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The Aeolian Harp, Sense of duty, Wealth, Reflections on Having Left a…
The Aeolian Harp
Quotes
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birds of Paradise...untam'd wing! (symbol of privilege in romanticism and representation of the limitlessness of creativity as they are not bound to earth)
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Who with his saving mercies healed me,
A sinful and most miserable man (God and religion absolves one of sin
Themes
Sexuality
The poem is written for Coleridge's fiancee before their marriage, though completed after they had been in fact married. Predominantly concerned with desire for their life together, Coleridge alludes a great deal to sex. He compares the breeze which brushes the harp to a maiden teasing her lover. Any references to desire are painted in a pure and benevolent light. This marriage is taking place in a healthy relationship of which sex is the natural consummation.
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Pantheism
Heretical for the time, Coleridge toys with the idea of pantheism. After musing about nature and its beauty, he wonders what the force of life is. He theorises that all living matter is composed of the same force, which is divine. Thus, all of us are composed of the same substance, which makes our existence divine. He calls this concept the "one life."
God
God is credited throughout the poem. He is the one who created all of the beautiful nature which Coleridge praises. Additionally, Coleridge redirects all of his ponderings about nature, existence, and love to worship his Creator. He is the thread which ties all things together.
Sin and temptation
Sara, alongside religion and God, keeps Coleridge from exploring fantasies of Pantheism.
Love and marriage
Sara and the speaker are placed in an intimate, romantic setting and stereotypes of gender roles are mirrored through Sara's domesticity and gentleness. Romantic partnership is a source of redemption
Critics
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Richard Holmes
“Like all the Romantics, Coleridge was interested in exploring such extreme states of mind and feeling”
Context
One of Coleridge's conversation poems - written in blank verse
The Eolian was a popular image in early-nineteenth century poems and was prominent in poems by many of the Romantic period.
Sense of duty
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Coleridge has a stronger sense of duty to his wife. Wants to be with her yet Robert accepts his promotion.
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Coleridge realises he has "to fight the bloodless fight of Science, Freedom and Truth in Christ"
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Wealth
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Separation
- Class divides
- Bristolian's interruption
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Kubla Khan
Quotes
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as holy and enchanted...haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover! (So sacred and bewitching that you could imagine it to be haunted by a woman crying out for her satanic lover)
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Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! (The speaker describing people's reaction to if he had built the pleasure palace - corrupt with power)
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Context
Coleridge composed his poem in a state of semi-conscious trance and as such it has the atmosphere of a dream. Coleridge, when writing, had taken a dose of opium and fell asleep while reading a book about historical figure Kubla Khan. He was abruptly awoken before his vision of a dream had finished.
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Relates to the rejection of Enlightenment in favour of poetry that elevated the imagination and sublime power of nature.
Coleridge was reading Purchas' book on Kubla Khan - the language of which closely parallels the poem - when he fell asleep
Interrupted by a "person from Porlock" who had come to the door. (People have questioned this tale).
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Critics
Jones and Tydeman
"No one can now deny the serious moral nature of these poems”
“it is no longer possible to treat his work dismissively or other than with serious respect”
Kathleen Wheeler
“If ever a poem reflected the concerns and interests of its age, ‘Kubla Khan’ is that poem.”
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George G. Watson
“The overwhelmingly important fact about the ‘pleasure-dome’ of the poem, with its surrounding park, is its artificiality.”
He also talks of “Kubla’s arrogance”.
Themes
Violence
Nature is described with violent imagery and as such it is suggested that pleasure and beauty are neither simple nor uncomplicated.
Khan wants both beauty and violence as his palace hangs midway over the river. The pleasure he takes is from the interaction between the two.
Creativity and Reason
The poem has a hallucinatory tone that seems to invite the reader to treat the speaker's descriptions as an allegory for creativity and the human mind. The tension between the rational and irrational is where creativity comes from.
The limits of creativity as the achievement of the palace eludes the speaker who does not have the ability to construct it himself.
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Christabel
Quotes
The lovely lady, Christabel
a damsel bright, Drest in a silken robe of white (Geraldine)
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Sir Leoline, Led forth the lady Geraldine
Themes
Good versus evil
Christabel presents a figure of innocence whereas Geraldine's nature is compared to a serpent (a symbol of evil with religious connotations)
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Seduction
Geraldine seduces Christabel by playing on her fears of the unknown in the night. Geraldine directs Christabel to disrobe and then does the same. Insinuated sexual behaviour follows.
Context
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The poem was never finished, believed to be as a result of his opium addiction.
Critics
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Richard Gravil
“consciously deconstructs the gender bias of Gothic and is centred on the cruel domination and marginalisation of women by patriarchy"
Fears in Solitude
Context
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Although Coleridge was opposed to the British government, the poem sides with the British people in a patriotic defence of their homeland.
Coleridge was part of the Jacobin club, an organisation that grew out of the French Revolution that was distinguished for its left-wing, revolutionary politics.
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Quotes
A vain, speech-mouthing, speech reporting guild (on government)
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Religious meanings in the forms of Nature! (sense of solitude in nature where the speaker can feel closer to God)
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Themes
Nature
The poem stresses that the best type of life is simple, and involved with nature
Politics
Issues within British politics, the conservatives were warmongering. The speaker still, however, feels loyalty to his country and its people.
Critics
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The Critical Review believed it expressed alarmism (needless worry or panic) and The British Critic felt it was anti-Britain.
Domestic Ideals
Coleridge as an idle male, realises that has to change
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Coleridge: Quiet, countryside, nature, family
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An Ideal Husband
Quotes
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Life is never fair, Robert (Lord Goring)
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far too much rouge last night, and not quite enough clothes (Lord Goring about Mrs Cheveley)
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An ideal husband! Oh, I don't think I should like that. (Mabel Chiltern)
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Critics
Kerry Powell
Simultaneously it seeks to dismantle and to preserve the double standard as it applies to women"
Elaine Showalter
"the male rebellion against patriarchy did not necessarily mean a commitment to feminism"
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Lady Chiltern was described as "stupidly good," "rather trying," "abnormally moral," and even "unwomanly," by the first critics of the play
Katherine Worth
"For Lord Goring and Mabel ... the outlook is fine. We may see this couple as embodying Wilde's ideas on how to live life for the best"
Showalter
Politically, the New Woman was an anarchic figure who threatened to turn the world upside down
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