Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Romantic poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet who along with William Wordsworth was instrumental in the development of the Romantic period in English literature. He is also, along with Wordsworth and Robert Southey, a member of the group of writers known as the Lake Poets. Among Coleridge's considerable body of literary work, his epic poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan and the major prose Biographia Literaria in particular are the ones that stand out.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born the youngest out of a brood of ten children on October 21st, 1772, in Ottery St. Mary in the Devonshire district. Coleridge's father, the Reverend John Coleridge was a respected vicar in the town and both Samuel's parents were generous in their praise of his abilities and tended to favour him over his other siblings.
This favouritism caused a small amount of friction in the Coleridge household particularly between Samuel and his older brother Frank who subjected Samuel to a constant stream of criticism and derision. This constant conflict caused Samuel to seek refuge in the local library where he first developed his lifelong love for the written word.
Samuel Coleridge had a very close relationship to his father and throughout the rest of his life looked up to the senior Coleridge as a kind-hearted god-fearing man. His relationship with his mother was less idyllic however, and when the Reverend died in 1781, Samuel was sent to Christ's Hospital boarding school in London against his wishes.
The school had a bit of a reputation as a somewhat strict environment and the cold treatment Samuel encountered there had a detrimental effect on the young and troubled boy. He would suffer from bouts of guilt and depression that would manifest itself during his later childhood in various attention seeking antics and later on in his life in his tendency to be emotionally dependent. His poem, Frost at Midnight would later detail the loneliness and alienation that he experienced in the school.
After his stay at Christ's Hospital, Coleridge went to Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. He first enrolled in the college in 1791 and would stay there for the next three years. He received one of the first recognitions for his writing in 1792 when he won the Browne Gold Medal for his poem about the slavery trade. He would leave the college temporarily in 1793 to enlist in the Royal Dragoons.
The cause for his enlistment remains unclear although it was likely to escape the debts that he had incurred while at Jesus College or perhaps due to his being spurned by a girl whose love he had failed to win. It would take his brothers' intervention to discharge Coleridge from the service and he returned to Jesus College. He would later leave the college without receiving his degree.
It was during his stay at the university where Coleridge was first exposed to political and theological teachings that at first surprised and then gradually appealed to him. Robert Southey was one of the literary minds that influenced him during this period and the two of them made plans to establish a sort of idyllic, utopian community in the wilds of Pennsylvania. They eventually abandoned this plan but remained friends afterwards, going so far as to marry the two Fricker sisters, Edith and Sarah in 1795.
The marriage proved to be an unhappy one for Coleridge as he only married to conform to social conventions and the union soon ended in divorce. He met a woman named Sarah Hutchinson while still married and soon fell in love with her. Unfortunately Sarah did not share Coleridge's feelings and the association between the two ended with Sarah's relocation to Portugal. Coleridge would publish the collection Poems on Various Subjects soon after in 1796.
Coleridge and Wordsworth worked on a collection of poems that was published in 1798 called Lyrical Ballads. This compilation would later be a touchstone in the then developing Romantic period, which would soon engulf most of England.
Wordsworth was a somewhat more prolific writer than Coleridge and as such the collection contained more contributions from Wordsworth. Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the longest piece in the volume however and as such it garnered the most attention.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge died on July 25th, 1834 from heart failure.Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 16/05/2008
