UNIT 30 COLERIDGE :KUBLA

DEJECTION :AN ODE

Structure

Objectives
Introduction
Coleridge: Life and Works
Coleridge as a Critic
Coleridge as a Poet
Kubla Khan
30.5.1 Introduction
30.5.2 Structure
30.5.3 Substance
30.5.4 Interpretation
30.5.5 As a Romantic Poem
30.5.6 The Supernatural Element
30.5.7 Glossary
30.5.8 Questions for further study
Dejection: an Ode
30.6.1 What is an Ode
30.6.2 Introduction to the Poem
30.6.3 Substance
30.6.4 Interpretation
30.6.5 As an Autobiographical Poem
30.6.6 As a Romantic Poem
30.6.7 Glossary
30.6.8 Questions for further study
Suggested Reading

30.0 OBJECTIVES

The target reader is the student who wants to acquire Post-Graduate level proficiency
in English literature, and the objective of this unit is to fumish him with Samuel
Taylor Coleridgptslife and literary words, especially his poetry, Two poems, Kubla
Khan and Dejection: an Ode, have been chosen for detailed analysis as these are
representative enough to give a comprehensive view of Coleridge as a poet.

30.1 INTRODUCTION

The component parts of the Unit are as follows:

(a) Coleridgets life and works

(b) Coleridge as a critic
(c) Coleridge as a poet
(d) Critical analysis of Kubla Khan with glossqry and possible questions
(e) Critical analysis of 'Dejection: an Ode' with glossary and possible questions
(f) Suggested further reading
(g) Appendix : The texts.
 Coleridge
30.2 COLERIDGE: LIFE AND WORKS

The Romantic Revival has been discussed in detail in the Unit on Wordsworth's The
Prelude. Needless to say, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772- 1834). Wordsworth's
closest poet-friend, belonged to that Movement. The Romantic Revival of the
closing years of the eighteenth century, which began with the publication of the
Lyrical Ballads in 1797 and extended upto the middle of the nineteen thirties, was a
reaction to and also a product of eighteenth century classicism, and the remarkable
point about Coleridge is that the element of reaction to the classical norms is most
prominent in his poetry. So, he is often called the 'most romantic' of the romantic
poets.

Coleridge's part in the making of the Lyrical Ballads seems, in a word, to obtain a
'willing suspension of disbelief for the supernatural. This aim is emblematical of the
best of his poetry.

Born in 1772, Coleridge was at Jesus College from 179 1 to 1794. In 1797, he
married Sarah Fricker, the sister of Southey's wife. His fiendship with Wordsworth
and his sister Dorothy with whom he had long walks made him the kind of poet that
he was. The three influenced one another's thought and sensibility. There are most
curious points of similarity between the careers of Coleridge and De Quincey,
especially in that both were failures in the sanctuary of home, and both were the slave
of opium. German metaphysics fascinated Coleridge, and turned the poet into a
philosopher. This caused no enrichment to his poetry, but the combination of poetic
sensibility with philosophical subtlety made him an almost perfect critic. His years
of full poetic inspiration were few, two at the most (1 797-98), and hence the quantity
of his best work is in inverse proportion to its quality.

It is not necessary to attribute the decay of Coleridge's poetic powers, or rather the
'stinting' of the poetic flow, to Germany or to opium; probably this would be to
confuse cause and effect. The real cause was something innate in the man, which he
himself was painfully aware of. It was his high ambition to reach beyond the
reachable, his desire to discover the deepest region of the soul, and his continuous
discovery that 'words' - the only material of poetry-falls shoh of that supreme
requirement.

His stress on music suggests his attempt to transcend the limitations of literalness and
to make the words yield as much as they could. But, unlike Shakespeare, he could
I

1
bd~hsra not make his words deliver the richest. Under the pressure of demand they broke,
often became incoherent. This explains the fragmentary nature of much rvf his later .
poetry. Another reason of his sudden decadence is his lack of self-cohfidenae, whi&
I
can partially be attributed to his addiction to narcotics.
1

This caused deep frustration in him. He worked by fits and succeeded in flashes, and
i failed to finish long and ambitions works undertaken by him.

Broadly speaking, there are four periods in Coleridge's poetic career. The earliest
period extends fiom 1794 to 1796 and it includes works like the Song of the Pixies,
Lines on an Autumnal Evening and Lewti (1794) and Religious Musings (1795-96).
Then came the second atld blossoming period (1796-97) when he wrote Ode r0 the
Departirig Year: The Lime Tree Bower:Frost at Midnight, Fears in Solitude, etc, Full
blossoming came in the next phase when he was at the height of his poetic genius.
Great poems like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christable-and Kubla Khan were
written during this period. And the fourth and last period came with a declitle in
inspiration and achievement. Two poems of great merit, of course, were witten in
this period too: Dejection: an Ode-and Love,
I
30.3 COLERI[DGE AS A CRITIC
Today Coferidge is better remembered as a critic than as a poet. His Biographia
Literaria is a great work in which one gets for the first time solid theories of
criticism. The starting point of Coleridge is, of course, Wordsworth's preface to the
Lyrical Ballads. Then he proceeds to examine Wordsworth's poems and, in the
words of Cazamian, 'certain intentions, as well as certain successes or failings, of
Wordsworth are caught and illuminated to their depths; so searching is the light, that
it is even cruel.'

Despite his romantic sensibility, in his criticism Coleridge is very objective. He does
not disregard 'facts' and tries his best to be unprejudiced. Even T.S.Eliot's criticism
draws heavily from Coleridge's viewpoint and stand. Owing to this objectivity,
. Coleridge can reach the essential depth of any kind of art and discover the
C!
harmonizing and sustaining force therein. About his Shakespeare criticism,
Cazamian observes, 'His remarks on Shakespeare show a sound intuition of the
profound unit;),of dramatic art'. His imaginative perception seldonl fails him, and so
his famous distinction between fancy and imagination, despite its mysticism, is so
convincing and revealing. Fancy, according to Coleridge, is the mechanical joining
of impressions stored in memory whereas imagination is an organic development of
the mind which has the power to reveal the essential, and even the ultimate, truth of
I?
. . life.' . ..
, . L , '' . !
, .
!! . .

I
1
i
German metaphysics fascinated him and turned the poet into a philosopher. The
combination of poetic sensibility with philosol~hicalsubtlety made him an almost
.

i perfect critic.

30.4 COLERIDGE AS A POET

I

t
1 Coleridge belonged to an age of great poetic output. There was a sudden
efflorescence which lasted for about three decades, and then withering set in. To
know this phenomenon well is in a way to understand Coleridge best. Every great
i! writer is inextricably linked with the life and thought of the people of his time.
1
1 The Renaissance may be taken as the starting point. It was an age of questioning, and
I so, of self-awareness and self-discoveiy. Something 'new' was needed and
1
Z '
I
demanded: a new set of values; a new god, so to say. People became aware of the
immense potentialities of the human mind.
13
Logical reasoning came as the new too, as if mysteries of nature could be solved with Coleridge
that and the proper perspective grown the 17"' century brought science and the
tilt towards materialism. Sir Issac Newton revolutionised human
thought and attitude and Locke's philosophy tried to explain the universe in terms of
logic and material order. The eighteenth century built the 'society' on these postulates
and glorified 'order' and 'pattern'. The Industrial Revolution brought the assurance of
comfort and prosperity. In literature, 'norms' were dug out from ancient classics, and
'content' was confined to the immediate and the tangible. The stress was on form,
and the subject matter was limited to that which yielded to reasoning. Dissident
voibes (Blake, Gray, etc) were heard but ignored.

And then fresh wind began to blow. It was so powerful that it seemed to be sudden,
as if there was a complete overturning of everything. There was a feeling and sense
of Feedom. ' In Wordsworth it was the freedom of going into Nature and breathing to
one's fill her pure and purifying air. In Coleridge it was the freedom of entering the
strange and mysterious zone of the supernatural. Byron and Shelley craved for a new
social order based on intellectual freedom, scientific reasoning, and unprejudiced
political system. Keats sang. 'Ever let the fancy roaflleasure never is at home.'

Though much of it came from native factors-a reaction to excess of emphasis on

pattern and order, and on a concept of 'totality' within measurable limits-sizeable
influence came from the continent, especially from France and Germany. German
philosophers of the eighteenth century were busy exploring the emotional behaviour
of man, the world of imagination, the sense of wonder uilfolding an ever - increasing
area of awareness, and this was reflected in the German literature of the time which
treated supernatural as an extension of the known world of nature, often dealing in
the eerie, the strange, and the mysterious. More than anyone else. Coleridge,
because of his sojourn to Germany and his passionate reading of German literature,
was influenced by it.

French Revolution was another exotic factor that had much to do in shaping the mind
of the English poets of the time.

The French Revolution was the sudden and violent outburst of a general feeling
seething long in the European mind. People wanted freedom: freedom from the
oppression of monarchy, from the dictates of the church, from superstitions and
social customs. As a matter of fact, in the world of thought and systematic
development of an idea. England was the pioneer. England's struggle for freedom
dated back to the Medieval times and matured up through Renaissance. Reformation,
Civil War, Commonwealth, and so on. It gave inspiration to other nations. If the
seed of French Revolution lay in the writings of Voltaire and Rousseau, these
philosophers, in their tum, derived much from the English exponents of political and
social freedom. But what was an undercurrent of intellectual refinement and cultural
development in England became violent, armed revolution in France against
monarchy and all its institutigns. Poets and artists of England felt attracted towards it
in the beginning. Wordsworth and Coleridge went to France to actively participate in
the revolution, but, seeing the bloody and blind turn it took, withdrew from it, though
the cardinal ideas that had caused the revolution silently and in~perceptiblycrept into
the English mind and brought about a change in life, thought and attitude of the
English people.

Wordsworth was most enthusiastic about the French Revolution in his early youth.
But his direct encounter yith, the Revolution was enough for him to be disillusioned.
The Revolution took a bloody turn, innocent people lost their lives, power-mongering
was rampant; it was, as if, one set of despots being replaced by another. Atmosphere
in France reeked with opportunism, intrigue, greed and violence, Coleridge also saw
this with pain. Both of them returned to England, to the soothing English nature, to
their love for the native soil and their innate conservatism. Wordsworth felt that his
stay in France was a 'whste of years" Coleridge felt the same.
Romantic Poets But these poets, despite their aversion to the later turns and final outbursts of the
French Revolution, brought with them the esse~ltialideas that had prompted the
Revolution. One such idea was the concept of the dignity of the human soul. The
Romantic poets of England now felt- and it was in sharp contradistinction to the 1gth
century attitude -that categorization of men must be made on moral standards and not
on material ones. Economic prosperity or high social position does not make one
good or great; it is the quality of the soul that matters and decides the category. With
this feeling running stror~gin them, the poets felt that they had a moral role to
perform. Wordsworth thought that he was a 'teacher', and Coleridge, like an oriental
guru,took his readers to a visionary world to enta. which 'willing suspension of
disbelief becomes a precondition.

Despite their love for peace, conservatism, pride in English tradition, in their
imaginative flight, interest in the soul of nature, in the strange and the eerie, and in
this humanitarian zeal, one perceives the impact of the essential ideas that lay behind
the geat upheaval of France.

So,influences came from various exotic sources; the native soil offered a rich
tradition alongwit11 the impetus to break away from that tradition and to create a new
one; and, above all, the genius of the poet made everything melt into a new
'concoction'; and, as a result, Coleridge's pen produced, among others, three poems of
matchless merit, poems that could make any literature of the world proud of itself:
Kubla Khan, 142e Rijne of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel.

Broad and basic qualities in Coleridge's poetry are the following:

a. Artistic treatment of the supernatural

b. Medievalism
c. . Herman nature and extcinal nature: relationship in reciprocity
d. Creation of a dream-world authenticated by psychoanalysis
e. Imaginative flights
f. Lyricism

30.5 KUBEA KHAN

30.5.1 Introduction

Written in 1797. 'Kubla Khant_wasfirst published, at the request of Lord Byron, in

1816. The book contained an 'introduction' which throws light on the circumstances
that prompted the poet to write the poem:

'In the summer of the year 1797, the Author, then in ill-health, had retired to a lonely
farmhouse between Porlock and Lintan, on the Exmoor confines of Somerset and
Devonshire. In consequence of a slight indisposition, an anodyne had been
.
prescribed, from the effects of wliich he fell asleep in his chair at the moment that he
was reading the following sentence, or words of the same substance, in 'Purchase'
Pilgrimage: 'Here the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be built, and a stately ,
garden thereunto. And thus ten miles of fertile ground were enclosed with a wall:
The author continued for about three hours in a profound sleep, at least of the
external senses, during which time he had the most vivid confidence, that he could
not have composed less than from two to three hundred lines: if that indeed can be i
called composition in which all the images rose up before him as things, with a
parallel production of the correspondent expressions, without any sensation or
i
consciousness of effort. On awaking he appeared t~ himself to have a distinct
recollection of the whole, and taking his pen, ink, and paper, instantly and eagerly I

wrote down the lines that are here preserved. At this moment he was unfomnately
'
called out by a person on business from Porlock, and detained by him above an hour, j
and on his return to his room, found, to his no small surprise and mortification, that
though he still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general pvport of the i
vision, yet, with the exception of some eight or ten scattered lines or images, all the Coleridge
rest had passed away like the images on the surface of a stream into which a stone has
been cast, but, alas, without the after restoration of the latter!'

SO,Coleridge says that the poem is a 'fragment' and , that too, of a dream. We seems
to be apologetic about it, as if trying to say that the readers should not take it very
seriously, should not look for any deeper meaning or wider suggestion. ATIamoral
boon of heightened imagination can cause such el-nbarrassment in its creator. It is not
a poem of statement or comnrunication of an idea but one of iinaginative exploration,
of the discovery of the essentials of artistic creation and the relation between the
natural and the supernatural. It is a poem equally powerful on its literal and synlbolic
levels obliterating with perfect ease the distinction between the common and the
strange, the immediate and the remote, the worldly and the other -worldly.

30.5.2 Structure

Obviously there are three parts in the poem. In the 36- line first part the poet
describes the pleasure palace of Kubla Khan, an emperor in ancient China. It has
three stamas of 10,20 and 6 lines respectively. It is on the nature and quality of that
art which reflects life and its strange, unintelligible complexities.

?'he second and the third parts are in one stanza, the second covering 5 lines and the
third part the remaining 13 lines, In the second part the poet is referring to an
Abyssinian singing girl whom he had seen in a 'vision'. It is about art that transcends
life. The third and final part creates the picture of an inspired poet who can bring
about a revolution in the world, a yogi who can change the meaning of life. Here is
art that can change life and the world.

30.5.3 Substance

Kubla Khan, an ancient powerful king of China, once ordered the building of a
majestic pleasure - house in Xanadu. Alph, the sacred river, ran through Xanadu,
making it a fertile land. The course of the river was through dark and immeasurable
caverns. And finally it fell into a dark Sea. The land, ten miles in perimetre,was
fertile, and it was well fenced with walls and towers. It had bright gardens, winding
streams and fragrant trees bearing sweet-smelling flowers. There were forests, as old
as hills, in the midst of which there were green grassy patches of land, bright with
sunshine.

The most remarkable thing here was a deep, lnysterious chasm which went down the
hill covered with cedar trees. It was a savage and desolate place like one we would
imagine to be the haunt of a woman in mad love with a demon, coming here in the
light of waning moon, waiting for him, though he has left her after having made love
with her.

A powerful spring of water gushed forth fiom this gorge. Deep down, there was an
incessant turmoil, as if the earth was breathing fast, and this panting ofthe earth
resulted into a big throw of water which carried alongwith it big and small chunks of
stone like rebounding hail or scattered grain when beaten by the thresher. The
fountain that came out with these rocks and stones took the form of the sacred river.
Alph, which followed a meandering path through wood arid valley and reached the
deep and dark caverns, and then fell with noise in the 'lifeless' ocean. And in this
tumult Kubla Khan heard the voices of ancestors prophesying war (i.e. destruction of
this idyllic place and palace).

The shadow of the dome of this pleasure house fell on the waves in the middle of the
iver. Mailly notes fkom the fountain and the caves resounded and got mixed. The
orchestric effect was miraculous, and no less miraculous was the sight of the pleasure
- dome that stood on caves of ice with domes flooded with sunshine.
\
Romantic Poets The poet is reminded of a vision he once had; it was of an Abyssinian maid who
played on her dulcimer and sang of Mount Abora. Her symphony and song were so
excellent that if the poet could revive that in his poetry he would enjoy heavenly bliss
and create art as charming as Kubla Khan's palace.

His music would, then, create the embodiment of the mystery in God's universe, the
mystery of contraries woven together, the dichotomy of light and darkness, life and
death, the 'sunny dome' and 'caves of ice'. Such great poetry brings about a great
change in man's thought and attitude. Great poets are true revolutionaries. In their
poetry lies the message of change and rebirth. Ordinary ~ e o ~ l e ' ausually
re
conservative. They dread changes. So they are afraid of great poets. They want to
imprison them or to make them ineffectual. They try to fan up popular sentiments
against them. They know that the great poets are nourished by heavenly bliss and
benediction.

30.5.4 Interpretation

Apparently the poem is 'a fragment' or a series of fragments. First, it is about a

palace the poet had heard of; and then it is about a singer the poet had dreamt of, and
finally it is about a poet he had wistfully imagined of.

But it can never be called an incoherent poem. Rather it is one of the most balanced,
methodical and concentrated poems in English literature. What is the poem about?
Many critics ask. The simple answer is, it is about poetry. The later part of the poem
is very clear in its purpose; the earlier part requires symbolic interpretation.

Kubla Khan desired a pleasure dome to be built in Xanadu. The abruptness with
which proper names are introduced reminds us of John Donne; with the same
unabashed deftness Coleridge takes us immediately into the heart of the matter. We
are immediately transported to the strange and complex world of artistic creativity.

The word 'decree' is important. It includes desire, order, determination, 'Xanadu', the
name, suggests remoteness, as if there is something exotic, mysterious, desire -
evoking, thought -provoking in life. Alph flows through Xanadu, and Alph is a
'sacred' river. Its flow through the garden is the quest for the ultimate reality, 'the
desire of the moth for the star' in art. It goes through mysterious caverns, and finally
falls into a sunless sea. The 'sunless sea' is 'death' where life finally ends. A
particular area with a perimetre of ten miles is fenced in with walls and towers and
within that boundary there are gardens and small winding rivers, The trees in the
gardens bear fragrant flowers. The forests are as old as the hills on which they have
grown. It refers to the beauty and agelessness of art, its universal validity and charm.

But the most remarkable thing here is a deep, mysterious gorge that runs down the
s1ope:of a green hill across a wood of cedar trees. It is a wild and awe-inspiring place
as holy and bewitched as the one haunted by a woman wandering about in search of
her demon- lover in the dim light of a waning moon. The poet creates a supernatural
world to suggest the inexplicable depths of art, areas where art ushers us in and we
are terrified or benumbed. This 'chasm' may be the unfathomable 'unconscious' of the
human mind, the reservoir of our memories, impressions and dreams. It is a 'savage
place', Beyond the reach of knowledge, beyond the territory science is capable or
qualified to explore.

Deep down the chasm, a turmoil is going on ceaselessly, as if some thick liquid is ,
boiling there. It is like the breathing of the earth: 'fast thick pants' suggest the sexual
act. It is about the creative process of the earth. Water is ejected out of the earth's
belly in the form of a fountain, and with it huge boulders come out like pattering
hailstones or scattered grain when the thresher beats it under his flail to separate it
from the chaff, The fountain takes the form of the sacred river. Alph, Pure poetry is
something divine; its journey is from the deep recesses of the human mind to
heavenly bliss. It is born of the panting tumult (the creatiJe urge), it flows through a Coleridge
fertile land (the creative process), it is sacred (purifying), and finally it is lost in
oblivion (lifeless ocean). And it gives a vital message; that however lovely and
divine art may be, it has the vulnerability of being destroyed because wars are
inevitable. The ancestral voice is the voice of human experience. The strange
dichotomy in man is that on the one hand he is capable of creating art 'par excellence'
and on the other he fights like his primitive ancestor with his neighbour and
fellowman and turns beastly, brutal and destructive. In intellect he can rise very high
but in morality he can stoop lowest of the low. He has raised great monuments and
he has also felled them. Wars have razed beautiful civilizations to dust.

The shadow of the dome of the pleasure palace fell on the waves of Alph and it
covered half the breadth of the stream. The stream looked lovely, half of it breadth -
wise, in shadow and half in light. In the sound of the waves of the river two notes
mingles, the gurgling sound of the fountain, and the deep sombre note that came fiom
the depth of the caves. The entire construction of the palace was a miracle of mixture
of opposities. Its top was flooded with sunshine but its foundation lay in the caves of
ice. Great art is like this: it embodies the essence of life, and life is a complex of
contradictory experiences. In Kubla Khan's palace Coleridge finds 'ideal art'.

Then the poet moves to the second part of the poem. In the first few lines of the
second half he refers to his dream in which he had the vision of an Abyssinian damsel
playing on her dulcimer and singing of Mount Abora. And in the following portion
of the second half the poet expresses his wish to recreate the perfection of the
Abyssinian maid's song in his own poetry. Obviously, in the mind of the poet, both
Kubla Khan's palace and the damsel's song are perfection of art. A poet who can
achieve this perfection brings about a great change in society. In the poet's mind
comes the picture of a saga-like, inspiring medieval singer of the Middle East on
hearing whom people would come out of their stale customs and dead habits and bc
ushered into a new life, a new awareness. Such a poet with his 'flashing eyes' and
'floating hair' is like the pied piper of Hameline on hearing whose flute children
would leave their homes to follow his path, however unknown and adventurous it
might be. The poet wants to be one like him. Likc his contemporaries Coleridge also
wants to be a revolutionary, a preacher, a Messiah.

But he knows that the conservative pcople are afiaid of any big change. They would
like to continue in their life of 'pig satisfaction'. So they would try to restrict the
dreamer from doing what he can. They would like to make him non-functional by
using the magical method of weaving a circlc around him thrice. 'I'hey know that the
poet is divinely inspired; he has taken Amrit that makes onc immortal. Like Keats's
nightingale he is 'not born for death',

So in all the three pictures-Kubla Khan, the Abyssinian maid, and the visionary poet-
Coleridge sees the periection of art. In the first picture it is art that best reflccts life
with all its complexities and contraditions; in the second picture it is art that
transcends life and becomes celestial; and in the third p~ctureit is art that cbanges life
by infusing new ideas and new hopes in the mind of man. 'Kubla Khan,' therefore, is
a poem about the nature and function of art. Thcre is hardly anything that is
hgmentary' about this poem. It is a well-knit, highly concentrated poem with L clea:
point of reference.

30.5.5 As a Romantic Poem

If there is truth in what C.H. Herford says about Romanticism ('Romanticism in an

extraordinary development of imaginative sensibility') then 'Kubla Khan' is one of the
most romantic poems of English literature. Imaginative sensibility cannot develop
perhaps any further. Xanadu is an imaginary place. Kubla Khan, though a historical
character, has been treated imaginatively, as if he was, first and forrnost, a dreamer-
architect. The 'romantic chasm', 'savage place', 'woman wailing', 'demon-lover1-they
Romantic Poets are all creation of heightened imagination. And when 'Kubla heard from far,
Ancestral voices prophesying war' it is romanticism at its very best.
The intricate pattern of the palace, the interweaving of the 'sunny dome' and 'caves of
ice', effortless blending of the natural and the supe~llatural;everything is in the
romantic spirit, Kubla Khan's palace is just what the poet would have it in his dream.
This wish- fulfillment is a romantic quality.
Remoteness in time and remoteness in space are traits of romanticism. Kubla Khan is
not only an ancient king but in the poem he is also a mythical character belonging to
hoary pre-history. Xanadu; the very sound of the word suggests remoteness, as do
words like 'Lilliput' and 'Brobdingnag', 'Alph' is another such word, so is Mount
Abora'. Proper names create exciting, half-lit domains in which the imagination of a
writer gets space enough for free flight.
The use of the supernatural is another romantic trait in Coleridge. The 'woman
wailing for her demon lover' is undoubtedly a supernatural image-

A savage place ! as holy and enchanted. As e'er beneath a waning moon was
haunted. By woman wailing for her demon- lover!

The kind of nature imagery, personification of nature that is found in the poem, is
typical of romantic poetry. Nature seems to reflect human experience, wish and
ambition.
Apparently disjointed picturcs are harmonized with the thread of romantic
imagination. The essential meaning emerges when we, with the help of our
imagination. Ovcrcomc the apparent difficulty, break the upper crust of incoherence,
and go deep into the poem to discover the harmony.

30.5.6 The Supernatural Element

Influenced by 1 8lhcentury German poetry. Coleridge made extensive use of the

supernatural in his poetry. His most successful poems are excellent poetry, some say,
despite their supernatural element, and some say, for their supernatural element.
Supernaturalism is so powerful an element in his poetry. And he has treated the
supernatural in such a way as to make the reader feel that it is so very natural, very
much a part of the total scheme of nature. Supernaturalism comes most powerfully in
'Christable' and 'The Rime' of the 'Ancient Mariner.' Not so much in 'Kublea Khan,'
and yet it seems that it hovers on the entire poem: right from the mention of Xanadu
to the magical weaving of a circle round the 'troubadour' to restrict him fkom his
function of leading the world to a new profile and awareness. The description of the
palace makes it an other -worldly construction; the Abyssinian maid singing of
Mount Abora is a dream vision: and the poet-with ex~lberantwildness seems to be
someone who visits one in dreams and cannot be found in the world of man and
nature. I

But the very specific mention of something supernatural comes when the 'savage
place' is described as 'holy and enchanted':

As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted. By woman wailing for her demon - I
lover !

Supematuralism is not an embellishment in Coleridge's poetry; it is an organic part of

the total texture. The natural and the supernatural are fused into one entity, and it is ;
his.power of imagination that does tKis miracle. I
I
I
30.5.7 Glossary I

1
(a) Xanadu :Name of a city. It corresponds to modem Shantung in China.
Coleridge in his reading of Purchase found it called Xamadu or Xaindu. In Ii
72
I
 dreams names change and in this poetical dream n much better-sounding
name has been found.
Kubla Khan : The grandson of Chingiz Khan. lie was the founder of the
Moghul Dynasty in China. He built the city of Beijing and made it his
capital. Marco Polo visited his court arid from his accounts it is known that
he was a lover of art and learning.
Alph: An imaginary river, not traceable in geography. Coleridge read of
Alpheus, a river often associated with the Nile. In his 'dream' the name is
shortened.
Demon-lover: A supernatural being, and the lover of a mortal woman.
Generally to inspire awe about a desolate place and picture of a demon is
created as Shakespeare refers I.o Setebos in 'The Tenpest.'
Ancestral Voices: Voices as if corning fiom a distance, and warning and
educating Kubla Khan. These are the voices of hundreds of years of
experience and wisdom, voices of racial unconscious.
Abyssinian Maid : An unmarried girl of Abyssinia. To a European of
Coleridge's time Abyssinia, an African country, was a far-off land. The word
'Abyssinia' has also its musical effect.
Mount Abora : Thc reading source of this word is Milton's Mount Arnara in
'Paradise Lost,' Book IV. Were it stands for heavenly bliss.
Holy dread: Dread for sorrkething which is divitic, holy. Greatness causes
awe. The common man is startled to see a great poet who is very uncommon,
unique.
Honey dew: Gvine honey. It was believed that divine honey Cell in small
particles with the dew drops at night and if one could take a few drops of it
one would turn intmortal. Poetic inspiratiorl is like that: it can malce a man
immortal.
Milk of Paradise: It is also 'nectar'. Adarn and Eve lived on this milk before
they were banished from heaven to the mortal world.

30.5.8 Questions for further study

Would it be correct to describe 'Kubla Khan' as a finished fragment? Give

reasons for your answer.
There is deep psychological realism behind Coleridge's use of the
supernatural in his poetry. Consider the statement with reference to 'Kubla
Khan.'
Discuss 'Kubla Khan' as an allegorical poem.
Do you think remoteness and strangeness constitute the essence of
Coleridge's roil~anticisrnin 'Kubla Khan'?
What picture of a poet is Coleridge's ideal?
Kubla Khan's palace, as Coleridge describes it, best represents the
strangeness, mystery and contradictions in life. Do you agree?
Recreate an imaginary picture of the Abyssinian maid playing on her
dulcimer in the form of a short story.
Do you think it is impossible to enjoy Coleridge's poetry without 'willing
suspension of disbelief?
-
30.6 DEJECTION: ANODX
30.6.1 What is an Ode?

J.A. Cuddon's definition of an ode is quite comprehensive: ' A lyric poem, usually of
some length. The main features are an elaborate stanza-structure!' a marked formality
and stateliness in tone and style (which make it ceremonious), and lofty sentiments
and thoughts. In short, an ode is rather a grand poem; a full-dress poem. Howcver,
this said, we can distinguish two basic kinds; the public and the private. The public is
used for ceremonial occasions, like funerals, birthdays, state events; the private often
celebrates rather intense, personal and subjective occasions; it is inclined to be
Ronlantic Poets meditative, reflective. Tennyson's Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington is an
example of the former; Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale', an example of the latter.'

30.6.2 Introduction to 'Dejection : an Ode'

The poem opens with a four-line quote from the 'Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence' first
printed by Thomos Percy in his 'Reliques of Ancient English Poetry' in 1765. The
romantic poets of the nineteenth century were greatly influenced by Percy's
collection. In the lines quoted by Coleridge, the speaker says that he has seen the old
Moon holding the new Moon in her arms and he is frightened. He fears that a deadly
storm might follow. Such strange forebodings take place in nature.

The relevance of these lines is that Coleridge wants such a storm to come in his life to
arouse him from the spiritual slumber he is now in. The slumber is painful to the poet
because it deprives him of his enjoyment of life and nature, and makes him unable to
write poetry. At some stage of life Wordsworth also felt the same crisis and he has
pictured it in his 'Ode on Intimations of Immortality'. hhelley's invocation of the west
wind is also in the same spirit. But unlike these two poets. Coleridge is very
sentimental and that makes the immortality Ode and the West Wind Ode superior in
quality to Coleridge's 'Dejection'.

'Dejection: an ode' is a verse letter written to a 'Lady'. There is doubt about the
identity of this Lady, in all likelihood it was Sara Hutchinson. But in a letter to his
friend Poole. Coleridge gave him the impression that the poem was addressed to
him. Later he told some people that it was addressed to Wordsworth. It was
originally addressed to Wordsworth and subsequently 'William' was replaced by
'Lady'. Coleridge, however, meant that it could be addressed to anybody with a
happy disposition and contended mind. The poem is actually about the poet himself;
it is a kind of confession. One confesses to one who is just the opposite type: a sinner
to a holy priest, a guilty person to one who is pure of heart, and a sad man to one who
is full of joy. It does not matter much whether it is addressed to Sara or Poole or
Wordsworth: what matters is that it is a dejected Coleridge confessing his failings to
one who is enviably joyous. Originally the poem had 340 lines. Later Coleridge cut
it short to 139 lines and divided it into eight parts. The drastic revision was made by
Coleridge the critic who expunged the 'too personal' details and retained only those of
universal significance but the revision has also taken away much of its beauty. At
times the truncation becomes uncomfortably perceptible. Humphry House believes
that the revision has affected its merit, in its revised version, hc maintains. 'It fails to
achieve complete artistic unity, it is not a whole poem."

30.6.3 Substance ,

In the four-line quote from the 'Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence' thcre is the foreboding
of a deadly storm, Such deadly storms, however destructive, bring about a change by
causing a stir in the soil and making the plants sprout out of seeds. The poet feels
that he is lying dormant and requires a new lease of poetic life. He wants to shake off
his dullness and be creative once again.

The poet has melancholy of a subdued kind. It does not burst into any strong
emotion. It is corroding his mind. He looks around and sees that everything in
nature is excellently fair but he is not deeply touched by anything, He sees, but does
not feel.

He has lost his genial spirits. The beauty of natural objects can no more lift from his
heart the overwhelming burden of his grief. His attempt to gaze at the green light on
the western horizon is futile, The real sources of passion and life are within one's
heart and when they have dried up he cannot expect the external forces to animate
him. Man receives from nature what he gives to nature. Nature lives in our life. Her
joys and sorrows are taken from man. It appears to be happy or sad according to our
mood. The objects of nature are lifeless and cold. If we want to see some high or Coleridge
noble quality in nature, something better than the commonplace, we must send forth a
light, a glory, and a radiance, to cover the natural objects, from our heart. Sweet and
powerful voice must come out of human feelings to endow the sounds of nature with
sweet charm.

The lady addressed to is pure of heart. So she is full of joy. Therefore to her nature
is always-festive, The poet finds a contrast between his mood and the mood of the
Lady.

The poet remembers that in his earlier days he had this joy though the path of his life
was rough. In those days he even used his misfortunes as material to weave visions
of delight. Then hope grew around him like a creeper growing around a tree. Natural
objects seemed to be his own, as if an extension of his own personality. But now his
care-worn heart has no joy. He cares little for this loss ofjoy but his loss of
imagination is the real loss. He was born with superb power of imagination but it is
almost dead now. He tried to be patient, forgetting the loss he had suffered, So he
tried to cultivate the study of metaphysics so that once again he could be 'natural man'
who does not sigh or shed tears all the time. This was his plan. He practised it but it
did not'help him much. Tangled in metaphysics, he is still sad, unable to rouse
imagination in him, unable to be creative, thoroughly incapacitated, and so
melancholy.

The poet's mind is in the grip of sad thoughts born of the tragic reality of his life. I-Ie,
wants to get rid of them so that he can listen to the wind once again. In the raving
wind he hears a prolonged scream of agony. It is a 'mad' scream, arid the poet thinks
that the wind should go to places where its howling will not sound so discordant as it
does here - to bare crag, mountain tairn, to some blasted tree, some pine grove far
away from any woodman's reach, or some witch-haunted lonely house. It is now
causing havoc in this rainy month of April, creating the atmosphere of 'Devil's
Christmas'. The tragic atmosphere is full of the painful sound of the wind. So the
wind is like an actor, or even a poet. The sound made by the wind at the moment
seems to be similar to the one made by a retreating army, its members groaning in
pain and quivering in cold. The sound is silent and there is a brief pause. Then
another sound is heard, less fearful, a bit pleasai~teven. It is like the tender story,
written by Thomos Otway, of a little girl who lost her way on a desolate moor near
her home. The little girl moaned low in grief and fear, and at times screamed loudly
so that her mother might hear her and come to her rescue. The wind is imitating
these sounds.

Care-worn the poet is sleepless, but he wants that his 'friend' may never suffer this
sleeplessness. Sleep is a wonderful anodyne that heals all ailments. In the night the
storm may blow and the stars may twinkle, but they cannot touch the person in
profound sleep. The poet wishes her to rise in the morning, joyous and cheerful. He
wants that the purity and freshness of her heart r n a ~ ~ r g c L a l l -e-
mnriture.
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- - -is-
something divine in her heart and all things in nature s h h l d share that celestial
element. The poet wants her to rejoice forever. May no 'dejection' be in her life.

30.6.4 Interpretation

In Shelley, it is dialectics: if winter comes spring cannot be far behind. In Coleridge

it is erratic, incomprehensible, magical. If the old Moon is in the lap of the new
Moon, a storm is in the offing. The thin crescent moon is bordering the whole of the
moon which is visible in the form of a faint shadow, and it is a rare sight, and
Coleridge, like the writer af the 'Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence' believes that it
forebodes a sudden stir in nature in the form of a strong gale.

He himself is passing through a dull, monotonous phase. There is pain in his heart
which is gradually corroding him. There is no violence in this pain, nothing
spectacular about it. Dull, boring pain, like weevil, is eating into the vitals of his
personality. He wants a big shake, a storm, to rouse him to creativity. Shelley prays
to the West Wind to make him its lyre, to lift him from the thorns of life where he has
fallen: Coleridge does not have that strength for prayer. He also needs that kind of a
lift, but he knows that it 'can come to him, if at all, through a miracle. There can be
no 'reason' behind it, nor can prayer do anything, but strange things happen in nature, ,
call it supernatural, and so a strange turn may come in his life also. Pain is corroding,
self-defeating, unproductive. He needs joy which is elating, purposeful and creative.

Wordsworth also felt the same crisis.

'Dejection: an Ode' was written in 1802 and Wordsworth's .'Ode on Intimations of

Immortality' was written in 1806. Prior to the writing of these poems the two poets
had identical feelings, long discussions, and apprehe~isionsof a failure of'their only
talent. With Coleridge it was a deeper crisis. C.M. Bowra points out: ''He knew that
something catestrophic had happened to him, and he was afraid that his creative gifts
were ruined. He put the blame on his lack of happiness but he knew that whatever
the cause might be, the results were grave indeed.'' Wordsworth tried to overcome
the feeling with the help of a broad philosophy, a larger view of life. Much o f his
'Ode' is a reply to Coleridge's problem, and indirectly he helps himself too. ~ o l e r i d ~ e
addresses Sara Hutchinson and says that she is full of joy, and so to her everything is
blissfbl, whereas he is full of sadness and therefore to him everything is dreary.
(When Coleridge cut the poem short to half its original length, Sara Hutchinson'
became the 'Lady' : many people think that originally it was not Sara but Wordsworth
whom the poet had addressed. Whatever it might have been, in its final form the
address is to the 'Lady' . It makes the poem impersonal).

Woidsworth turns to Coleridge's six-year-old child Hartley and finds exuberance in

him. .The child's unbridled joy makes him philosophise about life and its growth
through years. And he feels that through philosophical understanding one can
rationalise the loss and regain confidence. Wordsworth never seeins to be entirely
broken down, but Coleridge is out and out a wreck. It is so, more because of
Coleridge's idea that nature cannot be benign enough to extend a hand of comfort in
our hours of need because she does not have any distinct entity: she is not a positive
force. She is just what we make of her. If we are happy we see happiness
everywhere in nature and that makes us all the more happy, and if we are sad we see
sadness every-where in nature and that makes us gloomier. Coleridge comes close to
Tagore's subjective philosophy:-

'T is the colous of h y consciousness

That makes the emerald green
, and the ruby red.
I look up to the sky
and light flashes
in the east and the west.
I see the rose and call "Beautiful'".
And it turns beautiful.

(Tr. D. Ganguly)

But Tagore's 'I' is part of godhead, and Coleridge's 'we' is nothing more than the
human mind and its reflexes. He knows that the Lady is full of joy which is given
only to the pure of heart. When we are very close to nature this joy is born in our I

heart, and as it matures it gives birth to other joys and everything turns colourful and
rnelodious. There was a time in Coleridge's life alqo when be experiwced this
celestial joy which enabled him to overcome all strain and suffering. His imagination
was very active at that time, but thereafter each moment of dejection has weakened
his imagination and enervated his soul. He turned to philosophy, tried to get some
solace in broad generalizations about human fate. Metaphysical ideas have all the
more destroyed his poetic faculties. The poet is unhappy that he has turned away
 . I
from existence to essence, from experience to philosophy, but he knows that it is all .Cderir€ge . t

because oft& waning of his imagination. Thus the poem, though autobiographical, b
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Thg poet tries to take a violent turn, away from the dull boring pain, to a tempest so ,
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better than wbbing. ..1 . , ' (. P‘

Moods change as winds do. A strong gale is replaced by a'tender wind, as tender as
Ornay's story of a small girl who had lost her mother in a lonely wood. The strong
wind or the tnder breeze, mind in great ruffle or in the grip of subdued, gnawing
p i n , it is the suffering of being uncreative. The entire poem is an implicit prayer for
spontaneous joy- the kind of joy that the Lady has - because that joy alone can revive i

the lost poetic inspiration. Life's experiences become universal metaphor and the
'confessional' comes through significant nature imagery.

The 139-line poem is divided into eight uneven parts. It has a single theme--
dejection, need for love to overcome it and prayer to nature for a stormy shake up --
and it is elaborated i n great length. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is also divided
into parts; seven in all. But in that poem the narrative develops part by part,
sequentially. Here it is one emotional situation. Division into parts gives the
semblance, of coyrse, of a mini epic. The situation is so vital for the poet, the
involvement so great, the urgency so acute, that he feels that some amount of epic
expanse is nwessary to accommodate all.

30.6.5 As an autobiographical poem .

Both Wordsworth and Coleridge felt almost s m e o u s l y that their poetic powers
were on the decline. This unnerved them because their total identity was in being
poets. The lass of that ideitity would mean spiritual death to them. Decline in that
'one talent' made them apprehensive of 'deatht. It caused fear. Wordsworth tried to
overkome fear by turning to religio-philosophical explanation of the soul's journey,
and to a large extent revived mental strength again. Coleridge also turned to
philosophy but he thought that it was a poor comp'romise, and it deepend his
frustration. C.M Bowra rightly points 'out: The problem which concerned both
frimds was that of poetical inspiration. Each felt that his hold on it was precarious
and asked why this was so. Wordsworth faced the problem in the first three stanzas
of the Ode and then abandoned it for at least two years: Coleridge, slower perhaps to
st@ but quicker one he had started, told of his crisis in the poem which he afterwards
called "&jectionN.

The first &I1 version of 'Dejection' was called 'Verses to Sara'. In this address to Sara
Hutchinssp there was reference to some private matters which was omitted later on.
Thc final version was printed in the Morning Post on October 4"', Wordsworth's ,
wedding day. Coleridge tried to sincerely tell his friends of the psychological crisis
he was undwgoing. Even before Wordsworth completed his Ode, Coleridge gave full
and powerful expression of his feelings, and there was so much of appeal in it that it
touched all, and Wordsworth could not escape involvement, and tried to console
Coleridge, and in the process expounded a philosophy from which he also tried to
derive psy~blogicalsustenance.

'I&jcctioq' gives us an inkling of Coleridge's mind. The images are of night,

darkness, howling storm, crescent Moon, Viper thought, dark dream. Devil's yule,
lonesorn~wild, b t i It suggests despair of the worst kind. But there is one redeeming
factor: his realization that joy is the most important thing in life, and it comes like a
fountain fiom within. He is happy to see this redeeming joy inhis 'Lady'. As the
Miss of thc Nightingale is the ideal Keats would try to reach and achieve and finally
Romantic Poets realise that it is beyond his merit and share, so is the .'joy' of the 'Lady'. Coleridge's
ideal, he knows, is impossible for him to achieve.

Despite the autobiographical element, despite the powerful personal note, Coleridge
has succeeded in universalising his experience. 'Dejection' is about a huinan
experience more than an experience of Coleridge himself. Perhaps every work of art
has its origin and roots in some personal feelings and experience but the more an
artist transcends it the more successful his art becomes. Coleridge has found proper
'objective correlative' for the emotion he intends to communicate.

30.6.6 As a Romantic Poem

Though the theme of 'Dejection: an Ode' is the failure of romantic imagination and
subsequest grief on account of that, the poem is one of the finest examples of
romantic poetry. In emotional depth, passionate feeling, intensity of experience and
expression, selection of images, lyrical flow, structural arrangement etc. it is a
representative poem of the Romantic Revival.

The Great Romantics, particularly Wordsworth and Coleridge, made their lives the
subject matter of their poetry. The autobiographical element is very much -
pronounced in Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey'. 'The Prelude' and 'Ode on Intimations
of Immortality'; among Coleridge's poems 'Dejection' is most overtly
autobiographical. The tone of moralising is very prominent in Wordsworth; this
romantic element of didacticism is not so prominent in Goleridge though 'The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner' has a clear moral in it. The 'moral' is implicit in 'Dejection'.
Joy redeems, and so one should try to overcome gt-ief and be joyous.

The poem opens with a strange reference. The extract from a ballad, quoted at the
very outset says that if the old Moon is in the lap of the new Moon a storm is in the
offing. The whole of the moon is faintly visible because a bit of sunlight reached it
being reflected from the earth. On its edge the crescent new moon looks like a bright
girdle holding the old moon as if in its lap, The connection between this sight and a
possible storm is entirely magical or superstitious. But the romantic imagination of
the poet accepts it as something that inevitably happens. ,

Then the outwards storm becomes an inner gale; or, the poet wants that there should
be a big stir in his mind so that he comes out of the lethargic barrenness which had
deprived him of creativity. Alnlost imperceptibly the external storm becomes an
inner fury and the poet wants to make use of it;

Might now perhaps their wanted impulse give,

Might startle this dull pain, and make it move and live!

This relationship between the external and the internal, outer nature and inner riature,
is a romantic belief.

The subjective approach that the external world is nothing more than what we think
of it, that humah imagination is the most important thing, is essentially romantic;

0 Lady! we receive but what we give,

And in our life alone does Nature live:
Ours is her wedding garment, ours her shroud!

The objective approach that the quality of the external world is independent of what
man thinks of it is classical in spirit; Coleridge's view is just the opposite.

In 'Dejection' the theme of the poem is just the 'mood' of the poet,.a mental state.
This emphasis on a psychological condition, giving mind so much of importance, is a
romantic trait. There is a contradiction, of course. The poet says that he has lost the
power to 'feel!, but the entire poem is an expression of great anguish, intense feeling Coleridge
about a troubled mind. So it is an apprehension of loss, more than real loss. The poet
wants that a storm should come to unsettle hitn itom his dull, lethargic state, and
make him more dynamic, even if it would mean devastation. But there is great
dynamism in the poem as suggested by the music, the tone, and the imagery. In 111s
love for the 'Lady' Coleridge expresses his gratitude to and love for all those human
beings whose heart is full of love and joy. Personal appreciation turns into romantic
humanism and appreciation of the basic qualities and values of life. Glorious and
divine love weds us to Nature but it is 'undreamt of the sensual and the proud'. This
hatred for, the sensual and the proud, is very much in the tradition of romantic poetry.

Coleridge, like Wordsworth in his 'Immortality Ode1,-wistfully looks back and

remembers those days when things were much bettcr, more glorious, and without any
sense of deprivation.

This memory of the lost Paradise is romantic in spirit. The poet believes that as we
move away from our paradisal state of innocence we keep on losing our spirit of
imagination. We try to compensate the loss with our acquisition of knowledge but
there canbe no compensation of this vital thing, the creative imagination which
enables us to discover the divine in nature.

In the seventh part of the poem the poet himself becomes almost delirious, a 'mad
Lutanist' and in imagery free of all inhibitions tries to catch the essential spirit of the:
wind which can remove all 'viper thoughts'. The sudden outburst softens down in a
'tragic calm' at the end of the section where he refers to the 'tendcr lay' of a little
child. This part of the poem reminds us of the great romantic poem of Shelley. 'Ode
to the West Wind'. And the final section ofan appreciation of the spiritual quality of
the Lady whom the poet adores. The tone is now subdued, as if tempered by love,
and this redemption in love, as in The Ancient Mariner, is romantic. 'Dejection', then
excels as a romantic poem.

30.6.7 Glossary

1. Bard: The poet who composed the Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence, describing
the wrecking of Sir Patick's ship off Aberdeenshire in a fierce storm.

Weather-wise: wise about weather; one who can predict changes in weather.

4. That ply a busier trade; stronger and rougher (wind) .

6. draft: blowing of air

dull sobbing draft; moisturous soft wind nuking a sobbing sound rakes;
touches lightly

7. Aeolian lute: A nlusical instrument played upon by the wind (Acolus in

ancient mythology was the god of wind).

Lines 6-7: 'In Romantic poetry the Aeolian lute is a standard symbol of the poet's
mind worked upon by nature's inspiration (the wjnd), and the lute moanning to the
"sobbing draft" conveys to the reader a mood of despair.' (Raymond Wilson).

9. The new moon winter bright: the new moon as bright as in winter.

9-12 The 'moon' is a favourite and significant image in Coleridge. It serves divers
purposes, always at the service of a situation or a mood. C.M. Bowra, of
course, holds that in Coleridge the moon is 'a symbol ofthe poet's power to
transform the material world of imagination.'
13 I see the old moon in her lap: !the faint outline of the whole moon is seen, lit
by the sunshine which the earth reflects, so that it seems as if lying in the
hollow of the crescent moon.'
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raised me : inspired me.
sent my soul abroad : enkindled my imagination.
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Throstle : a singing bird
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woo'd : persuaded .
h * . 27. balmy and serene :calm and soothing.
29. peculiar tint of yellow green : the western say looks yellow-green : it is a rare
sight, superbly beautiful.
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2 37. I see, not feel : This is the real problem with the poet. Once he used to feel,
and now he can only see, the beauty of nature.

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genial spirits: natural cheerfulness.

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40. these : various, lovely, forms of nature.
41. smothering weight : crushing burden.
39-46 In the outward forms nature is very beautiful but the poet's grief, like a heavy
burden, covers his heart and spirit-to-spirit contact with nature is not
ppssible. Moreover, something has dried up within and this depletion causes
his imagination lie dormant. Now with physical eyes he can see but he has
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. , . .* I.
casting a glow of imagination on them.
.
%
. :.
* 68. Wedding Nature to us : joining nature with humah mind.
? - +
-n
4
'
.., \,. 69. - Joy : the creative principle.
r
( .
.
I
- - , .-
4
,
. .
7 5, suffusion : covering
. ,
VI
I

76. Dallied with distress : made light of sufferings

79. Fancy : imagination I
81. Foliage : leayes
I
89. abstruse : metaphysical ; abstract
89-90 Metaphysics has deprived the poet of all natural joy
9 1. Sole resource : only pre-occupation.
80'
92-93 Philosophical thinking was one of many pre-occupations earlier, but now it Coleridge
fills his total mind and has become a habit with him.

VII
94. viper thoughts : poisonous ideas.
95. reality's dark dream ; the dark world of nightmarish reality.
104. Mad Lutanist : the storm as furious as an impassioned musician playing on
his lute with all fury.
106. Devil's yule : Christmas weather, with wild revelry fit for devils, Yule : the
season of feast of ~hristmas.[The wind, in devillish madness, seems to be
celebrating the revelry of Christmas].
107. timorous : quivering
108. Actor : one who can efficiently produce all kinds of tragic note.
120. Otway's self: The poet Otway himself. Thomas Otway (1652-85) was a
playwrigl~tfamous for The Orphans-and Venice Preserved. A sentimental
writer.

Tender lay: delicate story with tragic appeal.

[Originally the line read 'As William's self had made the tender lay'. It
referred to William Wordsworth's tragic tale of Lucy Gray. Later, when
differences with Wordsworth developed, Coleridge changed the name to
Otway.]

VIII

127. Vigil : wakefulness

128. With wings of healing ; with soft invigorating touch.
129. But a mountain birth; 'This has been taken for an allusion to the mountains in
travail which will bring forth - a mouse i.e, nothing of importance. Another a ; .T
.
F
.
explanation is ; May the storm be only local, confined to the mountains.'
(Hollingworth). , .
- . .
4

136. eddying : moving in a circular motion.

135-36 May all things of the world receive life and joy from endless source of bliss.

30.6.8 Possible Questions

1. 'Dejection : an ode' is a dirge over the grave of creative imagination. Do you

agree? Give reasons for your answer. .,I
2. Trace the autobiographical element in 'Dejection; an Ode'.
3. Write a note on the elements of romanticism in 'Dejection: an Ode'.
4. Comment on the imagery of 'Dejection: an ode'.
5. Analyse the structure of 'Dejection : an Ode'.
6. Explain the following lines and state what light is thrown on Coleridge's
philosophy of nature0: A +

0 Lady! we receive but what we give, 1

And in our life alone does Nature live.

7. What attitude to Nature does Coleridge express in the Ode to Dejection? In

what ways does this attitude differ from that of Wordsworth and from his
own earlier attitude?
8. In the 'Dejection' Ode the triumph of Coleridge as an artist consists not in
transcending his neurotic state but in giving it an adequate verbal shape. Do
you agree with this view?
I

30.7 SUGGESTED READING

Coleridge. E.H (ed.) The Poetical Works of S.T. Coleridge, 2 Vols. (Oxford I

University press, 1912)

Abrams, M.H. The Milk of Paradise (Harvard University Press, 1934).
81 1
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Romantic Poets Adair, Patricia, The Waking dream: A Study of Coleridge's Poetry
(London, Edward Arnold, 1967).
Bodkin, M., Archetypal Patterns in Poetry : Psychological studies of imagination
(Oxford University Press, 1934).
Bowra, C.M., 77ze Romantic imagination (Oxford University Press, 1950).
Hayter, Alethea, Opiurn and the Romantic Imagination (Faber and Faber, London,
1968)
Lowes, J.L. The Road to xanadu, (Boston, Mass, : I-Ioughton Mifflin Co., 1927)
Prickett, Coleridge and Wordsworth: Pze Poetry of Growth (Cambridge University
Press, 1970).
Schneider, Elizabeth, Coleridge, Opium and Kubla Khan (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1953)
kathleen, coburn, Coleridge, A Collection ofCritiea1 essays,
(Twentieth Century Views, 1967) I
Hduse, Humphry, Coleridge (Clark Lectures, 195 1-52) 1953.
Sastri, P.S.The Vision of Coleridge, 1966.
Jones, Alun R. & Tydeman, William, Coleridge, The Ancient Marinzer and other
poems (Macmillan, Case Book Series, 1973).
Walsh, William, Coleridge: Dte work and the Relevance, 1967.
Watson, G., Coleiidge: The Poet, 1966.
Yarlott, Geoffrey, Coleridge and the Abyssinian maid, 1967.

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