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Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet, 1795

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) was an English author who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England. A difficult figure to categorize in the history of English literature, Coleridge vascillated between poetry, philosophy, and literary criticism throughout his career. His work and thought are notoriously sporadic, and were no doubt influenced by the rather tragic circumstances of his life; yet what we do have suggests that Coleridge possessed one of the most subtle and brilliant minds of his generation. Coleridge, at his best, combined a massive breadth of knowledge (as a boy he famously read the entire contents of the third largest library in England) with a masterful command of the English language, producing some of the most memorable poems and essays of the 19th century.

Life

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in Ottery St Mary, the son of a vicar. After the death of his father, he was sent to Christ's Hospital, a boarding school in London. In later life, Coleridge idealised his father as a pious innocent, but his relationship with his mother was difficult. From 1791 until 1794 he attended Jesus College at the University of Cambridge, except for a short period when he enlisted in the royal dragoons. At the university he encountered political and theological ideas then considered radical. He left Cambridge without a degree and joined the poet Robert Southey in a plan, soon abandoned, to found a utopian communist-like society, called pantisocracy, in the wilderness of Pennsylvania. In 1795 the two friends married Sarah and Edith Fricker (who were sisters), but Coleridge's marriage proved unhappy. Southey departed for Portugal, but Coleridge remained in England. That same year, Coleridge met poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. They became immediate friends, and their correspondence would form one of the richest intellectual parternships of the Romantic era.

Around 1796, Coleridge started using opium as a pain reliever. His and Dorothy Wordsworth's notebooks record that he suffered from a variety of medical complaints, including toothache and facial neuralgia. There appears to have been no stigma associated with taking opium then, but also little understanding of the physiological or psychological aspects of addiction.

The years 1797 and 1798, during which Wordsworth and Coleridge lived in Nether Stowey, Somerset, were among the most fruitful of Coleridge's life. Besides the Ancient Mariner, he composed the symbolic poem Kubla Khan, written—Coleridge himself claimed—as a result of an opium dream, in "a kind of a reverie"; and the first part of the narrative poem Christabel. During this period he also produced his much-praised "conversation" poems This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison, Frost at Midnight, and The Nightingale.

In 1798 Coleridge and Wordsworth published a joint volume of poetry, Lyrical Ballads, which proved to be the starting-point for the English Romantic movement. Though the productive Wordsworth contributed more poems to the volume, Coleridge's first version of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the longest poem and drew more immediate attention than anything else.

In the autumn of 1798 Coleridge and Wordsworth left for a stay in Germany; Coleridge soon went his own way and spent much of his time in university towns. During this period he became interested in German philosophy, especially the transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant, and in the literary criticism of the 18th-century dramatist Gotthold Lessing. Coleridge studied German and, after his return to England, translated the dramatic trilogy Wallenstein by the German Classical poet Friedrich Schiller into English.

In 1800 he returned to England and shortly thereafter settled with his family and friends at Keswick in the Lake District of Cumberland. Soon, however, he fell into a vicious cycle of self-doubt, ill-health, and increased opium dependency.

Between 1808 and 1819 Coleridge gave a series of lectures in London and Bristol – those on Shakespeare renewed interest in the playwright as a model for contemporary writers. Coleridge's lectures were so popular that it was considered a rite of passage for any aspiring intellectual to travel to London and hear Coleridge talk. One such intellectual who did precisely that was Ralph Waldo Emerson, who, afterwards, would devote his life to the literary arts.

In 1816 Coleridge took residence in the home of the physician James Gillman, in Highgate. ln Gillman's home he finished his major prose work, the Biographia Literaria (1817), a volume composed of 25 chapters of autobiographical notes and dissertations on various subjects, including some incisive literary theory and criticism. The sections in which Coleridge expounded his definitions of the nature of poetry and the imagination are particularly important, laying out the division between true imagination and mere fancy that was to influence writers well into the Victorian period. He published other writings while he was living at the Gillman home, notably Sibylline Leaves (1817), Aids to Reflection (1825), and Church and State (1830). He died in Highgate on July 25, 1834.

Poetry

Coleridge is probably best known for his long narrative poems, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel. Even those who have never read the Rime have come under its influence: its words have given the English language the metaphor of an albatross around one's neck, the (mis)quote of "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink", and the phrase "a sadder but wiser man". Christabel is known for its musical rhythm and Gothic horror.

Both poems exhibit what Coleridge and Wordsworth set out to achieve in the Lyrical Ballads: a triumph of the imagination over the dull poverty of the mind. However, in stark contrast to Wordsworth's poems, Coleridge's project a wild and truly imaginative universe, where seemingly impossible things happen, all of which is a far cry from Wordsworth's attempts to render humble life "in the languge really used by men."

On the contrary, a poem like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the outlandish story of a sailor who, after killing a symbolic albatross, condemns himself and his shipmates to death on a motionless sea, were they sat "idle as a painted ship/upon a painted ocean." Death arrives on a ghostly ship, and takes the lives of all the crew but that of the eponymous Mariner, who is cursed to wear the albatross about his neck and live aboard a ship of corpses. Then the moon—Coleridge's symbol of the imagination—appears and reanimates the Mariner's crew; the ghosts sail the ship back to land where the mariner washes ashore, to tell his tale to any who pass him by. A poem such as this, though wildly fantastic, in Colerdige's hands does not devolve into mere fantasy. As in his other strongest poems, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is profoundly moving and engrossing, affecting a complete suspension of disbelief, despite how unbelievable its story is.

Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream, A Fragment, although shorter, is also widely known and loved. It consists of strange collage of dream-like imagery, beginning with a description of a mythical palace built by Kubla Khan, and moving rapidly into a vortex of imaginative and seemingly unrelated scenes. The poem is renowned for its exquisite metrical flow and creativity. Many poets who were to succeed Coleridge—among them future poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson—would cite Kubla Khan as the most beautiful poem written in the language.

Coleridge's shorter, meditative "conversation poems," however, proved to be the most influential of his work, perhaps because his other poems have proven so difficult to imitate. These include both quiet poems like This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison and Frost at Midnight and also strongly emotional poems like Dejection and The Pains of Sleep. Wordsworth immediately adopted the model of these poems, and used them to compose several of his major poems. Via Wordsworth, the conversation poem became a standard vehicle for English poetic expression, and perhaps the most common approach among modern poets, most especially Frost, who indebted himself directly to Wordsworth.

Other Works and Legacy

Although known today primarily for his poetry, Coleridge also published essays and books on literary theory, criticism, politics, philosophy, and theology. He introduced Immanuel Kant to the British public in his lectures and "Thursday-night seminars" at Highgate. Coleridge's treatment of the German idealist philosophers in the Biographia Literaria has been subject to the accusation of plagiarism. It is known that he presents lengthy translations, particularly from Schelling, as his own work. de Quincey compares this to kleptomania, although Coleridge's defenders attribute it to his poor organisation of notes rather than dishonesty.

He wrote both political commentary and hack journalism for several newspapers, especially during the Napoleonic wars. He translated two of Schiller's plays from the German and himself wrote several dramas (Zapolya had successful runs in London and Bristol). He also worked as a teacher and tutor, gave public lectures and sermons, and almost single-handedly wrote and published two periodicals, the Watchman and the Friend. During his life, he was famous as a conversationalist.

His letters, Table Talk, and range of friends reflect the breadth of his interests. In addition to literary people such as William Wordsworth and Charles Lamb, his friends included Humphry Davy the chemist, industrialists such as the tanner Thomas Poole and members of the Wedgwood family, Alexander Ball the military governor of Malta, the American painter Washington Allston, and the physician James Gillman.

Coleridge's contributions to fields ranging from philosophy to theology and biology continue to be studied, and Coleridge's immense talents as a poet place him in the pantheon of the Romantics despite his relatively small output. His eclectic and voracious intellect perhaps pushed him too far, and it is unfortunate that in his rather erratic life we do not have a more complete treatise on Coleridge's fascinating thought. Still, Coleridge's esteem among scholars of all fields continues to rise, and in the continued reading of Coleridge we will find foreshadowings of a tremendous amount of modern thought.

File:Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Project Gutenberg eText 13619.jpg

Coleridge in later life

Further viewing

Film directed by Julien Temple: Pandaemonium (the film is not truly historical, and quite damning to Wordsworth)

Resources

Credits

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@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 '''Samuel Taylor Coleridge''' ([[October 21]], [[1772]] &ndash; [[July 25]], [[1834]]) was an English author who was, along with his friend [[William Wordsworth]], one of the founders of the [[Romanticism|Romantic Movement]] in [[England]]. A difficult figure to categorize in the history of English literature, Coleridge vascillated between [[poetry]], [[philosophy]], and [[literary criticism]] throughout his career. His work and thought are notoriously sporadic, and were no doubt influenced by the rather tragic circumstances of his life; yet what we do have suggests that Coleridge possessed one of the most subtle and brilliant minds of his generation. Coleridge, at his best, combined a massive breadth of knowledge (as a boy he famously read the entire contents of the third largest [[library]] in [[England]]) with a masterful command of the English language, producing some of the most memorable poems and essays of the 19th century.
-= Life =
+== Life ==
-—[[UTC)Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in [[Ottery St Mary]], the son of a [[vicar]]. After the death of his father, he was sent to [[Christ's Hospital]], a boarding school in [[London]].  In later life, Coleridge idealised his father as a pious innocent, but his relationship with his mother was difficult. His childhood was characterised by attention-seeking, which has been linked with his dependent personality as an adult, and he was rarely allowed to return home during his schooldays.  From [[1791]] until [[1794]] he attended [[Jesus College, Cambridge|Jesus College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], except for a short period when he enlisted in the royal dragoons. At the university he met political and theological ideas then considered radical. He left Cambridge without a degree and joined the poet [[Robert Southey]] in a plan, soon abandoned, to found a utopian [[communist]]-like society, called pantisocracy, in the wilderness of [[Pennsylvania]]. In [[1795]] the two friends married Sarah and Edith Fricker (who were sisters), but Coleridge's marriage proved unhappy. Southey departed for [[Portugal]], but Coleridge remained in England. In [[1796]] he published ''Poems on Various Subjects''.
+Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in [[Ottery St Mary]], the son of a [[vicar]]. After the death of his father, he was sent to [[Christ's Hospital]], a boarding school in [[London]].  In later life, Coleridge idealised his father as a pious innocent, but his relationship with his mother was difficult. From [[1791]] until [[1794]] he attended [[Jesus College, Cambridge|Jesus College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], except for a short period when he enlisted in the royal dragoons. At the university he encountered political and theological ideas then considered radical. He left Cambridge without a degree and joined the poet [[Robert Southey]] in a plan, soon abandoned, to found a utopian [[communist]]-like society, called pantisocracy, in the wilderness of [[Pennsylvania]]. In [[1795]] the two friends married Sarah and Edith Fricker (who were sisters), but Coleridge's marriage proved unhappy. Southey departed for [[Portugal]], but Coleridge remained in England.  That same year, Coleridge met poet [[William Wordsworth]] and his sister [[Dorothy Wordsworth|Dorothy]].  They became immediate friends, and their correspondence would form one of the richest intellectual parternships of the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] era.
-In [[1795]] Coleridge met poet [[William Wordsworth]] and his sister [[Dorothy Wordsworth|Dorothy]].  They became immediate friends.
-Around 1796, Coleridge started using [[opium]] as a pain reliever.  His and [[Dorothy Wordsworth]]'s notebooks record that he suffered from a variety of medical complaints, including toothache and facial neuralgia. There appears to have been no stigma associated with taking opium then, but also little understanding of the physiological or psychological aspects of [[addiction]]. He also was reported to have been, according to Dorothy Wordsworth, a "terrible lover" and "one whose realm is not that of the land twixt the sheets," alluding to the fact that opium may have caused him to have terrible [[gynecomastia]] and [[erectile dysfunction]].
+Around 1796, Coleridge started using [[opium]] as a pain reliever.  His and [[Dorothy Wordsworth]]'s notebooks record that he suffered from a variety of medical complaints, including toothache and facial neuralgia. There appears to have been no stigma associated with taking opium then, but also little understanding of the physiological or psychological aspects of [[addiction]].
-The years [[1797]] and [[1798]], during which the friends lived in [[Nether Stowey]], [[Somerset]], were among the most fruitful of Coleridge's life. Besides the ''Ancient Mariner'', he composed the symbolic poem ''Kubla Khan'', written&mdash;Coleridge himself claimed&mdash;as a result of an opium dream, in "a kind of a reverie"; and the first part of the narrative poem ''Christabel''. During this period he also produced his much-praised "conversation" poems ''This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison'', ''Frost at Midnight'', and ''The Nightingale''.
+The years [[1797]] and [[1798]], during which [[Wordsworth]] and Coleridge lived in [[Nether Stowey]], [[Somerset]], were among the most fruitful of Coleridge's life. Besides the ''Ancient Mariner'', he composed the symbolic poem ''Kubla Khan'', written&mdash;Coleridge himself claimed&mdash;as a result of an opium dream, in "a kind of a reverie"; and the first part of the narrative poem ''Christabel''. During this period he also produced his much-praised "conversation" poems ''This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison'', ''Frost at Midnight'', and ''The Nightingale''.
-In [[1798]] Coleridge and Wordsworth published a joint volume of poetry, ''[[Lyrical Ballads]]'', which proved to be the starting-point for the English romantic movement. Though the productive Wordsworth contributed more poems to the volume, Coleridge's first version of ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' was the longest poem and drew more immediate attention than anything else.
+In [[1798]] Coleridge and Wordsworth published a joint volume of poetry, ''[[Lyrical Ballads]]'', which proved to be the starting-point for the English Romantic movement. Though the productive Wordsworth contributed more poems to the volume, Coleridge's first version of ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' was the longest poem and drew more immediate attention than anything else.
-In the autumn of [[1798]] Coleridge and Wordsworth left for a stay in [[Germany]]; Coleridge soon went his own way and spent much of his time in university towns. During this period he  became interested in German philosophy, especially the transcendental idealism of [[Immanuel Kant]], and in the literary criticism of the 18th-century dramatist [[Gotthold Lessing]]. Coleridge studied German and, after his return to England, translated the dramatic trilogy ''Wallenstein'' by the German Classical poet [[Friedrich Schiller]] into English.
+In the autumn of [[1798]] Coleridge and Wordsworth left for a stay in [[Germany]]; Coleridge soon went his own way and spent much of his time in university towns. During this period he became interested in German philosophy, especially the transcendental idealism of [[Immanuel Kant]], and in the literary criticism of the 18th-century dramatist [[Gotthold Lessing]]. Coleridge studied German and, after his return to England, translated the dramatic trilogy ''Wallenstein'' by the German Classical poet [[Friedrich Schiller]] into English.
-In [[1800]] he returned to England and shortly thereafter settled with his family and friends at [[Keswick, Cumbria|Keswick]] in the [[Lake District]] of [[Cumberland, England|Cumberland]].  Soon, however, he fell into a vicious circle of lack of confidence in his poetic powers, ill-health, and increased opium dependency.
+In [[1800]] he returned to England and shortly thereafter settled with his family and friends at [[Keswick, Cumbria|Keswick]] in the [[Lake District]] of [[Cumberland, England|Cumberland]].  Soon, however, he fell into a vicious cycle of self-doubt, ill-health, and increased opium dependency.
-From [[1804]] to [[1806]], Coleridge lived in [[Malta]] and travelled in [[Sicily]] and [[Italy]], in the hope that leaving Britain's damp climate would improve his health and thus enable him to reduce his consumption of opium.  For a while he had a civil-service job as the Public Secretary of the British administration of Malta, assisting governor [[Alexander Ball|Sir Alexander John Ball]]. [[Thomas de Quincey]] alleges in his ''Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets'' that it was during this period that Coleridge became a full-blown opium addict, using the drug as a substitute for the lost vigour and creativity of his youth.  It has been suggested, however, that this reflects de Quincey's own experiences more than Coleridge's.
+Between [[1808]] and [[1819]] Coleridge gave a series of lectures in London and [[Bristol]] &ndash; those on [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] renewed interest in the playwright as a model for contemporary writers. Coleridge's lectures were so popular that it was considered a rite of passage for any aspiring intellectual to travel to London and hear Coleridge talk. One such intellectual who did precisely that was [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], who, afterwards, would devote his life to the literary arts.
-Between [[1808]] and [[1819]] this "giant among dwarfs", as he was often considered by his contemporaries, gave a series of lectures in London and [[Bristol]] &ndash; those on [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] renewed interest in the playwright as a model for contemporary writers.
+In [[1816]] Coleridge took residence in the home of the physician James Gillman, in [[Highgate]]. ln Gillman's home he finished his major prose work, the ''[[Biographia Literaria]]'' ([[1817]]), a volume composed of 25 chapters of autobiographical notes and dissertations on various subjects, including some incisive literary theory and criticism. The sections in which Coleridge expounded his definitions of the nature of poetry and the imagination are particularly important, laying out the division between true imagination and mere fancy that was to influence writers well into the [[Victorian]] period. He published other writings while he was living at the Gillman home, notably ''Sibylline Leaves'' (1817), ''Aids to Reflection'' ([[1825]]), and ''Church and State'' ([[1830]]). He died in Highgate on [[July 25]], [[1834]].
-In [[1816]] Coleridge, his addiction worsening, his spirits depressed, and his family alienated, took residence in the home of the physician James Gillman, in [[Highgate]]. ln Gillman's home he finished his major prose work, the ''[[Biographia Literaria]]'' ([[1817]]), a volume composed of 25 chapters of autobiographical notes and dissertations on various subjects, including some incisive literary theory and criticism. The sections in which Coleridge expounded his definitions of the nature of poetry and the imagination are particularly important: he made a famous distinction between primary and secondary imagination on the one hand and fancy on the other. He published other writings while he was living at the Gillman home, notably ''Sibylline Leaves'' (1817), ''Aids to Reflection'' ([[1825]]), and ''Church and State'' ([[1830]]). He died in Highgate on [[July 25]], [[1834]].
+== Poetry ==
-== Poetry ==
+Coleridge is probably best known for his long narrative poems, ''The [[Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' and ''[[Christabel]]''. Even those who have never read the ''Rime'' have come under its influence: its words have given the [[English language]] the metaphor of an [[albatross]] around one's neck, the (mis)quote of "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink", and the phrase "a sadder but wiser man". ''Christabel'' is known for its musical rhythm and [[Gothic novel|Gothic]] horror.
+Both poems exhibit what Coleridge and Wordsworth set out to achieve in the ''Lyrical Ballads'': a triumph of the imagination over the dull poverty of the mind. However, in stark contrast to [[Wordsworth]]'s poems, Coleridge's project a wild and truly imaginative universe, where seemingly impossible things happen, all of which is a far cry from Wordsworth's attempts to render humble life "in the languge really used by men."
-Coleridge is probably best known for his long narrative poems, ''The [[Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' and ''[[Christabel]]''. Even those who have never read the ''Rime'' have come under its influence: its words have given the [[English language]] the metaphor of an [[albatross]] around one's neck, the (mis)quote of "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink", and the phrase "a sadder but wiser man". ''Christabel'' is known for its musical rhythm and language and its [[Gothic novel|Gothic]] tale.
+On the contrary, a poem like ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' is the outlandish story of a sailor  who, after killing a symbolic [[albatross]], condemns himself and his shipmates to death on a motionless sea, were they sat "idle as a painted ship/upon a painted ocean." Death arrives on a ghostly ship, and takes the lives of all the crew but that of the eponymous Mariner, who is cursed to wear the albatross about his neck and live aboard a ship of corpses. Then the moon—Coleridge's symbol of the [[imagination]]—appears and reanimates the Mariner's crew; the ghosts sail the ship back to land where the mariner washes ashore, to tell his tale to any who pass him by. A poem such as this, though wildly fantastic, in Colerdige's hands does not devolve into mere [[fantasy]]. As in his other strongest poems, ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' is profoundly moving and engrossing, affecting a complete suspension of disbelief, despite how unbelievable its story is.
-''[[Kubla Khan]], or, A Vision in a Dream, A Fragment'', although shorter, is also widely known and loved. It has strange, dreamy imagery and can be read on many levels. The name of [[Ted Nelson]]'s [[Project Xanadu]] comes from the first line of ''Kubla Khan''. Both ''Kubla Khan'' and ''Christabel'' have additional "romantic" aura because they were never finished. [[Stopford Brooke]] characterised both poems as having no rival due to their "exquisite metrical movement" and "imaginative phrasing."
+''[[Kubla Khan]], or, A Vision in a Dream, A Fragment'', although shorter, is also widely known and loved. It consists of strange collage of dream-like imagery, beginning with a description of a mythical palace built by Kubla Khan, and moving rapidly into a vortex of imaginative and seemingly unrelated scenes. The poem is renowned for its exquisite metrical flow and creativity. Many poets who were to succeed Coleridge—among them future [[poet laureate]] [[Alfred Lord Tennyson]]—would cite ''Kubla Khan'' as the most beautiful poem written in the language.
-Coleridge's shorter, meditative "conversation poems," however, proved to be the most influential of his work. These include both quiet poems like ''[[This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison]]'' and ''Frost at Midnight'' and also strongly emotional poems like ''Dejection'' and ''The Pains of Sleep''.  Wordsworth immediately adopted the model of these poems, and used it to compose several of his major poems.  Via Wordsworth, the conversation poem became a standard vehicle for English poetic expression, and perhaps the most common approach among modern poets.
+Coleridge's shorter, meditative "conversation poems," however, proved to be the most influential of his work, perhaps because his other poems have proven so difficult to imitate. These include both quiet poems like ''[[This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison]]'' and ''Frost at Midnight'' and also strongly emotional poems like ''Dejection'' and ''The Pains of Sleep''.  Wordsworth immediately adopted the model of these poems, and used them to compose several of his major poems.  Via Wordsworth, the conversation poem became a standard vehicle for English poetic expression, and perhaps the most common approach among modern poets, most especially [[Robert Frost|Frost]], who indebted himself directly to Wordsworth.
-== Other works ==
+== Other Works and Legacy ==
 Although known today primarily for his poetry, Coleridge also published essays and books on [[literary theory]], [[criticism]], [[politics]], [[philosophy]], and [[theology]]. He introduced [[Immanuel Kant]] to the British public in his lectures and "Thursday-night seminars" at [[Highgate]]. Coleridge's treatment of the German idealist philosophers in the ''Biographia Literaria'' has been subject to the accusation of [[plagiarism]].  It is known that he presents lengthy translations, particularly from [[Schelling]], as his own work.  [[Thomas de Quincey|de Quincey]] compares this to [[kleptomania]], although Coleridge's defenders attribute it to his poor organisation of notes rather than dishonesty.
@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 His letters, ''Table Talk'', and range of friends reflect the breadth of his interests. In addition to literary people such as [[William Wordsworth]] and [[Charles Lamb]], his friends included [[Humphry Davy]] the chemist, industrialists such as the tanner Thomas Poole and members of the [[Josiah Wedgwood II|Wedgwood]] family, Alexander Ball the military governor of [[Malta]], the American painter [[Washington Allston]], and the physician James Gillman.
-It was in all probability [[Charles Lamb]] who introduced Coleridge to the writings of [[Sir Thomas Browne]]. Browne's learning, literary style and personality impressed Coleridge and [[Thomas De Quincey]] and both were aware of Browne's drowsy opiate imagery. Coleridge not only annotated Browne's major literary works, but in his correspondence exclaimed, "O to write a character of this man!"
+Coleridge's contributions to fields ranging from philosophy to [[theology]] and [[biology]] continue to be studied, and Coleridge's immense talents as a poet place him in the [[pantheon]] of the [[Romanticism|Romantics]] despite his relatively small output. His eclectic and voracious intellect perhaps pushed him too far, and it is unfortunate that in his rather erratic life we do not have a more complete treatise on Coleridge's fascinating thought. Still, Coleridge's esteem among scholars  of all fields continues to rise, and in the continued reading of Coleridge we will find foreshadowings of a tremendous amount of modern thought.
 [[Image:Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Project Gutenberg eText 13619.jpg|thumbnail|right|223px|'''Coleridge''' in later life]]
-== Family connections ==
-Coleridge was the father of [[Hartley Coleridge]] and [[Sara Coleridge]], and grandfather of [[Herbert Coleridge]] and [[Ernest Hartley Coleridge]]. He was the uncle of [[John Duke Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge|the first Baron Coleridge]]. The poet [[Mary Coleridge]] was a relation but not a descendant. His nephew [[Henry Nelson Coleridge]], who was an editor of his work, married Sara.
 == Further reading ==
@@ Line 68: / Line 65: @@
-== Headline text
+== Resources ==
 ----
-{{Wikiquote}}
-{{Wikisource author}}
 * [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/stc.html The Coleridge Archive]
 ** [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html Rime of the Ancient Mariner]
@@ Line 90: / Line 85: @@
 * [http://www.friendsofcoleridge.com/ Friends of Coleridge Society]
 * [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=215  Find-A-Grave profile for Samuel Taylor Coleridge]
-{{Nuttall}}
 [[category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
 {{credit|32925466}}

Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Samuel Taylor Coleridge" - New World

Revision as of 23:04, 5 March 2006

Contents

Life

Poetry

Other Works and Legacy

Further reading

By Coleridge

About and around Coleridge

Further viewing

Resources

Credits