Poetic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Poetic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The eighteenth century poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is considered one of the world's finest romantic poets along with Shakespeare. He has captured the imaginations and hearts of readers with timeless works such as "Kubla Khan", "Christabel" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." The effectiveness of his poems is truly recognised when analysing them in greater detail, looking at tone, poetic devices and Coleridge's frequent allusion to nature.

Coleridge had an evident fascination with nature. He often secluded himself in country villas, under the boughs of trees where he could let himself become emersed in nature and write. In fact, it was in a garden-bower that Coleridge composed "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison", a controversial poem written when the author was injured and confined to this bower. The Composer takes us on a journey, with his friends, through his imagination. The poem consists of three stanzas each reflecting a different mood the author feels during his imaginative journey. In the first stanza we see the composer entangled in a world of frustration and self pity. "Well, they are gone, and here I must remain... Friends, whom I never more may meet again." He imagines what a fantastic time his friends are having on their journey, while he can only follow them in his mind. The second stanza shows the author's concentration on the natural surroundings he experiences in his mind's eye. "Silent with swimming sense." The alliteration used in this line reflects the beautiful tranquillity the composer feels in relation to nature. The vivid imagery created by the alliteration is an effective device used to convey the beauty and serenity of his imaginative surroundings.

Another of Coleridge's famous works is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", a ballad style poem detailing a pilgrim's journey through life; his sins, punishment and eventual redemption. Most stanzas contain four lines and a regular rhyming scheme is used throughout. This traditional strucure is used to reflect the grandeur of this epic tale. In studying "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" the responder can see the supernatural and dreamlike mood of the poem is emphasised by the vivid visual imagery. At times the poem deviates from the plot and becomes the protagonist's reflective moral voice, much like the chorus in ancient Greek theatre. This renders the poem more intimate and psychological, while allowing the responder to identify through the wedding guest who bridges the gap between the mariner's world and our own. Coleridge eases the transition from the physical world to the imaginative. Stanza 5 of part II has an abundance of repetition and alliteration. The energy created mirrors the content of the stanza, i.e. "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew." As the ship is becalmed the use of poetic devices in the poem recedes. Through heavy repetition the rhythm of the poem picks up in stanzas 8 and 9 as Coleridge begins to describe the psychological aspect of the journey. In stanzas 10 to 12 Coleridge uses more frightening images of the supernatural to complete the transition into the human psyche. Once again, Coleridge's brilliant use of poetic devices tied in with original themes and plots has made his poem extremely enjoyable and effective.

Samuel Coleridge's most well known poem, if not his most respected one, is "Kubla Khan." He claimed that this poem came to him in an opium dream, in which he had a vision of a mythical land called Kubla Khan. The poem is a journey into the psychological levels of the mind. The lack of consistent rhyme scheme, uneven division of stanzas and differing line lengths prevents the smooth flow of the poem and recreates a sense of disorder in the mind. The constant doubling back on themes and theme hopping reinforces this movement through the different levels of consciousness Coleridge moves through. These properties however, add to the uniqueness of the poem and in turn meld to make Kubla Khan one of the greatest romantic poems of all time. Coleridge begins by describing the beautiful lush environment through which runs the sacred river Alph. The intended "Down to a sunless sea" shows the plunging of the sacred river and submerges the responder in the next level of consciousness. The journey of the river is occasionally interrupted by the "mighty fountain" just as the thoughts of a mind are sometimes inspired. The "Ceaseless turmoil" of inspiration is followed by "Five miles meandering with a mazy motion." The alliteration on the "m" sound creates a more unhurried pace, indicating we are now in a calmer frame of mind. The "Caverns measureless to man" and the "Lifeless ocean" create a sense of vastness in the reader's imagination. We are meant to feel like the mind is a difficult environment to explore and understand, and of course it is. From lines 31 to 34, the poem has a perfect rhyme structure and this intended in the stanza. This is showing a moment of clarity Coleridge has amongst the relentless chaos of the mind. The four lines are a summary of the first and second stanzas: on any journey, one must find a moment to stop and reflect back on their journey. At the beginning of the third stanza the composer mentions a "Damsel with a dulcimer" that he has seen in a vision. This is where Coleridge tries to go inside his memory again and search for his lost inspiration to finish the rest of the poem, from which he was interrupted part way through his vision. The ending of "Kubla Khan" paints the picture of a demonic image "His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice." Coleridge alludes to dangerous inspiration - the power harnessed from inspiration can corrupt, not all journeys have a happy conclusion. The use of imagery, structure, use of contrasts, rhythm and sound devices such as alliteration and assonance in "Kubla Khan" have made it the outstanding literary work it is today.

Coleridge's poems are nothing but astounding. His application of poetic devices such as use of imagery's and a superb mastery of the English language allows him to capture the responder's imagination and thoughts in blend of vivid colour and character. His poems, whether they be a romantic Ode, or an epic imaginative journey, are brilliantly effective at engaging, inspiring and entertaining the reader. Coleridge has made an indelible contribution to romantic poetry as we know it today and still continues to turn heads in the world of poetry.

-The Symbolic Imagination: Coleridge and the Romantic Tradition. J. Robert Barth. (Fordham University Press, 2001).

-The Gang: Coleridge, the Hutchinsons, and the Wordsworths in 1802. John Worthen. (Yale Univ Press, 2001).

-The Challenge of Coleridge: Ethics and Interpretation in Romanticism and Modern Philosophy. David P. Haney. (Pennsylvania State Univ Press, 2001).