SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

With Wordsworth, he is the foremost poet of the first generation of Romantic poets.

pag 192 - POETRY AND IMAGINATION

The extract is taken from Biographia Literaria.

It is a text of literary criticism where Coleridge explains his theory on romantic poetry.

The aim of the poet in this extract is to provide the reader with an account of the origins of Lyrical Ballads and the poet's discussion about the nature of imagination.

The two cardinal points of poetry are the power of exciting the sympathy of the reader and the power of giving the interest of novelty.

Poetry should be of two sorts: one speaking of supernatural and one of ordinary life.

The supernatural should create the effect of being real. The ordinary things should create the effect of being supernatural.

Coleridge's poetry deals with supernatural, while Wordsworth's poetry deals with ordinary things.

pag 184 - THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

The ballad archetype comes from Medieval world and was originally composed to be sang. It was brought from oral to written, so Romantic poets made a change in the register. There were maintained all sound devices used by medieval poets (to remember and hand on it) were used by romantic poets to create an effect of exoticism. The ballad was suitable for Romantic aims also because its language was simple.

The end of Lyrical Ballads was to communicate pleasure to the reader.

Rime is a Latinate word. It brings with it, thanks to his Latinate origin, a sense of exoticism. The use of exoticism in the title brings a sense of distance.

The ballad is organized in seven parts.

In the argument the poet wants to create an exotic effect, something distant, makes expectations on something supernatural.

The mariner passes the Line à the limits of the mind, of everybody's mind.

The characters are only sketched, there are described only parts of the body.

Imagination is magical because transforms objects and things.

Coleridge adopted the magical of the imagination to outline the mariner as a ghost, as something that goes out of the human nature; he seems to be returned from death.

People prefer merry things, bet the wedding guest "cannot choose but hear" the sailor.

Humans don't speak a plain language (the wedding guest doesn't say he isn't interested in what the mariner wants to say, but he says that they are waiting for him at the party).

The story is a pretext to speak about human nature in different situations.

Gradual improvements happens under the moon because it's the symbol of irrationality, while the sun is the symbol of rationality, so it has negative qualities.

There are many sound devices to create the idea of true.