Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Coleridge may be one of the most well-rounded and intellectual writers that we are reading. He was a poet, theologian, good talker, and an idea man. I belive that he had strong Christian values that he tried to incorporate in most of his poems. This idea seems to be a constant theme of his.

After listening to the podcast for "The Eolian Harp", I realized that I did not interpret it the same way at all. Dr. Glance discusses how it talks about how Coleridge is receiving new ideas which he must share to the world. His new wife, Sara, is the person that must ground him for this and he despises her for it. I did not think that is what this poem was about at all. I read that he wrote this during the honeymoon after the wedding. I thought he was talking about the new feeling of being married and how is made him feel excited and happy. When it says, "O the one life within us and abroad, Which meets all motion and becomes its soul" (325), I thought it was talking about his excitement of sharing his life with someone till their two souls felt like one. I also thought he was relating the beautiful music of the eolian harp to the beauty of his new wife. At the end of this poem it says, "I praise him, and with Faith that inly feels; Who with saving mercies healed me, A sinful and miserable man" (326). I thought he was praising God for giving him this wife because he was a miserable man. I guess this is a perfect example of how easily I can misinterpret these kinds of poems.

The next poem that I would like to talk about is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." I like the wedding guest was curious of what happened to this mariner. As soon as the mariner killed the albatross, he was cursed. All of the things that happened to him were very interesting to read. I felt like I was reading a children's tale since the events were very unlikely. I personally think that his characters were created out of hallucinations that he may have had. Since he did have an addiction to opium, he may have had reoccurring hallucinations. At the end of this tale, I was interested in the moral of the story. I think the ultimate purpose of this story was again a type of Christian value. It seems like he valued the idea of love, and everyone should have love for all things even animals such as birds. I, as well as the wedding guest, may have gained a little perspective from this tale. It is not understood how much something is loved until it is gone such as the bird and his crew.

After I read the poem, "Epitaph", I could also see Coleridge's Christian values once again. I think that he was trying to show that everyone should look towards God because God is in everyone. In order to live like a Christian and not a Christian Passer-by, a person needs to live with the following values, "Mercy for praise-to be given for fame" (350).

It was interesting to read about how close William Wordsworth and Coleridge actually were. They traveled together and planned out how they wanted to combine poems for a book. They each agreed to write in a specific format which they seemed to stick to. Coleridge agreed to that his "endeavors should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic" (353). Wordsworth wanted "to give the charm of novelty to things of every day" (354). I think there were two reasons why Wordsworth ended up being more successful than Coleridge. First, Coleridge did have that addiction to opium. This caused him to struggle with some of the works he started and he was not able to finish them. The second reason is the type of writings each agreed to do. I think that more people can relate to every day things and most people may think that the supernatural is more of a childish thing. Either way, Coleridge works today are interesting to read especially because the supernatural is a part of the types of movies and television shows that people enjoy to watching.