A History of English Literature
A History of English Literature
A History of English Literature
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Charles Lamb, where Coleridge appears under a thin disguise. The very<br />
strict discipline was no doubt <strong>of</strong> much value in giving firmness and<br />
definite direction to his irregular nature, and the range <strong>of</strong> his studies,<br />
both in literature and in other fields, was very wide. Through the aid <strong>of</strong><br />
scholarships and <strong>of</strong> contributions from his brothers he entered Cambridge in<br />
1791, just after Wordsworth had left the University; but here his most<br />
striking exploit was a brief escapade <strong>of</strong> running away and enlisting in a<br />
cavalry troop. Meeting Southey, then a student at Oxford, he drew him into<br />
a plan for a 'Pantisocracy' (a society where all should be equal), a<br />
community <strong>of</strong> twelve young couples to be founded in some 'delightful part <strong>of</strong><br />
the new back settlements' <strong>of</strong> America on the principles <strong>of</strong> communistic<br />
cooperation in all lines, broad mental culture, and complete freedom <strong>of</strong><br />
opinion. Naturally, this plan never past beyond the dream stage.<br />
Coleridge left the University in 1794 without a degree, tormented by a<br />
disappointment in love. He had already begun to publish poetry and<br />
newspaper prose, and he now attempted lecturing. He and Southey married two<br />
sisters, whom Byron in a later attack on Southey somewhat inaccurately<br />
described as 'milliners <strong>of</strong> Bath'; and Coleridge settled near Bristol. After<br />
characteristically varied and unsuccessful efforts at conducting a<br />
periodical, newspaper writing, and preaching as a Unitarian (a creed which<br />
was then considered by most <strong>English</strong>men disreputable and which Coleridge<br />
later abandoned), he moved with his wife in 1797 to Nether Stowey in<br />
Somersetshire. Expressly in order to be near him, Wordsworth and his sister<br />
Dorothy soon leased the neighboring manor-house <strong>of</strong> Alfoxden, and there<br />
followed the memorable year <strong>of</strong> intellectual and emotional stimulus when<br />
Coleridge's genius suddenly expanded into short-lived but wonderful<br />
activity and he wrote most <strong>of</strong> his few great poems, 'The Ancient Mariner,'<br />
'Kubla Khan,' and the First Part <strong>of</strong> 'Christabel.' 'The Ancient Mariner' was<br />
planned by Coleridge and Wordsworth on one <strong>of</strong> their frequent rambles, and<br />
was to have been written in collaboration; but as it proceeded, Wordsworth<br />
found his manner so different from that <strong>of</strong> Coleridge that he withdrew<br />
altogether from the undertaking. The final result <strong>of</strong> the incident, however,<br />
was the publication in 1798 <strong>of</strong> 'Lyrical Ballads,' which included <strong>of</strong><br />
Coleridge's work only this one poem, but <strong>of</strong> Wordsworth's several <strong>of</strong> his<br />
most characteristic ones. Coleridge afterwards explained that the plan <strong>of</strong><br />
the volume contemplated two complementary sorts <strong>of</strong> poems. He was to present<br />
supernatural or romantic characters, yet investing them with human interest<br />
and semblance <strong>of</strong> truth; while Wordsworth was to add the charm <strong>of</strong> novelty to<br />
everyday things and to suggest their kinship to the supernatural, arousing<br />
readers from their accustomed blindness to the loveliness and wonders <strong>of</strong><br />
the world around us. No better description could be given <strong>of</strong> the poetic<br />
spirit and the whole poetic work <strong>of</strong> the two men. Like some other<br />
epoch-marking books, 'Lyrical Ballads' attracted little attention. Shortly<br />
after its publication Coleridge and the Wordsworths sailed for Germany,<br />
where for the greater part <strong>of</strong> a year Coleridge worked hard, if irregularly,<br />
at the language, literature, and philosophy.<br />
The remaining thirty-five years <strong>of</strong> his life are a record <strong>of</strong> ambitious<br />
projects and fitful efforts, for the most part turned by ill-health and<br />
lack <strong>of</strong> steady purpose into melancholy failure, but with a few fragmentary<br />
results standing out brilliantly. At times Coleridge did newspaper work, at<br />
which he might have succeeded; in 1800, in a burst <strong>of</strong> energy, he translated<br />
Schiller's tragedy 'Wallenstein' into <strong>English</strong> blank verse, a translation<br />
which in the opinion <strong>of</strong> most critics surpasses the original; and down to<br />
1802, and occasionally later, he wrote a few more poems <strong>of</strong> a high order.<br />
For a few years from 1800 on he lived at Greta Hall in the village <strong>of</strong><br />
Keswick (pronounced Kesick), in the northern end <strong>of</strong> the Lake Region<br />
(Westmoreland), fifteen miles from Wordsworth; but his marriage was