Author: Cameron Aitken

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an unusual poet who, along with William Wordsworth, collated their poems into the volume that decidedly began the movement of British Romanticism. Lyrical Ballads was a huge departure from what is now known as the neoclassical poetry of the 18^th Century, with the simplification of language deserting the lofty exhibition of education that was emphasised before this period. Wordsworth had a vision which he laid out in the preface to the second edition; this was done to clear up any misconceptions over the placid style that pervaded his own contribution to the collection. In his preface, Wordsworth urged the reader to look upon the poems as a mirror into his own self:

I have one request to make of my Reader, which is, that in judging these Poems he would decide by his own feelings genuinely, and not by reflection upon what will probably be the judgment of others … I have therefore to request that the Reader would abide independently by his own feelings, and that if he finds himself affected he would not suffer such conjectures to interfere with his pleasure.

This proclamation argues that poetry is a solely introspective and subjective activity that must rely upon the reader in addition to the poet himself. Wordsworth attempted to make his poetry as accessible as possible to what he described as the common man, as well as appealing to quotidian life in opposition to life of noblemen and the courts.

Coleridge made his own contribution to this collection, even though it was scarce in quantity. Yet the famous narrative poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ dominated the volume with over six hundred lines, as well as dominating the attention of many readers. Despite Wordsworth’s vision to conquer the minds of the common man with accessible vernacular, Coleridge’s poem was a little more elusive than the lucid Wordsworth. Occasionally this sentiment seems to have remained with the obstinacy of time. Coleridge is rarely studied these days, and is hardly mentioned among pupils when discussing British Romanticism. He is not even alluded to in a song performed by the cast of Horrible Histories. Wordsworth and Byron are naturally mentioned, however there is no sign of Coleridge. He is also absent from the GCSE syllabus, and as an undergraduate I was the only student to select Coleridge from the selection of texts for my first paper on Romanticism. Considering that Coleridge was regarded as a genius and polymath in his own time as well as among academics today, then the question must be posed as to why he is not held in such high esteem today.

Incidentally, Coleridge died in this very month of July as a result of several conditions, all brought on allegedly by his many years of opium abuse. He was also plagued with rheumatism from an early age which likely contributed to decades of abuse. He died at the reasonable age of sixty-one — given that Shelley and Keats died before they had even reached thirty, and Byron expired at thirty-six years old. The main question is whether or not this reliance upon opium has affected his reputation ever since. It certainly influenced opinion of him at the time when another opium addict — Thomas De Quincey, writer of Confessions of an Opium Eater — ironically scorned Coleridge for his own use of the substance. Irrespective of De Quincey’s admiration for Coleridge, the two became estranged over various disagreements. Although Coleridge struggled with his addiction he continued to write poetry and construct ideas about philosophy, theology, and, most of all, literature.

He was until the end an avid reviser of his own work, rewriting most of his poems for years after having composed and published them. He is possibly the finest poet we have who has left many of his works unfinished. The most famous example here is of ‘the person on business from Porlock’ who disrupted the composition of a poem Coleridge had envisioned in a deep reverie, induced from a heavy bout of opium consumption. The convulsion that was ‘Kubla Khan’, unfinished yet splendid, was put aside for nearly two decades until Lord Byron convinced Coleridge to publish it in its current form. Seeing as Coleridge did not intend to publish the poem, we cannot be certain of what was added, omitted, or edited from the original. We are unable to boast of having many writers whose works can be regarded as masterpieces without ever having been properly finished.

This month I urge you to read a poem or two by our poet of the month. If time is scarce, then ‘Frost at Midnight’ or ‘This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison’ would be a great introduction and gateway to the rest of his poems. Coleridge, a poet maligned with malady and malcontent, still remains not only the finest and most profoundly imaginative voice in British Romanticism, but will continue to be the unparalleled voice that has shaken the foundations of every writer and thinker ever since.

Cameron Aitken is a First Class English Literature Graduate and Jazz Musician. He loves poetry and philosophy, and has a background in literary theory. He is also interested in psychoanalysis, and thinks about films through this lens. He is an Early Modernist at heart.