Samuel Taylor Coleridge and BinomialDistribution/Revisited: Difference between pages
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<b>Samuel Taylor Coleridge</b> ([[1772]]-[[1834]]), English poet, one of the founders of the [[Romanticism|Romantic Movement]] in England |
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http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/pictures/stc1795.gif<br> |
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Portrait of STC in 1795, age 23. |
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=== Short Biography === |
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* http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=311 |
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=== Poetry === |
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Coleridge is probably best known for his hypnotic long poems, <i>The Rime of the Ancient Mariner</i> and <i>Christabel</i>. Even people who have never read the <i>Rime</i> have come under its influence: its words have given the English language the metaphor of an [[albatross]] around one's neck, the (mis)quote of "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink", and the phrase "a sadder but wiser man." <i>Christabel</i> is known for its musical rhythm and language and its [[Gothic novel|Gothic]] tale. |
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''Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream, A Fragment'', although shorter, is also widely known and loved. It has strange, dreamy imagery and (like most good poems) can be read on many levels. The name of [[Ted Nelson]]'s [[Xanadu Project]] comes from the first line of <i>Kubla Khan</i>. Both <i>Kubla Khan</i> and <i>Christabel</i> have additional "romantic" aura because they were never finished. |
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Coleridge's shorter, meditative "conversation poems" speak from the heart of the man who wrote them. These include both quiet poems like <i>This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison</i> and <i>Frost at Midnight</i> and also strongly emotional poems like <i>Dejection</i> and <i>The Pains of Sleep</i>. |
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=== Other Interests === |
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Although known today primarily for his poetry, Coleridge also published essays and books on literary theory and criticism and on philosophy and theology. (He introduced England to [[Immanuel Kant]] in a rather back-handed way.) He wrote both political commentary and hack journalism for several newspapers, especially during the [[Napoleon|Napoleanic]] wars. He translated two of [[Schiller]]'s plays from German to English and wrote several dramas himself (one had successful runs in London and Bristol). He also worked as a teacher and tutor, gave public lectures and sermons, and almost single-handedly wrote and published two periodicals. During his life, he was famous for his conversation. |
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He also was (and is) famous as an opium addict. But we probably should remember that 18th-century life was usually quite painful. Opium was freely available, routinely taken (usually in the form of [[laudanum]]), and the only effective pain reliever extant (aspirin didn't appear until the [[1880s]]). There appears to have been no stigma associated with merely taking opium then, but also no understanding of the physiological or psychological aspects of addiction. Many people in all classes of English society took opium, many of those became addicted. But Coleridge (as well as [[Thomas de Quincey]]) was more public than most about his addiction and his feelings of moral guilt at being addicted. |
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His letters, <i>Table Talk</i>, and range of friends reflect the breadth of his interests. In addition to literary people such as [[William Wordsworth]] and [[Charles Lamb]], his friends included [[Humphry Davy]] the chemist, industrialists such as the tanner Thomas Poole and members of the [[Josiah Wedgwood|Wedgwood]] family, Alexander Ball the military governor of [[Malta]], the American painter [[Washington Allston]], and the physician James Gillman. |
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=== Offline readings, etc. === |
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==== By Coleridge ==== |
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*<i>The Collected Works</i> in 16 volumes (some are double volumes), many editors, Routledge & Kegan Paul and also Bollingen Series LXXV, Princeton University Press (1971-2001). |
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*<i>The Notebooks</i> in 4 (going on 5?) double volumes, eds. Kathleen Coburn and Merten Christensen, Routledge and also Bollingen Series L, Princeton University Press (1957-1990). |
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*<i>Collected Letters</i> in 6 volumes, ed. E. L. Griggs, Clarendon Press:Oxford (1956-1971). |
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==== About and around Coleridge ==== |
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*Biography by Richard Holmes: <i>Coleridge: Early Visions</i>, Viking Penguin:New York, 1990 (republished later by <nowiki>HarperCollins</nowiki>); <i>Coleridge: Darker Reflections</i>, <nowiki>HarperCollins</nowiki>:London, 1998. |
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*Science fiction by [[Douglas Adams]]: <i>Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency</i>. |
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*Film directed by Julian Temple: <i>Pandaemonium</i>. |
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=== Coleridge on the Internet === |
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==== Poems mentioned above ==== |
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* http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html |
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* http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Christabel.html |
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* http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Kubla_Khan.html |
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* http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Lime_Tree_Bower.html |
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* http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Frost_at_Midnight.html |
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* http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Dejection_An_Ode.html |
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* http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Pains_of_Sleep.html |
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==== More Coleridge ==== |
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* The Coleridge Archive: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/stc.html |
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* Coleridge works at Univ. Toronto: http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/authors/coleridg.html |
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* Coleridge web resources at Voice of the Shuttle: http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2268 |
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:''See also :'' [[BinomialDistribution]] |
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Revision as of 00:51, 27 January 2002
- See also : BinomialDistribution