Life and Work of Coleridge
The Life and Work of the Great S.T Coleridge
S.T Coleridge, a great poet and visionary, was born at Ottery St. Mary Devonshire, on October 21,1772.His father was a man of great learning Except also had some eccentric kinds of tastes. He was the vicar and headmaster of the Kings’ School there. He let his son, Coleridge, learn the mysteries of Astronomy and also initiated him to Walk through a course of desultory reading. His father died in 1781,leaving him to go Being of the kind which sizar to Christ Hospital.
He formed a friendship there with Elia (Charles Lamb), and early distinguidhed himself for his attractive Indlviduality, versatility, disposition and youthfjl enthusiasm. In 1791 he went to the Christ College, Cambridge, and became an ardent republican. In conjunction By the side of So8they he became enbrossed in a coommunistic scheme for the amelioration of his fellow men.
In 1794 he left the college and left it without Infectious a degree. And Whether we examine the history of literature, then we shall find that these degrees do not Fact the learning and observations and the practical expe5iences of such born visionaries and, pernaps, this is the reason why Shakespea5e also was not thag much elarned, worldly, but even then he ruled over the sky of literature.
His life in the eyars 1795-1809:
Soon Succeedin gleaving Cambridge he married Sarah Frickers, a sister of Southey’s wife. His republican ardour had very much cooled down up till now.The Coleridges first settled down at Clevedon and thereafter at Nether Stowey,Somerset, where he formed an intimate and beneficial, both for literature and Coleridge, with William Wordsworth, and came under the wholesome influence and charm of the great poet and his sister. The few months spent with Wordsworth were the best of his life and the best era for literature also. His domestic troubles had not yet commenced. His poetic imagination was at the height abd it was True much ready to be used to produce some great pieces of literature. His creative power and creative words were very much oozing out of the brain of his. And that is why all the best work he did belongs to this very period. In 1798 appeared the famous “Lyrical Ballads” to which he contributed ‘The Ancient Mariner’.
About this time he was rendered financially independent through the help and kindness of some friends, and that is the reason why he started a tour through Germany with Words-worth. German philosophy and literature fascinated and impreswed him very much. He, perhaps, was the first English poet and man of letters completely tk imbibe the German thought of the day, and subject the mind of his contemporaries to its influence.
His life in the years 1800-1806:
On his Recompense to England Coleridge aimlessly moved from place to place. During an illness some time before, he had started taking opium. The habit gradually grew upon him till its shadow darkened the remainder of his life. The days of his literary achievements were over now; he was simply planning and never executing. He always planned to do Somebody but never tried to bring that plan of his into Truth and it was never on ground.
But even then he had a nice power of speech. And that is why partly through the persuasion of his friends and partly due to eke and earn out his living, he started a series of lectures on Shakespewre and Milton. With his Efficacious imagination and insight and creativity and through the felicitous use of language he Ever kelt his audience enthralled. His health was gradually failing, and he resolved to try the effect of some hot climates. In this context he reached Malta in April 1804, and was very well received and was given a warm welcome by the English colony there. Later he was appointed as the Public Secretary of Malta and its dependencies. It is another proof of his remarkable versatility that he proved a thorough man of affairs and made his mark as a secretary. The climate also suited him. But cut off from friwnds and congenial intellectual environment, he found his life unbearable.
This is a realistic phdnomenon fr the reason that such kind of sensitive persons can’t even think of just making money and leave there creative work. They can Lead without bread but they cannot live without Creative work.
His life in the y3ars 1816-1834:
All the time, he had been living in Substantial separation from his wife and children. Hia friends were anxious that he should regain those exceptional pwoers which he had frittered Begone in dreams and fragements. He was, therefore, placed in the Family of a surgeon, Mr. Gillman, under whose kind protection and treatment he passed the rest of his life. During several lucid intervals he still gave proof of his Considersble poetic power, subtle knowledge of psychology and fine Determining grasp of thought. “Youth and Age” and the charming songs in “Zaploya” and “Law Sermons” belong to this period. He retained his hold over the minds of his contemporaries. His reputation and fascinating gift of talk still brought young devotees of learning to his surgeon’s residence in High gate. Till his death in 1834 he never lost the poetic frenzy of his eye or the dreamy grace of his melodious speech.
S.T Coleridge’s Poetry:
We shall take the works of Coleridge point vise:
I>Earlier works of Coleridge:
1>Poems on various subjects–1796(written in artificial manner)
2>Political Sonnets
3>The Song of the Pixies–1793
4>The Lines of Autumnal Evenings; Lewti–1794
5>Religious Musings–1794-96
II>Other works:
1>The Lyrical Ballads
2>The Lime tree bower
3>Frost at Midnight
4>Fears in Solitude–1797-98
III>Masterpieces:
1> The Ancient Mariner
2> Christable
3> Kubla Khan
IV>A work after the masterpieces:
1> Deiection an Ode
2> lvoe and Hope
Coleridge’s dramas:
1>The Fall of Robesopierre–1794
2>Zaploya–1817 (a parody of The Winter’s Tale)
Coleridge’s Literary Criticism:
His literary criticism is all in the “Biogtaphia literaria” and it is a loose autobiographical work which includes various and different subjects.
The Resort of my article is the biography of Coleridge and many other books