Samuel Taylor Coleridge

1772-1834
 Childhood
• Born October 21, 1772 in Devonshire, England
• Youngest of 10 children from his father’s second wife
• Started school at age 3; at 9, sent to Christ’s Hospital, a London Boarding School, after his father’s death

Christ’s Hospital – West Sussex, England

 Youth
• Enrolled at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1791
• Quickly became distracted by the French Revolution
• Enlisted in the 15th Light Dragoons under the alias Silas Tomkyn
Comberbache in 1793
• An atrocious soldier, Coleridge’s
brothers-in-arms pooled money
to bail him out of the army

Peter Vandyke - Coleridge in 1795

 Adulthood
• Coleridge returned to Cambridge
• Met Robert Southey, dreamed up the Pantisocracy
• Marries Sarah Fricker in 1795
• In that same year, walked fifty miles to Dorset to meet Wordsworth,
decided to move to Nether Stowey
• 1797-1798 maintained daily correspondence with Wordsworth,
develops much of his literary philosophy
• 1798 Thomas and Josiah Wedgwood offered him 150 pounds a year
to support him while he wrote. Soon finished “The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner”, “Christabel”, which were to be published
anonymously with Wordsworth in Lyrical Ballads
 Later Years and Decline
• 1800, visited doctor for relief from rheumatic pain prescribed
Laudanum
• Traveled to Malta and Italy for two years in the hopes of gaining
better health
• 1806 returned to England
• 1807 wrote “To William Wordsworth”, a response to The Prelude,
venerated Wordsworth
• 1808 moved in with Wordsworth at Grasmere lives there for 2 years
• 1816 moved in with James Gilliman at Highgate, a doctor who helps
him decrease his opium addiction
• 1822 his son left him forever
• July 25, 1834 Samuel Taylor Coleridge died of heart and lung
problems
 Critical Reception
Critical opinions of Coleridge became more favorable after his
death when the scope of his poetic genius began to be
recognized. Most critics agree that his writings constitute a
seminal contribution to English literature. Contemporary
scholars now view Coleridge as the intellectual center of the
English Romantic Movement due to both his published works and
his known influence on the other writers of his day.

The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere [sic] was professedly written in

imitation of the style, as well as of the spirit of the elder poets;
but with a few exceptions, the Author believes that the language
adopted in it has been equally intelligible for these three last
centuries.
-William Wordsworth,
1798
 Critical Reception
The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere [sic]… is the strangest story of a
cock and a buck that we ever saw on paper: yet, though it seems a
rhapsody of unintelligible wildness and incoherence, there are in it
poetical touches of an exquisite kind.
-Charles Burney, 1799

The influence of Coleridge, like that of Bentham, extends far beyond

those who share in the peculiarities of his religious or philosophical
creed. He has been the great awakener in this country of the spirit
of philosophy, within the bounds of traditional opinions. He has
been, almost as truly as Bentham, 'the great questioner of things
established'; for a questioner needs nor necessarily be an enemy.
-John Stuart Mill, 1840
 Critical Reception
What Coleridge lacked was what theologians call a ‘saving belief’ in
Christianity, or else a strenuous intellectual immorality. He imagined
himself to believe in Christianity, but his belief never realized itself in
effective action, either in the mind or in conduct, while it frequently
clogged his energies by weak scruples and restrictions which were
but so many internal irritations.
-Arthur Symons, 1904

Coleridge was perhaps the greatest of English critics, and in a sense

the last.
-T.S. Eliot 1920
 Rime of the
Ancient Mariner

1798
 Rime of the
Ancient Mariner
“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was published in 1798 as the
opening poem of Lyrical Ballads, which comprised of works
of both Coleridge and Wordsworth.

The poem is typical of the Romantic style it would help

create in that it places a character “from ordinary life” under
surreal or supernatural circumstances, venerating the
common man– in this case, a sailor.

Coleridge also illustrates the Mariner’s relationship with the

powerful, beautiful natural world, a theme common
throughout Romantic works.

It is the only poem Coleridge completed of his own accord.

 Rime of the
Ancient Mariner
I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech; To walk together to the kirk,
That moment that his face I see, And all together pray,
I know the man that must hear me: While each to his great Father bends,
To him my tale I teach. Old men, and babes, and loving friends,
And youths and maidens gay!
What loud uproar bursts from that door!
The wedding-guests are there: Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
But in the garden-bower the bride To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
And bride-maids singing are; He prayeth well, who loveth well
And hark the little vesper bell, Both man and bird and beast.
Which biddeth me to prayer!
The Mariner, whose eye is bright,
Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been Whose beard with age is hoar,
Alone on a wide wide sea: Is gone; and now the Wedding-Guest
So lonely 'twas, that God himself Turned from the bridegroom's door.
Scarce seemed there to be.
He went like one that hath been
O sweeter than the marriage-feast, stunned,
'Tis sweeter far to me, And is of sense forlorn:
To walk together to the kirk A sadder and a wiser man
With a goodly company! – He rose the morrow morn.
Kubla Khan

1816
 Kubla Khan
Coleridge claims to have received the inspiration for Kubla Khan
from a vivid dream, though modern scholars hypothesize that
his vision may have in fact occurred in an opium-induced haze.

Upon waking, Coleridge scribbled the beginnings of the poem

from memory, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. He
conversed briefly with “the person from Porlock”– possibly his
physician bringing laudanum, an opium-laden drink.

When Coleridge returned to his work, he had difficulty

remembering even minute fragments of his vision, and the
poem– intended to be 200-300 lines– was abruptly ended at 55.

Coleridge finished the poem for publication in 1816, tacking on

an uninspired ending to the brilliant original piece.
 Kubla Khan
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
A stately pleasure-dome decree: And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Ancestral voices prophesying war!
Through caverns measureless to man The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Down to a sunless sea. Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
So twice five miles of fertile ground From the fountain and the caves.
With walls and towers were girdled round: It was a miracle of rare device,
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills, A damsel with a dulcimer
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted And on her dulcimer she played,
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! Singing of Mount Abora.
A savage place! as holy and enchanted Could I revive within me
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted Her symphony and song,
By woman wailing for her demon-lover! To such a deep delight 'twould win me
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil That with music loud and long
seething, I would build that dome in air,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
A mighty fountain momently was forced: And all who heard should see them there,
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail: Weave a circle round him thrice,
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever And close your eyes with holy dread,
It flung up momently the sacred river. For he on honey-dew hath fed
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
 Kubla Khan

How would you have finished it?...

 Kubla Khan
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan The shadow of the dome of pleasure
A stately pleasure-dome decree: Floated midway on the waves;
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Where was heard the mingled measure
Through caverns measureless to man From the fountain and the caves.
Down to a sunless sea. It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round: A damsel with a dulcimer
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, In a vision once I saw:
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; It was an Abyssinian maid,
And here were forests ancient as the hills, And on her dulcimer she played,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted Her symphony and song,
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! To such a deep delight 'twould win me
A savage place! as holy and enchanted That with music loud and long
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted I would build that dome in air,
By woman wailing for her demon-lover! That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil And all who heard should see them there,
seething, And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
A mighty fountain momently was forced: Weave a circle round him thrice,
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst And close your eyes with holy dread,
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, For he on honey-dew hath fed
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail: And drunk the milk of Paradise…
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever ____________________________________
It flung up momently the sacred river. ____________________________________
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion ____________________________________
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran, ____________________________________
Then reached the caverns measureless to man, ____________________________________
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean: ____________________________________!
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

1772-1834