SAMUEL TAYLOR

COLERIDGE
Founder of the romantic movement in poetry

Early Life

Coleridge was born on 21 October 1772

in the town ofOttery St MaryinDevon,
England

A picture of St Mary Devon

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Education and schooling

Coleridges father died when he was only

nine, and Samuel was sent away to a
very strict London boarding school,
Christs Hospital.

Jesus College Cambridge

From 1791 until 1794, Coleridge

attendedJesus College, Cambridge.In
1792, he won the Browne Gold Medal for
an ode that he wrote on theslave trade.

Afflicted by French revolution &

Depression

He met lifelong friend and fellow poet

Robert Southey, and came in contact with
the radical political and social ideas
fermenting just after the French
Revolution. In 1793, depressed by his
lack of funds and a failed love affair, he
left college and enlisted in the dragoons.
His brother rescued him from this
misguided commitment and he returned
to Cambridge, but never completed his
university studies
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Pantisocracy

Coleridge dreamed up and hoped to

make real a utopia based on the ideals of
Platos Republic, and called it
pantisocracy, meaning equal rule by all
members of the society

Failed marriage with Sarah

Flicker

His marriage with Sarah Flicker was a

failure.

Poetry

Coleridge is one of the most important figures in English

poetry. His poems directly and deeply influenced all the
major poets of the age. He was known by his contemporaries
as a meticulous craftsman who was more rigorous in his
careful reworking of his poems than any other poet, and
Southey and Wordsworth were dependent on his professional
advice. His influence on Wordsworth is particularly important
because many critics have credited Coleridge with the very
idea of "Conversational Poetry". The idea of utilising
common, everyday language to express profound poetic
images and ideas for which Wordsworth became so famous
may have originated almost entirely in Coleridges mind. It is
difficult to imagine Wordsworths great poems,The
ExcursionorThe Prelude, ever having been written without
the direct influence of Coleridges originality.
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Coleridge with William

Wordsworth

Coleridge draft of the poem

Kublai Khan

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Famous Literary Work

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Christabel
Kubla Khan

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The Rime of The Ancient

Mariner

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Kubla Khan

The interaction between man and nature

is a majorthemefor Coleridge. It's
painted all over "Kubla Khan," as we go
from the dome to the river, and then from
the gardens to the sea.

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Supernatural Element

The supernatural elements actually appear with

thealbatross, which has arrived in order to help
guide the Mariner's ship through a fog bank.
When the Ancient Mariner kills the albatross, he
has not only violated concepts of gratitude and
hospitality, he has, on a whim, killed a living
being that has come to same him and his ship. I
believe we are meant to see the albatross, in
part, in a Christian context--like Christ, who came
to earth to save us, the albatross arrives to save
the mariners and their ship, and the reward for
this generosity is his execution.
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Supernatural Element from

Albatross

A statue of the ancient mariner with the

albatross around his neck, at Watchet,
Somerset.

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Death

Coleridge died in Highgate, London on 25 July 1834 as a

result of heart failure compounded by an unknown lung
disorder, possibly linked to his use of opium. Coleridge
had spent 18 years under the roof of the Gillman family,
who built an addition onto their home to accommodate
the poet

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Holy Heart Public School

This power-point presentation is made by

Mohit
Class X
Roll No 1012

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