Hi everyone. I'm helping my girlfriend with a presentation on STC, and she needs to discuss some of the previous poetic conventions that he broke with his work. All input welcome, and of course, examples from his work. Thanks.
S.T. Coleridge and poetic convention.
Hi everyone. I'm helping my girlfriend with a presentation on STC, and she needs to discuss some of the previous poetic conventions that he broke with his work. All input welcome, and of course, examples from his work. Thanks.
Some thoughts that may help;
STC worked initially with Wordsworth on the Lyrical Ballads of 1798, and many suspect him of being the main creative force between them. The ballads were revolutionary in their style and scope, breaking with previous traditions in theme.
The book was prefaced with a statement that the poems 'are to be considered as experiments'. The nature of the informal language is also addressed; 'They are written cheifly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes . . . is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure'.
And in the Ballads we have STC writing of the ancient mariner, and Wordsworth of Goody Blake. These poems reflect tales of simple folk, rather than of gods and angels. The conversational tone is significant too, because here the artist is using materials close at hand, fragments of everyday conversation, stories, local gossip. Politically the poets were republican, and were tired of the lazy ruling class. They found genuine hope and reason for their art in the lower classes, the simple working man, and the stories that inspired him.
The fragmentary nature is key. STC writes The Nightingale, A Conversational Poem and in it he develops a poem around simple conversation, fragmentary references to memories, previous ideas and rememberances. Here the poet can sit down and create his art from his own mind, from memory and from conversation. Wordsworth took this up with Tintern Abbey, a simple poetic recollection.
The concept that the poet can create his art from his own mind was an innovation. His personal experience, his recollections become raw materials from which he can craft his artistry. Note The Day-Dream, of 1802. The mind becomes an instrument of transportation, of time-travel, a reality generator, from which the artist can create his work.
The notion too of the flashes of inspiration, catching the artist off-guard, and he having to drop his business, and rush to the desk to catch fragments of poetry before they evaporate. The dreams and visions of the artist are also material he can work. This is evident in Kubla Khan. STC writes of it being a 'fragment' and describes how he had a vision of the poem in a deep sleep induced by opium.
There is also a notion with the Romantic poets of the work never really being complete - there is no end to the process of artistic creation. They revisted their work many times, changing, adding, modifying. This is true with STC. He revisted the ancient mariner again in 1817, nineteen years after first publishing it. The artist cannot leave it alone, it must be reworked, and the creative process is ongoing.
These innovations developed a new sense of both poetry and poet. The century had begun with the rise of the Satirists such as Pope and Swift, in which wit and a concern with Greek philisophy had prevailed (Pope translated Homer) and had ended with the rise of the Romantics
Very nice succinct comments, rintrah
It is also very useful to me,thank you !(xie xie!)
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