Coleridge

Coleridge's description of nature based on actual experiences e.g in Fears in Solitude...

Coleridge's description of nature based on actual experiences e.g in Fears in Solitude...

Somerset described as "green and silent". Alliterating adjectives like "gay", "gorgeous" and "golden" describes the furze/ the sunshine "glimmers"

Nature is described to have a beneficial influence on people in Frost at Midnight.

"my baby shalt wander like a breeze...beneath the clouds" he expresses Hartley will have a better education than him if he is educated by Nature

Sublime

description that excites emotion beyond ordinary experience. Nature > the sublime > pantheism

the sublime in Kubla Kahn

"turbulent nature" and the “ceaseless turmoil" of the “mighty fountain" and the "mazy motion" of the "sacred river"

Pantheism

the belief that God is in everything

A line in Aeolian Harp that represents Coleridge's Pantheistic philosophy

"the one Life within us and abroad, which meets all motion and becomes its soul"

Coleridge explores Pantheism by describing nature's beneficial effect on the human spirit (Fears In Solitude)

"tis a quiet spirit-healing nook", "and he...found religious meanings in the forms of Nature"

Coleridge's pantheism is interwoven with...

traditional Christianity e.g the Mariner cannot be released of his curse until he has received Christian confession. The moral of the poem has Christian message "he prayeth best who loveth best"

Traditional Christianity in Reflection on Having Left A Place of Retirement

Coleridge writes about "Science, Freedom, and the Truth in Christ" and ends with "Speed it, O Father! Let thy Kingdom come!"

Pantheism and traditional Christianity are blended what line shows this in Dejection an Ode

Coleridge writes "and when I rose, I found myself in prayer" -this is a response to God in Nature/ a prayer to the traditional Christian God.

Gothic literature

included motifs like horror/fear/extreme emotion/supernatural/ romance. The gothic related to Orientalism (important movement in the visual arts and interior design e.g Royal Pavilion)

Coleridge and gothic

At one time, he worked at correcting the proofs of gothic novel.

Possible reason as to why Wordsworth disapproved Coleridge's gothic poems The Ancient Mariner and Christabel.

Gothic novels regarded as sensational reading for ladies of leisure and not serious work of literature.

Coleridge's description of the Mariner

"skinny hands"/ "glittering eyes"/ "ancient"/ "grey-beard loon"

Coleridge personifies the storm in The Ancient Mariner

it is "tyrannous" and "chased" the ship

How is the ice of the south sea described (The Rime of The Ancient Mariner)

"green as emerald" -simile/ "it cracked and growled and roared and howled" -personification

After shooting the Albatross the Mariner realises...

he has done a "hellish thing" -places the act in a Christian context

Agreeing with the Mariner's act the rest of the crew say...

it's right to kill birds "that bring the fog and mist" -important to the moral dimension of the story as it shows the rest of the crew share the Mariner's guilt

The Mariner's cross is removed from his neck and replaced by the Albatross

symbolic of how he has sacrificed the protection of God to bear the consequence of his evil deed

The horror of the becalmed see expressed through the see monsters which are...

"slimy things"/ personified "death fires" that dance

The Mariner's attempt to pray fails

"a wicked whisper came and made my heart as dry as a dust"

Mariner appreciates the beauty of the sea creatures

"blue, glossy green and velvet black"/ compares their tracks to "golden fire"

Turning point of The Ancient Mariner

upon seeing they are "happy" the Mariner feels a "spring of love" and "blesses" (keeping with the Christian context of the poem) the creatures (-the effect of this the Albatross falls of his neck)

Gothic elements in The Ancient Mariner

archaic language; the Mariner's use of a crossbow; bleak description of the setting.

Gothic elements in Christabel

medieval setting established by words like "castle" and "knight"/gothic tone in the first line by the clock striking midnight and the hooting of the owls/ Christabel disturbed by a "damsel bright" who's "neck made the white rob wan"

Geraldine's supernatural nature

unable to pass through the gate: "the lady sank, belike through pain" and Christabel had to carry her across the threshold/ "then the lady rose again and moved as she were not in pain" (inability to cross thresholds a feature of vampires)

Evidence Geraldine is a force of evil

"when the lady passed, there came a tongue of light, a fit of fire"/ the "mastiff" moans ominously in her sleep"/ "the worker of these harms"/ "her fair large eyes glitter bright"

Christabel presented as a naive damsel

"shield sweet Christabel"/ "sweet Christabel"/ "blue eyes more bright than clear"

Gothic elements in Kubla Khan

description of "pleasure dome" reminiscent of the Royal Pavilion/ elements of gothic horror in descriptions like "savage", "enchanted" and "haunted by a woman wailing for her demon-lover"

Friendship theme in This Lime Tree Bower My Prison

Coleridge reflects on the pleasure of friendship he's missing because of his injury and imagining himself with them makes him "glad"/ refers to his friend Charles Lamb as "gentle-hearted" three times.

How does Coleridge refer to Wordsworth in his poem The Prelude

"my comfort and guide"

Coleridge explores friendship in his conversation poems by...

making a friend of a reader/ tone and style iambic pentameters written in informal language gives an impression that he's inviting the reader to see his innermost thoughts

Bloom

see romanticism as a movement in which God is humanised and then made unnecessary

Lockridge

The imaginative activity of Coleridge is evil and contrary to the will of God

C.Butler

The mariner's voyage is a learning experience.

How romanticism came about

Romanticism began as a reaction against rationalism in philosophy (which dominated the 18th century) but still draws upon philosophical roots (e.g theories of Rousseau who theorised that although every man is born free he becomes shackled by the constraints of society).

Christabel's first question to Geraldine refers to identity and origin

"who art thou?" (G's response is oblique; "I am like you, and my story is like your own")

Tomilson reads Christabel as...

"a tale of horror"

Seigel

Geraldine represents the power of evil.

Aeolian harp (content)

a conversation poem addressed to his soon to be wife (pensive) Sara in which the "witchery" sound of the aeolian harp and the beauties of nature leads to pantheistic reflection.

Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement (content)

Coleridge describes his idyllic "Cot" (surrounded by flowers "rose"/"myrtle"/"jasmine") he feels "constrained" to leave because he feels a sense of duty to help his "brother man" in "the bloodless fight of Science, Freedom, and the Truth in Christ".

Nature has godlike powers to heal (This Lime Tree Bower My Prison)

Nature “keeps the heart awake to Love and Beauty”

Holms (Kubla Khan)

Coleridge is fascinated by the way that the creative powers work but also how they fail to work.

Kubla Khan (content)

• analogy between the creation of the earthly paradise in Xanadu and the poet’s creation of an imaginary paradise established

• iambic tetrameter creates a regular and forward moving pace that reflects order and construction

• “damsel” who was an “Abyssinian maid” sings of “Mount Abora” creating nature through her song that transforms the speaker (to a figure of fear: “all should cry, beware… his flashing eyes”).

Kubla Khan (context: Imagination)

• Romantics highlighted the healing power of the imagination and believed it enabled people to transcend their troubles

• Imagination is presented as our creative power (primary faculty for creating all art)

• we not only perceive the world around us but also take part to create it -Wordsworth

• the exploration of opposites is central to Romanticism

• Orientalist writers like Sir William Jones regarded the East as a source of imaginative and creative renewal.

Kubla Khan (criticism)

• poem’s exotic qualities present from the opening line -Nagra

• Coleridge’s Khan is an artist summoned into being with God-like command -Perry

Kubla Khan (comparison)

• women essential to the Romantic creative process (woman appears “wailing for her demon-lover” reflects primitive and savage side of nature/ “damsel” confined by speakers vision but it’s her song that empowers speaker to create their own pleasure-dome); women form a key part of the creation of tragedy in Duchess (duchess’ strong mindset encourages her to follow her desire but also paradoxically brings about her downfall)

• both explore the movement of creation and destruction: poem explores the creation of the pleasure-dome and potential transformation of the poetic voice into an uncontrollable force; the force of duchess’ desire bring about her downfall but in turn produces Bosola’s own transformation (which in itself brings about destruction through revenge).

The Knight’s Tomb (Critic)

Represents Coleridge’s farewell to the ballads, an inspired poetic landscape to which he cannot return to -Holmes.

The Knight’s Tomb (comparison)

• The mournful and reflective nature of the poem compares with the characters reaction to death and morality: > Duchess approaches death heroically > Bosola admires Duchess’ bravery in death and develops a moralistic character >Ferdinand somewhat moved by her death but remains psychotic.

• Knight’s body memorialised by nature and speaker’s description same way Bosola keeps the Duchess’ memory alive by avenging her and allowing her family line to continue.

Ballads (critic)

Ballads gave Coleridge the ability to explore primitive emotions that are normally censored by the rational mind -Holmes.

“Stretch forth thy hand and have no fear!”

Geraldine who presented herself as a damsel in distress makes the first move -Duchess just as much a temptress and she makes the first move with Antonio by giving him her ring.

“The gate that was ironed within and without, where an army in battle array had marched out”

Coleridge emphasises the militaristic and defensive nature of the setting, which is penetrated by Geraldine’s supernatural force; the militaristic gate against Duchess is felt but not seen and consists of her controlling brothers and social expectations which she too defies but is punished for.

Gothic literature

• Symbolised the Dark Ages prior to the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution and was considered barbaric and disorganised

• Mid 18th century idealised medieval culture in opposition neo-classical form and design

• The gothic revival was a reaction to rationalism (Steven, 2000).

The Enlightenment and Science

• a period of rigorous scientific discourse that made the imaginative in danger of being ignored

• Newton banished the divine from nature and it was this demystification Romantics like Coleridge resented -Kitson

• Central tenet of the Enlightenment was that almost anything was possible through scientific enquiry.

The Ancient Mariner (critic)

• The principle person has no distinct character either in his profession as a Mariner or as a human being -Wordsworth

• The Mariner struggles to make sense of the moral concepts available to him -Miall

• The weight of the poem rests upon an act of murder; Mariner represents fallen humanity that is aroused by suffering; Coleridge believed that man is part demon -de Piro

The Pains of Sleep (comparison)

• Speaker initially appears content in simple prayer and does not seek to challenge the order of the world (“I am weak yet not unblest”); Antonio does not seek to transcend his status shown in his hesitation to marry the Duchess

• Ferdinand is tortured by his deranged mind that gradually dehumanises his morality (his incestuous desire to torture his sister knows no bound that even the Cardinal is surprised) and transforms him into a deprived figure; the speaker is tormented by their nightmares in which abstract shapes pursue them (“of shapes and thoughts that tortured me”).

What did the 1789 French Revolution inspire?

a rebellion against age old social and governmental traditions (“Europe at that time was filled with joy, France standing on top of golden hours” -Wordsworth 1950).

This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison (comparison)

• the speaker’s isolation leads to a heightened sense of fear that presents nature as restrictive (“this lime-tree-bower my prison!”) but the speaker is able to transcend beyond his imprisonment and see the very thing which had been a source of limitation as a path to divine imagination (“much that has soothed me”); the Duchess’ brothers perceive her freedom as a threat to both the socio-religious order and to their family and responds to her freedom with control, imprisonment and death.

Opium

• Coleridge started using it for an eye infection in 1796 but became addicted to it by 1800

• At the start of the 19 century opium taking was as normal as drinking alcohol.