SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772- 1834)

Introduction: Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in 1772 in Devonshire, England.

In his school days, he attended Christ Hospital School and met Charles Lamb, a
lifelong friend. Along with William Wordsworth and Robert Southey, he formed a
group, popularly known as Lake Poets. He is one of the distinguished literary
figures of the Romantic Age of the English literature. As a poet, critic and
philosopher, he influenced the writers and critics of his time and even later. Along
with his friend and poet, William Wordsworth, Coleridge wrote poems in Lyrical
Ballads (1798) which also includes his famous poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner’. Both, Wordsworth and Coleridge brought new trend in the English
poetry with the publication of Lyrical Ballad and it became one of the pioneering
texts of the English Romanticism. Besides writing some of the remarkable
narrative and lyric poems, Coleridge has engendered fresh insights in the field of
literary criticism through:
(1) Biographia Literaria
(2) Lectures on Shakespeare and other poets
Therefore, he rates him with other great critics like Aristotle and Longinus.
***********************************************************
COLERIDGE’S VIEWS ON PROSE, POEM AND POETRY
Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria was published in two volumes in 1817. In the
twenty three chapters of this autobiographical work, Coleridge addresses various
topics of philosophy, religion and literature. Moreover, Biographia Literaria earned
a great respect to Coleridge and is considered the most significant work on literary
criticism of the Romantic Period which blends philosophy and literature in a
different way.
According to Coleridge, poetry is the product of pure imagination, idealizing the
real and realizing the ideal. Poetry is the wider term for Coleridge and it is an
activity which involves “whole soul of man.” As a thinker and critic Coleridge
raises questions related to nature and function of poetry. In his definition he writes,
“A poem is that species of composition which is opposed to works of science, by
proposing for its immediate object pleasure, not truth.” Hence, the immediate aim
of poetry is to give pleasure to the reader and not the truth. Further, comparing
poetry and prose, Coleridge argues “a poem contains the same elements as a prose
composition”. Both use words but the difference between poem and prose
composition is in the use of same words differently. Here Coleridge emphasizes on
the use of meter and rhyme which is essential for poetic composition. He opines
that rhyme and meter are fundamental elements in order to memorize whatever is
written. Whereas prose uses sentences and paragraphs without metrical structure
and therefore is “ordinary writing.” In addition to this, for Coleridge the terms
poem and poetry are not the same. However, some critics believe that this
distinction is not much clear. In his work Biographia Literaria, he tries to
differentiate between poem and poetry. This seems interesting that the term poetry
is deeper and wider for Coleridge. It is an activity of poet’s mind which every poet,
artist or scientist works. Here, Coleridge recognizes the power of imagination as
the soul of poetry. On other hand, a poem is simply one of the forms of expression.
In fact, Coleridge was more concern with the organic wholeness of the poem. In
Critical Approaches to Literature, David Daiches explains Coleridge’s concept of
poetry and observes: Poetry’ for Coleridge is a wider category than a ‘poem’; that
is, poetry is a kind of activity which can be engaged in by painters or philosophers
or scientists and is not confined to those who employ metrical language, or even to
those who employ language of any kind. Poetry, in this larger sense, brings, ‘the
whole soul of man into activity, with each faculty playing its proper part according
to its ‘relative worth and dignity.”

COLERIDGE'S NOTE ON FANCY AND IMAGINATION

His Theory of Imagination: The thirteenth and fourteen chapter of Biographia
Literaria deals with Coleridge’s theory of imagination. He believes that poetry as
an art of imagination was confused with fancy in the 18th century. Coleridge
admits imagination as a power that unifies all experiences of thoughts and feelings,
reason and emotion. “Coleridge set himself to investigate philosophically the
“seminal principle” of the imagination, and to discover the nature of the faculty of
the soul by which the poet expresses himself though the forms of art.” He divides
imagination at two different levels: The Primary Imagination and The Secondary
Imagination.
The Primary Imagination: According to Coleridge, the primary imagination is
universal and possessed by all. It is simply the power of perceiving and the object
of sense (person, place and things) both in their parts and as whole. As Coleridge
describes, “The primary Imagination I hold to be the living Power and prime Agent
of all human perception and as a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of
creation in the infinite I Am.” It is involuntary act of the mind which enables it to
form a clear image of the object perceived by the senses. The human mind collects
impressions and sensations from the external world and it unconsciously arranges
them and imposes some shape and size on them to construct a clear picture of the
outside world.
The Secondary Imagination: The secondary imagination is typical attribute of the
artist and chief source of all poetic creation. In fact, it is conscious use of the
power of imagination which is more active than the primary imagination. For
Coleridge, “The secondary imagination, I consider as an echo of the former co-
existence with the consciousness will. It dissolves, diffuses, dissipates,(‫)منتشرکرنا‬
in order to recreate.” This type of imagination consciously uses and links faculties
of intellect, perception, will and emotions together. Coleridge considers the
secondary imagination as a poetic vision and the faculty that a poet has t “idealize
and unify”. Further, “the magical and synthetic power” as Coleridge calls it,
bridges the gap between the matter and the spirit and in order to harmonize the
opposites.
Esemplastic (Unifying) Power of Imagination: In Biographia Literaria,
Coleridge used the term “esemplastic” to describe the power of imagination. It is
an ability to shape dissimilar elements of concepts into a unified whole. By this
term, Coleridge means the power by which an image or feeling or object is made to
modify many others in order to creates a new sense. Therefore, the secondary
imagination with its “plastic stress” reshapes objects of the external world and
makes them more artistic and beautiful.
Fancy and Imagination: Coleridge broadly differentiates between fancy and
imagination. It is simply a kind of memory and mechanical process which
randomly brings together images that have similarity to form a new picture. So,
Coleridge considers fancy as inferior to imagination. Fancy, on the contrary, has no
other counters to play with but fixities and definities. Fancy is a mode of memory
emancipated from the order of time and space. But equally with the ordinary
memory it must receive but its materials readymade from the law of association.
So, imagination and fancy differ in its kind and nature. The distinction between the
two will be clearer with the following example of Chesterfield:
“The dews of the evening most carefully shun,
They are the tears of the sky for the loss of the sun.”
In the above couplet, four things sky, evening, dews and tears are combined to
form on new picture. It does not receive any coloring or modification from the
poet’s mind. But to elucidate imagination Coleridge gives the following lines from
the sonnet of William Shakespeare:
“Full many a glorious morning have I seen,
Flatter the mountain- tops with sovereign eye.”
In the above lines the morning has been presented as a glorious queen. All the
pictures in the lines have one central thought or feeling running through them
which unifies them into a single vision. Hence, Coleridge’s views on imagination
and the distinction between fancy and imagination is a unique contribution in the
field of literary criticism. Before him, most of the critics used fancy and
imagination almost synonymously. Fancy represents mechanical process of the
mind which passively accumulates the data in the memory, whereas, imagination is
described as “mysterious power” which is responsible for constructing all forms
into one graceful and intelligent whole.
To conclude, it can be said that Coleridge’s views on poetry and theory of
imagination began new discourse in the field of literary criticism. Perhaps, he is the
first critic who studies the nature of imagination and examines its role in creative
process. Apart from poetic capabilities, Coleridge’s ideas on poem, poetry,
imagination and fancy show that he for the first time brings psychology and
philosophy into literary criticism. He is the one who tries to inquire the process of
poetic creation to form new kind of aesthetics.

Coleridge As a Critic
Wordsworth and Coleridge brought new trend in the English poetry with the
publication of Lyrical Ballad and it became one of the pioneering texts of the
English Romanticism. Besides writing some of the remarkable narrative and lyric
poems, Coleridge has engendered fresh insights in the field of literary criticism
through:
(1) Biographia Literaria (2): Lectures on Shakespeare and other poets
1. ON PROSE AND POETRY: According to Coleridge, poetry is the product
of pure imagination, idealizing the real and realizing the ideal. Poetry is the
wider term for Coleridge and it is an activity which involves “whole soul of
man.” As a thinker and critic Coleridge raises questions related to nature and
function of poetry. In his definition he writes, “A poem is that species of
composition which is opposed to works of science, by proposing for its
immediate object pleasure, not truth.” Hence, the immediate aim of poetry
is to give pleasure to the reader and not the truth. Further, comparing poetry
and prose, Coleridge argues “a poem contains the same elements as a prose
composition”. Both use words but the difference between poem and prose
composition is in the use of same words differently. Here Coleridge
emphasizes on the use of meter and rhyme which is essential for poetic
composition. He opines that rhyme and meter are fundamental elements in
order to memorize whatever is written. Whereas prose uses sentences and
paragraphs without metrical structure and therefore is “ordinary writing.” In
addition to this, for Coleridge the terms poem and poetry are not the same.
However, some critics believe that this distinction is not much clear.
2. Theory of Imagination: The thirteenth and fourteen chapter of Biographia
Literaria deals with Coleridge’s theory of imagination. He believes that
poetry as an art of imagination was confused with fancy in the 18th century.
Coleridge admits imagination as a power that unifies all experiences of
thoughts and feelings, reason and emotion. “Coleridge set himself to
investigate philosophically the “seminal principle” of the imagination, and to
 discover the nature of the faculty of the soul by which the poet expresses
himself though the forms of art.” He divides imagination at two different
levels: The Primary Imagination and The Secondary Imagination.
3. ON FANCY: Coleridge broadly differentiates between fancy and
imagination. It is simply a kind of memory and mechanical process which
randomly brings together images that have similarity to form a new picture.
So, Coleridge considers fancy as inferior to imagination. Fancy, on the
contrary, has no other counters to play with but fixities and definities. Fancy
is a mode of memory emancipated from the order of time and space. But
equally with the ordinary memory it must receive but its materials
readymade from the law of association. So, imagination and fancy differ in
its kind and nature.
4. ON POETIC DICTION: "Preface to the Lyrical Ballads" is a great
contribution to English literature and literary criticism. In this critical essay,
Wordsworth argues that the language of ordinary life should be employed in
all kinds of poetry. But S.T. Coleridge differs from Wordsworth in certain
respects on this subject of poetic diction. He criticizes it and points out
limitations and contradictions in the poetic diction of Wordsworth.
He is particularly critical of his theory of poetic diction and his defense of
metre . He exposes many weaknesses of Wordsworth's theory. Wordsworth
talks of a selected and purified language. Coleridge argues that such a
language would not be different from the language of any other man of
common sense. After such selection, the rustic language and the language
used by commoners in their ways of life would remain the same. Again
Wordsworth permits a metre to imply a particular order and arrangement of
words. So Coleridge concludes that there ought to be an essential difference
between the language of prose and metrical composition. Metre medicates
the whole atmosphere, and the language of poetry is bound to differ from
prose. The use of a metre is as artificial as poetic diction.
To conclude, it can be said that Coleridge’s views on poetry and theory of
imagination began new discourse in the field of literary criticism. Perhaps,
he is the first critic who studies the nature of imagination and examines its
role in creative process. Apart from poetic capabilities, Coleridge’s ideas on
poem, poetry, imagination and fancy show that he for the first time brings
psychology and philosophy into literary criticism. He is the one who tries to
inquire the process of poetic creation to form new kind of aesthetics.
************************************************************