightingale only because it is not seen. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is also remarkable for its scenery, atmosphere and color effects.

It appears as if Coleridge has arrested the motion of the moon through his verse see lines: Another example may be given of his pictorial description of natural phenomena see lines There are similar pictorial passages in Christabel and Kubla Khan also see lines of Christabel; and, of Kubla Khan. We may cite one more example of a perfect pen-picture from his Ode to Dejection see lines: Additionally, Coleridge also describes the sensuous aspect of human love, as we find in Christabel lines: The tears that Christabel sheds seem to sparkle on her bright lashes making the picture very vivid.

Coleridge as a Narrative Poet In his skillful management of narrative, Samuel Taylor Coleridge is an artist of the highest rank. He is, in fact, a superb narrator of tales. His gift of storytelling is par excellence. Instead of describing things in a straightforward manner, he describes them in an interrogative manner. The result of putting a question in a critical situation is very dramatic.

We hold our breath and read with great thrill and excitement as to what is going to happen next. For instance, when Christabel goes to the forest at midnight, the poet asks: What makes her in the wood so late, A furlong from the castle gate? Whereas, In The Rime of the Ancient Marinerhe invites the Mariner with a hypnotic power in order to rouse our curiosity in his story.

Coleridge also introduces his events very dramatically. By bringing the spectre ship gradually closer to view, a hush of expectancy is created, before Death and Life-in-Death are dramatically brought on the scene to determine the fate of the ancient Mariner and his crew. Two hundred sailors cursing the Mariner and dropping dead one by one, with their souls passing by him like the whiz of his crossbow, also produces a very dramatic effect.

All these devices give the poem an unrivaled narrative beauty.

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In this poem, he tells the story with great precision, economy and compactness. Coleridge is, undoubtedly, a master of the terseness, vigor and naivete of the true ballad manner. His poems have an allegorical interest; but it never gets the upper hand of the narrative. This is the time of his visit to Germany. In the first period, he is a Necessitarian and a Unitarian Christian; in the second, he is a Transcendentalist.

Initially, his poetry is chiefly the expression of the conception that God is at the center of everything, predetermining and regulating all physical and mental life into a kind of universal harmony or unity. It is, however, true that his great poetical achievement belongs to that period when his mind was governed by this twofold conception of Necessity and Unity.

But when he became a Transcendentalist, he ceased to be a poet. His most characteristic poems, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel are the expressions of his Necessitarianism and Unitarianism. From a complete Necessitarian, Coleridge then became a radical Transcendentalist. But he was unable to render his Transcendentalism in concrete representation, suggestive imagination, and deep feeling.

Coleridge as a Metrical Artist Romantic poetry was poetry of revolt against the artificial poetic diction of the 18th century and the tyranny of the heroic couplet. He disregarded the heroic couplet and experimented with a number of ancient metres, mostly medieval. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, he uses the old ballad meter with perfect mastery.

His other major poem, Christabel, displays full command over the music of the octosyllabic couplet. The poem is written in the irregular meter established on a new principle; that is, counting the accents in each line, not the syllables. What is true of Christabel is true of Kubla Khan also. Like Christabel, the meter of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the four-foot iambic with rhymes abab, though varied from time to time.

His melody never fails. In his use of the octo-syllabic meter or of the ballad meter, he remains unrivalled. There is a charm in these poems which the reader can only feel in the silent submission of wonder. Coleridge definitely took up the principle of accentuation; and this made him vary the unaccented syllables according to the artistic needs of melody.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, for instance, contains a series of cunning sound patterns which lull the reader and produce a hypnotic effect on his mind. We may enjoy the magical atmosphere of these poems.

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But there are moments when they break beyond illusion and call to something deep and serious in us. Both the poems communicate moral truth which we cannot dismiss. The moral of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is expressed in the following lines: He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.

Thus, through his concrete story, Coleridge reaches wider issues and the poem communicates an eternal moral truth in and through the temporal. Similarly, in Christabel, the poet has presented a contrast between good and evil, between pure innocence and motiveless malice, and the question of expiation. This communication of moral truth gives these poems a new dimension, what might otherwise be no more than irresponsible fairy tales, brought closer to life and to its fundamental issues.

Much of the magic of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel is due to the blend of dark and serious issues with the play of creative energy. In his best poetry, he breathes into his subject-matter a mystery which is the very essence of his romanticism. This mystery pervades the human souls of the persons treated as well as the very face of Nature, however delightfully accurate he is in describing its external details.

The poet masterfully creates an atmosphere of mystery in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel. Even natural phenomena, such as the sunrise, the blowing of the winds on the sea, the rise of the moon in the sky, or the twinkling stars assume a mysterious character. Human characters, such as the Ancient Mariner, also acquire a mysterious character; and, passing through the imagination of the poet, become a thing of mystery, marvel and wonder.

In Christabel, the sense of mystery is the very atmosphere in which both Christabel and nocturnal scenes are steeped.