Concetti Chiave
- Coleridge's early academic endeavors included studies in London and Cambridge, but he did not complete his degree.
- Initially supportive of the French Revolution, Coleridge later envisioned but failed to establish a utopian community.
- His meeting with Wordsworth in 1797 marked a significant collaboration, leading to major works like "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
- Coleridge's literary career post-1806 involved literature lectures and journalism, notably influencing Shakespearean criticism.
- He emphasized imagination as a creative force, distinguishing between "primary" and "secondary" imagination in his philosophy.
Coleridge's early life and influences
S.T. Coleridge studied in London and cambridge, but he didn’t get his degree. He was positive to the French Revolution but after the disappointment he got from it, he plans an utopic community, but the project failed. In 1797 he met Wordsworth and collaborated with him. Most of his poetry belongs to these years:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798 ): the first poem from Lyrical Ballads, that became along with the Preface to his second edition, the Manifesto of English Romanticism;
Christabel, an un finished poem, set in Middle Ages, starring a girl victim of a witch’s spell, written in 1797 but published in 1816;
Kubla Khan, unfinished, a fragment of 54 verses written in 1798 and published in 1816. Probably written under opium effect, Coleridge describes this fragment as a dream of a psychological curiosity.
Coleridge's literary career and philosophy
After 1806, he started a career made of literature lectures and giornalism. The lectures he gave on shakespeare between 1808 and 1818, put the basis of Shakespearen critics.
Coleridge underlined imagination’s role as the absolute creative power. He distinguished between “primary imagination” that was a fusion between perception and individual power, and “secondary imagination” that was poetic faculty.
Coleridge didn’t identify nature with the divine but saw it as the projection of real world in the Ideas in time’s flux. In that way Coleridge believed that natural images brought with them abstract meanings.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The ballad The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is made of seven parts, and is set in a boundless sea with days of pitiless sun, and nights lighted by the moon. It’s introduced by an “Argument” that contains a brief summary of the whole poem, and it is made of two narrations: the first one, made of captions at the right of the stanzas that are the structure and that introduce the protagonist and his listener, and the second one is the poem itself. The presence of a moral at the end of the poem, makes The Rime of the Ancient Mariner a romantic ballad. It’s a ballad because is made of dialogues and narrators, the language is archaic, full of allitterations, repetitions and nomathopeic sounds.
Domande da interrogazione
- What were some key influences in Coleridge's early life and how did they shape his work?
- How did Coleridge contribute to the field of literary criticism, particularly regarding Shakespeare?
- What are the defining characteristics of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" that classify it as a romantic ballad?
Coleridge's early life was marked by his studies in London and Cambridge, although he did not complete his degree. Initially supportive of the French Revolution, he became disillusioned and attempted to create a utopian community, which ultimately failed. His collaboration with Wordsworth in 1797 was pivotal, leading to the creation of significant works like "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," which became a cornerstone of English Romanticism.
Coleridge's literary career included delivering lectures on Shakespeare between 1808 and 1818, which laid the foundation for modern Shakespearean criticism. His insights emphasized the role of imagination as a creative force, distinguishing between "primary imagination" as a fusion of perception and individual power, and "secondary imagination" as a poetic faculty.
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is characterized as a romantic ballad due to its structure of dialogues and narrators, archaic language, and use of alliteration, repetition, and onomatopoeic sounds. The poem is set in a vast sea with vivid imagery of sunlit days and moonlit nights, and it concludes with a moral, reinforcing its romantic nature.
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