school days was Bowles's sonnets, which impressed him because of their rare fidelity to nature. In 1791 he went up to Jesus College, Cambridge. Here he became familiar with Wordsworth's "Descriptive Sketches." His residence at Cambridge, however, was short. In the December of 1793, he enlisted as a private in the army under the name of Silas Tompkyn Cumberback (S. T. C.). One of his officers discovered his character and learning, however, by the fact that he had written the Latin line, Eheu! quam infortunii miserrimum est fuisse felicem. He was accord ingly discharged in the following April. In June, we find him at Oxford with Robert Southey, and in the autumn the two were engaged upon a grand sociological scheme called Pantisocracy, the three cardinal doctrines of which were: (1) That they should go to America; (2) That they should found there a commonwealth in which all prop、 erty was to be held in common; (3) That each member of the Order should take unto himself a wife. The third item was the only one that ever came to pass. The two poets married two sisters named Fricker. In 1795 Coleridge published at Bristol a small volume of poems. They were printed by Amos Cottle, a name with which Byron made merry in the line "O Amos Cottle! Phoebus! What a name! "Once," Byron added, "he was a writer of poems nobody would print; now he is a printer of poems nobody will read." With regard to this early volume of Coleridge's, Byron's statement, for a time at least, proved correct. In order to earn bread and butter, he accordingly started a paper called “The Watchman." It appeared between March 1 and May 13, 1796, being issued every eighth day to avoid the stamp tax. The poet made a tour to get subscribers, but did not succeed. On September 19, his son Hartley Coleridge, himself a famous poet, was born. In December he settled at Nether Stowey, where he made his home for the next four years. On December 31, he wrote his " Ode to the Departing Year." "The The year 1797 marks the beginning of Coleridge's maturity. The Wordsworths, William and Dorothy, settled at Alfoxden in July of that year. In June, at Racedown, Coleridge met Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy; as one of them said, "Three people were thereupon. made one soul." Wordsworth immediately read his poem Ruined Cottage" to Coleridge; then Coleridge read to Wordsworth two acts of his tragedy, "Osorio." The next morning Wordsworth read to Coleridge his tragedy, " The Borderers." Under the influence of this inspiring companionship, Coleridge, on November 13, began the " Ancient Mariner," a poem which all school boys and girls should know by heart. During the fall of this year, he also began "Cristabel," ""Kubla Khan," and his lines on Love." Of these, he finished only the "Ancient Mariner," being already rendered indolent and ineffective by the use of opium, to which he had been led by the neuralgia caused by his childish adventure in the water. Somebody, indeed, has called him a man of magnificent beginnings. In spite, however, of the fragmentary condition in which he left these poems, George Saintsbury says of them and says truly: "Here is what one hears at most three or four times in English literature, at most ten or twelve times in all literature-the first note-with its endless echo-promise of a new poetry." What he means is that Wordsworth and Coleridge gave to English poetry a quality of truth illuminated by imagination which it had not possessed since the days of Milton. The fruits of the intellectual activity of these months was given to the world the next year in the form of a book called "Lyrical Ballads." This priceless volume contained, in addition to Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner," Wordsworth's "We are Seven," " Expostulation and Reply," "The Tables Turned," and "Tintern Abbey." In this connection it is worth noting that all of Coleridge's best poetry was written under the influence of Wordsworth. In September of this year, the two friends went together to Germany; among other places, they visited Cologne, about which Coleridge wrote the following famous lines: The friends returned in July to England and proceeded to visit the Lake country, which they afterward made famous as their home. In December, Coleridge was offered two thousand pounds a year to take charge of the publication of the "Morning Post." He replied, “I would not give up the country and the lazy reading of old folios for two thousand times two thousand pounds-in short, beyond three hundred and fifty pounds a year I consider money a real evil.” The opening year of the new century was an eventful one for Coleridge. He published his great tragedy, "Wallenstein," and wrote several short poems,-" The Visit of the Gods," "A Child's Question," his poem on "Metres," and the " Knight's Tomb,"—all of which should be read by every student. On September 14, Derwent Coleridge was born. Late in the year we find him visiting Charles Lamb at Pentonville. Of this occasion Lamb writes: "I am living in a continual feast. Coleridge has been with me now for nigh three weeks.” This bright picture now grows darker. He sought to alleviate the physical pain under which he constantly suffered, by a concoction called the "Kendal Black Drop," the use of which nearly ruined his mind. Between 1802 and 1816, his condition grew constantly worse. In the latter year, however, he was rescued from his troubles by Mr. Gilman, a physician, who lived at Highgate, near London. The work of this unfortunate period may be briefly summarized: In 1802 he wrote his fine poem, "Youth and Age," and in 1804 "Fancy in Nubibus "; in 1808 we find him delivering lectures at the Royal Institute, where he often kept his audience waiting and sometimes did not appear at all; in 1809 and 1810 he published for a time a paper called the 66 Friend," a literary, moral, and political journal, from the columns of which were excluded personal and party topics and the events of the day. To this period belongs the poem known as the "Devil's Thoughts," which contains some of his most pungent stanzas; for instance: "From his brimstone bed at break of day, A-walking the devil is gone To visit his snug little farm, the earth, "Over the hill and over the dale And he went and over the plain; And backward and forward he switched his long tail As a gentleman switches his cane. "He saw a cottage, with a double coach house, A cottage of gentility; And the devil did grin, for his darling sin In 1813 his tragedy "Remorse" was played at the Drury Lane The last seventeen years of Coleridge's life, while not characterized by much literary activity, were comparatively happy and calm. In 1817 he published a volume called "Biographia Literaria," which, as its name signifies, is filled with material about authors. In 1824 he met Thomas Carlyle. In 1825 he published a book called "Aids to Reflections." His death occurred July 25, 1834. He composed his own epitaph, which is as follows: 66 Stop, Christian passer-by!-Stop, child of God, He ask'd, and hoped, through Christ. Do thou the same!" The poetry of Coleridge, incomplete though it is, is genuine in the highest degree. It is best described, perhaps, by some of his own words. In speaking of another writer's work, he says that the reader will rise from its contemplation in a frame of mind which can be best described by the words "inspiration " and " exaltation," "For he on honey-dew hath fed QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1. Wordsworth passed his boyhood in the fields, Coleridge among books. How do these respective influences appear in the poetry of the two men? 2. What effect did opium have upon Coleridge? 66 3. Who was Silas Tompkyn Cumberback"? 4. What do you think of the doctrine that all property should be held in common? What English poets had such a plan? 5. Read the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" through at one sitting with the door of your room locked to prevent interruption. Immediately write two hundred words expressing your feelings after having read the poem. 6. What significance had the publication of "Lyrical Ballads"? 7. Repeat to the class the anecdote of the offer of the London editorship. 8. Write a five-hundred-word essay comparing the work of Coleridge with that of Wordsworth. 9. Is there anything in Coleridge's poetry that you feel to be imitative of any of his predecessors? 10. Read Lamb's "Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago" and tell the class what you discovered of Coleridge's youth. Suggested Readings.-" Love," "The Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan," and "Cristabel" present the essence of romanticism." Pater in his "Appreciations" gives us an excellent monograph on Coleridge. S. J. Colerides |