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Though he mostly was
known today for the poetry, Coleridge’s contributions to the field of
criticism and English language were many. For instance, he not only coined
the word “selfless”, but also introduced the word “aesthetic”, which two
were the frequent use in modern and postmodern world, to the English
language. Charles Lamb described Coleridge in 1817 that: “his face when he
repeats his verses hath its ancient glory, an Arch angel a little damaged.”
And Coleridge summed himself up this way, in the epitaph he wrote for
himself:
“Beneath this sod
A Poet lies; or that which once was he.
O lift one thought in prayer for S.T.C.
That he, who many a year with toil of breath,
Found Death in Life, may here find Life in Death.”
In 1800, the gifted poet found that inspiration
and fancy, which once he was full of, now were wanting. Instead of
complaining the loss, he changed his role from poet to literary critic and
lecturer. Because of his philosophic thinking and unique taste, Coleridge
was famous as a critic as well. In 1817, Coleridge published his most
important prose work the Bographia Literaria, or Sketches of My literary
Life and Opinions, which as a literary autobiography, provided a new
theory for the new Romantic Poetry.
According to Coleridge, the task of critics was
not to judge but to appreciate and interpret. In his opinion, a poet was a
creator and critic the assistant to the work of creation, because the poet,
who endowed with imaginative genius and fine perception, should set the
origin of poetry and create the poem; while a critic must enter the poet’s
mind state, to discover poet’s purpose and the skills of art then interpret
the ideas and beauty in the poem.
His principle of imagination, which was against the
neo-Classicism and link the modernism, made him to be the spokesman of all
Romantic poets from Blake to Keats. He considered that imagination is the
core of poetic theory. He said that a genius poet should take conscience as
body, fancy as clothes, movement as life and imagination the soul—the soul
is omniscient, can see through things vertically and horizontally and links
all into a perfect “one”.
He differed fancy and imagination clearly. Although the
two can co-exist in poet’s mind, fancy was in a lower plane, while
imagination, the highest ability, can only be maintained by the great
literary figures such as Shakespeare and Milton.
In fact, Coleridge was the first critic of the Romantic
school. And compared to Wordsworth, Coleridge was not only a highly gifted
genius, but also a great dreamer who loved to build castles in the air,
beside his innate of love dreaming, he was always in dreaming state because
he was an opium-eater. His fulfilled horrors in dream had a great influence
on the later “Satanic School”, as Southey called Byron and Shelley, greatly;
and an even greater influence on the succeeding generations especially the
post-modernists. Therefore, Because of his above theories in literary
criticism section and his genius in poetry, Coleridge was considered along
with Wordsworth as one of the two finest poets of the day, in spite of the
extreme popularity of Sir Walter Scott.
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