Lit Inglesa II - 3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Biography and Analysis PDF

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Biography and Analysis. Unit 5. Samuel Taylor Coleridge....

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Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Biography Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born October 21, 1772, at Ottery St. Mary's, Devonshire, the youngest of 14 children. His father, John Coleridge, the parish vicar, died in 1781 just before Coleridge's ninth birthday. He was then sent to a boarding school, Christ's Hospital, as a charity scholar. A brilliant student, he went up to Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1791, on a small allowance provided by his brother George. Although he won a college medal in his first year for a long poem in Greek and was one of four finalists for a scholarship in his second, he was at the same time going through an adolescent crisis, experimenting with alcohol, opium, and sex, and falling in love with Mary Evans, the sister of a friend. In December 1793 he left school and joined the Dragoons (under the alias Silas Tomkyn Comerbacke), but kept falling off his horse. By the following April his brothers had found out where he was, bailed him out, and convinced him to return to Cambridge. That summer (1794) he left school again and met the poet Robert Southey, with whom he planned a utopian "Pantisocracy" to be established on the banks of the Susquehanna. The plan required that each participant be married, and Southey married Edith Fricker and Coleridge married her younger sister Sara. When the plans for the Pantisocracy fell through, the two of them were trapped in an uncongenial marriage. By now Coleridge, who was earning his keep partly as a Unitarian preacher, had begun seriously to write poetry. He became close friends to William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, who moved to Alfoxden in 1797 to be near the Coleridges at Nether Stowey, and the two poets planned Lyrical Ballads, which appeared in 1798. Coleridge's most important contribution was "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." That same September the three of them visited Germany, a visit much more important to Coleridge than to Wordsworth. In Germany, Coleridge discovered Kant, Schiller, Schelling, A.W. Schlegel, and he came back to England imbued with the spirit of German Romantic thought. In 1799 Coleridge joined the Wordsworths, who were staying at the Hutchinson farm in Durham. Wordsworth was waiting for an inheritance to be settled so he could wed Mary Hutchinson; and Coleridge fell in love with her sister Sara, who appears in his journals and poems as "Asra." From the time of his marriage on, Coleridge was searching for a vocation that would pay the rent, although the annuity of £150 from the Wedgwoods eased

these concerns after 1798 and meant that he did not need to take up a career as a Unitarian minister. It is interesting to speculate if he would have later returned to the Church of England without that timely annuity (see "Coleridge's religion"). Perhaps because he conceived such grand projects, he had difficulty carrying them through to completion, and he berated himself for his "indolence." It is unclear whether his growing use of opium was a symptom or a cause of his growing depression. "Dejection: An Ode," written in 1802, expresses his despair at the loss of his creative powers. In 1804 he travelled to Sicily and Malta, working for a time as Acting Public Secretary of Malta under the Commissioner, Alexander Ball. He gave this up and returned to England in 1806; Dorothy Wordsworth was shocked at his condition upon his return. His opium addiction (he was using as much as two quarts of laudanum a week) now began to take over his life: he separated from his wife in 1808, quarrelled with Wordworth in 1810, lost part of his annuity in 1811, put himself under the care of Dr. Daniel in 1814, and finally moved in with Dr. Gilman in Highgate, London, where the doctor and his family managed for the next 18 years to keep his demon under control. At this same time he was establishing himself as the most intellectual of the English Romantics, delivering an influential series of lectures on Shakespeare in the winter of 1811-12 and bringing out his Biographia Literaria in 1817. Among his contemporaries, he was best known as a talker, in the tradition of Samuel Johnson: his "Highgate Thursdays" became famous. He died July 25, 1834.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s best-known poem it is also Coleridge’s longest poem. It was written over the course of a year from 1797 to 1798 and published immediately after in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. The poem, along with others, is often cited when speaking about the beginnings of Romaticism in England. Throughout the poem, Coleridge uses literary techniques like personification and repetition while also shifting the mood between peace, fear, and feelings of doom. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a lyrical ballad i.e. a poem written in the form and style of a folk ballad which is usually written by an anonymous person. The ballad is a narrative song-poem, usually relating a single, dramatic incident or story, in a form suitable for singing or rhythmical chanting. Folk ballads often have sudden dramatic beginnings, are written in the form of a dialogue usually between the narrator and the listeners as well as between characters. The language is simple but there is plenty of repetition and use of archaic words. There is sudden change of action besides music and rhythm. The poem contains all these characteristics. Hence, it is a ballad although not a folk-ballad. The poem is about how the Ancient Mariner’s ship sailed past the Equator and was driven by storms to the cold regions towards the South Pole; from thence she sailed back to the tropical Latitude of the Pacific Ocean; how the Ancient Mariner cruelly and inhospitably-killed a sea-bird called Albatross, and how he was followed by many and strange distresses; and also how he could come back to his own country.

Themes

Coleridge engages with themes of sins/forgiveness and nature in ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.’ The nature imagery in ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is impossible to avoid. Throughout the poem, the poetuses nature as the controlling force in the Mariner’s life, and those of his fellow men. At various points it appears that nature is on their side, except, of course, after the Mariner makes the mistake of kill the albatross. It’s then that their little bit of luck runs out and they face many stanzas of hardship. The Mariner spends the rest of the poem paying for the one, great sin of killing the bird. This section also brings in the theme of responsibility. Eventually, alone on the ship, he faces solitude as his pennace.

Structure and form The text is in short ballad stanzas that are usually four or six lines long. But, some reach as many as nine lines in length. The meter is only sometimes structured. The odd lines are usually in tetrameter while the even lines are in trimeter, features of ballad stanzas. The rhyme scheme is usually either ABAB or ABABAB but there are some alterations, for example, some stanzas rhyme ABCCB or ABAAB. ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is a lyrical ballad i.e. a poem written in the form and style of a folk ballad which is usually written by an anonymous person. The ballad is a narrative song-poem, usually relating a single, dramatic incident or story, in a form suitable for singing or rhythmical chanting. Folk ballads often have sudden dramatic beginnings, are written in the form of a dialogue usually between the narrator and the listeners as well as between characters. The language is simple but there is plenty of repetition and use of archaic words. There is sudden change of action besides music and rhythm. The poem contains all these characteristics. Hence, it is a ballad although not a folk-ballad.

Literary Devices Coleridge makes use of several literary devices in ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,’ as well as in all the other sections. These include but are not limited to personification, alliteration, repetition, and imagery. The latter is one of the most important techniques a poet can use in their work. Without it, readers might leave the poem interested or unmoved by what they read. For example, “Nor dim nor red, like God’s own head, / The glorious Sun uprist” and “The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, / The furrow followed free.”

Alliteration is a type of repetition that’s concerned with the use and reuse of the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “Sun” and “sea” in lines one and two of stanza one of part two. Repetition also occurs more broadly in the poem with Coleridges use and reuse of refrains, images, and words that begin and end lines (examples of anaphora and epistrophe). Personificaiton is another technique readers can find throughout ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.’ Coleridge personifies the water, death, and the albatross at various moments in the poem.

Part One - Analysis It is an ancient Mariner, This first line of the poem is the poet’s comment, who introduces the central character – an old Mariner. The poem, thus, begins abruptly without any introduction, and the main character of the poem, that is; Mariner, stops or detains one of the three wedding guests who are going to attend a marriage feast. When we come to the third line of the poem, we are introduced to the Wedding-guest who is surprised by the strange Mariner’s audacity to stop him. This wedding guest notices the two striking features of the Mariner’s appearance –his long grey beard and his eyes shining. The Wedding-guest is annoyed with the Mariner for stopping him, and asks him why do you stop me, or why have you stopped me. He says that the doors are wide open to welcome the guests, and I am a close relative of the Bridegroom’s family and my presence at the wedding is a must. He says the wedding-feast has been laid on the table, and I can hear the happy-sounding noise of singing and dancing. The merry din indicates the marriage festivity. The personal appearance of the Mariner is gradually developed. Where in the first stanza, the poet gives us a little detail about Mariner’s long grey beard and glittering eye, in the third part he talks about his lean and thin hand. In this stanza, the Mariner physically stops the Wedding-guest by catching hold of his hand, and starts narrating his story to the wedding guest, such as: ‘There was a ship.’ However, the guest found it very unusual and strange to hold off his hand and says let go of my hand, you old crazy fellow. The Mariner at once lets go of the Wedding Guest’s hand because he knows he can hold his (WeddingGuest) attention otherwise also. He holds him with his glittering eye—

The Wedding-Guest stood still, And listens like a three years’ child: The Mariner hath his will. In this fourth stanza of the poem, the Mariner casts a hypnotic spell on the Wedding-guest. That is; instead of holding the guest by his hand, the Mariner now holds him with his glittering eye, and the Wedding-guest, on being hypnotized by the Mariner, listens to him obediently and helplessly. The last line of this stanza has two connotations, that is; (1) The Mariner succeeded in having his way i.e. he succeeded in doing what he wanted to do – to make the Wedding-Guest listen to his story, (2) The Mariner succeeded in getting full control of the Wedding-guest by making him agree to listen to the story. The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. In the fifth stanza, the hypnotized Wedding-guest sits on a stone and is left with no option but to hear the Mariner who has hypnotized him with his glittering eyes. Since the Wedding-guest has been hypnotized by the ancient Mariner, hence he is helpless and cannot exercise his own will, so he is compelled to listen to the bright-eyed Mariner’s story of sin and suffering. The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. In this stanza, the Mariner begins his story like: our friends and relatives gave a cheerful send off when our ship set sail. The ship crossed the harbor very quickly and entered the main sea waters. The sailors sailed away happily (unaware of the disaster that awaited their ship). They were merrily sailing along with the ebb tide. As the ship sailed away from the coast, the church, the hill, and the lighthouse on top of the hill disappeared from the sailor’s view. The Sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right

Went down into the sea. In this stanza, the Mariner says that the sun rises on the left-hand side of the ship. This means that the ship was sailing towards the South. There is a picturesque touch in this line. The sun seemed to rise from and set into the sea. The use ‘he’ refers to the Sun here, which was rising from the sea. The Mariner further says that it was shining brightly on the right side of the ship. There is also internal rhyme in the line. The word at the end of the first phrase is rhyming with the end of the second phrase. Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon—’ The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, For he heard the loud bassoon. In this stanza, the Mariner says that the sun seemed to attain greater height with the passage of each day, meaning that the ship was nearing the equator. And when the ship came to the Equator, the sun was directly over the mast of the ship. The sun is at 90 at Noon at the Equator. However, the sudden sound of the bassoon diverted the hypnotized Wedding-Guest’s attention and he protested his forceful detention as well as showed his impatience and displeasure. The bride hath paced into the hall, Red as a rose is she; Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy. In these lines, the Wedding-guest, on recovering his consciousness, noticed that the wedding ceremony had started. The bride whose face was as beautiful as a red rose was being brought into the hall in the accompaniment of singers and musicians who were moving their heads as they were singing and leading the bride to the hall. The use of the word ‘pace’ is more musical and poetic than walked and entered and is suggestive of the Bride’s elegant gait, whereas the ‘Red as a rose is she’ is a simile whereby the poet through the Wedding Guest says that the bride is as beautiful as a red rose is. The meaning of minstrelsy is a body of singers and musicians who lead the bride to the hall. The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, Yet he cannot choose but hear;

And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. Through these lines, the poet tells that despite all his protests, the Weddingguest is not allowed to go. The Ancient Mariner continues to narrate his story. This is because the Mariner has hypnotized him, and now the guest has no option but to hear the story of the bright-eyed Mariner Ancient Mariner. And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he Was tyrannous and strong: He struck with his o’ertaking wings, And chased us south along. In this stanza, the Mariner resumes his narrative by creating thrill and excitement from the very first line of this stanza. The Mariner says that a strong sea storm rose. ‘He’ in the third line of this stanza, refers to the storm. The storm has been personified as very violent and fierce. The storm overtook the ship which was caught in its furry. It is to be noted that the storm has been compared to a huge and swift bird of prey or a winged monster that pounces upon the ship – its prey. The ship was forcibly driven by the storm towards the South Pole. With sloping masts and dipping prow, As who pursued with yell and blow Still treads the shadow of his foe, And forward bends his head, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, And southward aye we fled. In these lines, the Mariner says that the ship was bent forward by the force of the wind. Going up and down the waves, its fore-part was often submerged into the water. The ship looked like a person on the run being chased by an enemy who is shouting and pursuing with all this force. Just like a man running fast bends his head forward, the front part of the ship was also bent forward. The Mariner further says that the enemy is so close that his shadow is falling on the person being chased. The storm continued to blow and it quickly carried away the ship towards the South Pole. And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold:

And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald. In these lines, continued to narrate his story to the Wedding Guest, the Mariner says that the ship reached the South Pole, full of mist and snow. The cold was really unbearable. Icebergs as high as the mast of the ship were floating here and there in the sea, and the greenish reflection of the sea makes the icebergs look like emeralds. And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken— The ice was all between. The Mariner, through these lines, says that there were all around the drifts (floating ice), and the icebergs though shining presented a sad and gloomy sight. He further says that we could not see any human being or any animal in that cold region as huge masses of snow blocked the view. The extent and spread of ice al around the ship have been emphasized with the repetition of the words like ‘ice’ ‘here’, ‘there’, and ‘all around’. In all, there was ice all around. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound! The extent and spread of ice all around the ship have been emphasized with the repetition of the words like ‘ice’ ‘here’, ‘there’, and ‘all around’. In all, there was ice all around. The words ‘cracked’ and ‘growled’ ‘roared’ and ‘howled’ collectively convey their meaning through the sound they produce. The splitting up of huge chunks of ice, their sliding and falling into the sea has been described here with these onomatopoetic words. Besides, there is also a simile in ‘Like noises in a swound!’ This means the noise produced by the splitting icebergs are such as the distant thundering and rumbling heard by a person in a fainting fit. At length did cross an Albatross, Thorough the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul,

We hailed it in God’s name. In this part of the poem, we are introduced to Albatross, who plays a pivotal role in the poem. Continuing his narration to the Wedding-Guest, the Mariner says that, after a considerable time had passed, an Albatross came through the fog. The Albatross is a very large, chiefly white oceanic and an ice-winged stoutbodied bird that has long narrow wings, and is mainly found in the Pacific and Southern Oceans. The Mariner considers and compares the bird with the Christian soul, and hails it in God’s name. It is to be noted that the Albatross was the first living being the sailors came across in the region of mist and snow. Believing that it was just like them – a creature of God, the sailors welcomed it on board their ship. Its arrival lifted their spirits and brought them hope. It ate the food it ne’er had eat, And round and round it flew. The ice did split with a thunder-fit; The helmsman steered us through! Talking about Albatross, the Mariner says the sailors gave it food that they were carrying for themselves. The bird had never had such food earlier, and it was hovering over the ship because there was food there. The Albatross cut the ice or the iceberg and made a way for the ship. Then the ship started moving and the sailor (one who is driving the boat) started steering the ship. The sailor in fact skilfully managed to steer the ship through the gap. And a good south wind sprung up behind; The Albatross did follow, And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariner’s hollo! The Mariner further says that now a favorable south wind began to blow from behind. The Albatross was still following the ship and would come and sit on the mast or the ropes tying the sails to the mast. Every day it responded to the Mariner’s call to take food or to play with him and other sailors on the boat. In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine; Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,

Glimmered the white ...