Coleridge

*1772 October 21, in Devonshire (Engl.). His father was a vicar of a parish and master of a grammar school. He had married twice and STC was the youngest of his fourteen children.
1775 STC beginns attending his father's school (Dame Key´s Reading School).
1776 The War of the American Independence starts.
1782 (10 years old) STC at Christ's Hospital School in London
1784 The War of American Independence formally ends.
1789 The Storming of the Bastille (French Revolution)
1791 STC enters Jesus College in Cambridge, because his father has always wanted his son to be a clergyman. His big financial problems begin and plague him throughout his life so that he depends on the support of others.
1793 LouisXVI. and Marie Antoinette executed. France declares war on England and Holland. The reign of terror begins.
1794 STC is discharged (Jesus school) and returns to Cambridge.There he shares his philosophical ideas with his friend R. Southey. They construct a vision of pantisocracy (influenced by Plato´s "Republic").
1795 Coleridge and Southey collaborate on the play entitled "The Fall of Robespierre"; first meeting with William Wordsworth.
1796 Marriage with Sara Fricker, they move to Clevedon, Somersetshire ("New World"). It was a marriage based on reason. He still loves Mary Evans, a schoolfriend’s sister, so that it is an unhappy marriage.
He begins his career as a writer in the next few years and he has never returned to Cambridge to finish his degree. His style changes influenced by Wordsworth. He writes in a more natural style, before his style has been celebratory and conventional. He writes the "Conversation Poems" e.g. "The Eolian Harp".
1797-1798 He lives in Somersetshire. In1798 Wordsworth and STC publish (anonymously) "Lyrical Ballads". STC writes "Frost at Midnight", "Mariner", "France: An Ode", "Fears In Solitude", "Kubla Khan" and the first part of "Christabel". He begins to study language and philosophy in Germany (Immanuel Kant, Jakob Boehme, G. E. Lessing).
1799 University of Göttingen he returns to England.With Humphrey Davy he experiments with nitrious oxide in Bristol. He begins writing for the "Mourning Post" in London (political and reporting essays).
1800 He translates Schiller's "Wallenstein". He moves with his family to Greta Hall, Keswick.
In the next decades he often tours with Wordsworth. He lectures on literature and philosophy, writes about religious and political theory. He spends two years on the Island of Malta as secretary to the governor in an effort to overcome his poor health and his opium addiction.
1816 STC publishes "Christable","Kubla Khan", "Paines of Sleep" and he republishes "Mariner".
1817 STC publishes "Biographia Literaria". He continues to publish poetry and prose, notably "Sibylline Leaves".
1819 He meets Keats.
1820 George III. dies. The reign of GeorgeIV. begins.
1825 "Aids of Reflection"
1830 WilliamIV. begins to rule. Greece gains independence. STC writes "Church and State".
1834 STC dies in London on July 25 at the age of 62.

The Eolian Harp by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

(Composed at Clevedon, Somersetshire)

My pensive Sara! thy soft cheek reclined

Thus on mine arm, most soothing sweet it is

To sit beside our Cot, our Cot o'ergrown

With white-flower'd Jasmin, and the broad-leav'd Myrtle,

(Meet emblems they of Innocence and Love!)

And watch the clouds, that late were rich with light,

Slow saddening round, and mark the star of eve

Serenely brilliant (such should Wisdom be)

Shine opposite! How exquisite the scents

Snatch'd from yon bean-field! and the world {\i so} hushed!

The stilly murmur of the distant Sea

Tells us of silence.

And that simplest Lute,

Placed length-ways in the clasping casement, hark!

How by the desultory breeze caress'd,

Like some coy maid half yielding to her lover,

It pours such sweet upbraiding, as must needs

Tempt to repeat the wrong! And now, its strings

Boldlier swept, the long sequacious notes

Over delicious surges sink and rise,

Such a soft floating witchery of sound

As twilight Elfins make, when they at eve

Voyage on gentle gales from Fairy-Land,

Where Melodies round honey-dripping flowers,

Footless and wild, like birds of Paradise,

Nor pause, nor perch, hovering on untam'd wing!

O! the one Life within us and abroad,

Which meets all motion and becomes its soul,

A light in sound, a sound-like power in light,

Rhythm in all thought, and joyance every where—

Methinks, it should have been impossible

Not to love all things in a world so fill'd;

Where the breeze warbles, and the mute still air

Is Music slumbering on her instrument.

And thus, my Love! as on the midway slope

Of yonder hill I stretch my limbs at noon,

Whilst through my half-clos'd eye-lids I behold

The sunbeams dance, like diamonds, on the main.

And tranquil muse upon tranquillity;

Full many a thought uncall'd and undetain'd,

And many idle flitting phantasies,

Traverse my indolent and passive brain,

As wild and various as the random gales

That swell and flutter on this subject Lute!

And what if all of animated nature

Be but organic Harps diversely fram'd,

That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps

Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,

At once the Soul of each, and God of all?

But thy more serious eye a mild reproof.

O arts, O belovéd Woman! nor such thoughts

Dim and unhallow'd dost thou not reject,

And biddest me walk humbly with my God.

Meek Daughter in the family of Christ!

Well hast thou said and holily disprais'd

These shapings of the unregenerate mind;

Bubbles that glitter as they rise and break

On vain Philosophy's aye-babbling spring.

For never guiltless may I speak of him,

The Incomprehensible! save when with awe

I praise him, and with Faith that inly feels;

Who with his saving mercies healéd me,

A sinful and most miserable man,

Wilder'd and dark, and gave me to possess

Peace, and this Cot, and thee, heart-honour'd Maid!

Interpretation of Eolian Harp

The Eolian Harp is a poem about a marriage.

Firat Coleridge gives a description of the situation (location), The setting reflects the poet's state of mind and his love. The human being and natural surroundings form a harmony.

But also the clouds which can be seen on the evening sky have a symbolic function. That means a day is passing by. This transitoriness is regarded with melancholy. The word "star" means that there is hope of a new part of life. And this new part should bring cheerfulness of the spirit.

The light, bringing wisdom, supports the day`s vitality. All is embedded in the harmony of nature - a new part of life is announced.

In the following the harp is compared with a couple of lovers. This comparison is up to line 17. Suddenly the wind blows stronger. And because of this natural change the wind the poets spirit and imagination come alive in the poem. There is also an important emphasis on beauty. The striking assonances have an onomatopoeic function. The tunes of the harp become audible in the speech of the poem.

Line 34ff: The poet reflects on his own situation, and he compares himself with the windharp. But not only the speaker, also the whole creation - that means nature - is connected with the spirit of the windharp.

On the one hand, the windharp symbolizes the poet and, on the other hand, God. The poet can be seen as a servant of God, maybe as a priest. He reveals the divinity of nature. This shows that the poet takes the role of connecting the godly and the wordly.

Verfasser: Julia Dünnebacke, Diane Winkelmeyer, Andreas Bruns

Nach oben