Samuel+Taylor+Coleridge

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= = =Samuel Taylor Coleridge=

(21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) Throughout his adult life, Coleridge suffered from crippling bouts of __anxiety__ and __depression__; it has been speculated by some that he suffered from __bipolar disorder__, a condition as yet unidentified during his lifetime. Coleridge suffered from poor health that may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these concerns with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opiumaddiction. In addition to his poetry, Coleridge also wrote influential pieces of literary criticism including //Biographia Literaria//, a collection of his thoughts and opinions on literature which he published in 1817. The work delivered both biographical explanations of the author's life as well as his impressions on literature. The collection also contained an analysis of a broad range of philosophical principles of literature ranging from Aristotle to Immanuel Kant and Schelling and applied them to the poetry of peers such as William Wordsworth (Source 1)

__Samuel Taylor Coleridge:__
 * * //The Eolian Harp// (1795)
 * //Reflections on having left a Place of __Retirement__// (1795)
 * //This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison// (1797)
 * //Frost at Midnight// (1798)
 * Kubla Khan (1797) || * //Fears in Solitude// (1798)
 * //The Nightingale: A Conversation Poem// (1798)
 * //Dejection: An Ode// (1802)
 * //To William Wordsworth// (1807) ||

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
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It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. `By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?

The bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set: Mayst hear the merry din.'

He holds him with his skinny hand, "There was a ship," quoth he. `Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!' Eftsoons his hand dropped he.

He holds him with his glittering eye - The Wedding-Guest stood still, And listens like a three years' child: The Mariner hath his will.

The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner.

"The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop  Below the kirk, below the hill,  Below the lighthouse top.

The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea.

Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon -" The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,  For he heard the loud bassoon.

The bride hath paced into the hall, Red as a rose is she; Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy.

The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, Yet he cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner.

"And now the storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong:  He struck with his o'ertaking wings,  And chased us south along.

1. Which traits revealed about the mariner's appearance suggest that there is something supernatural about him? 2. What kinds of language and literary devices did Coleridge use? 3. Why could the wedding guest not turn away?

media type="youtube" key="Rja9-CLj0hg" height="315" width="420" (Source 11) A BBC video series on Coleridge and Wordsworth media type="youtube" key="beQdcwTqcyU" height="315" width="420" (Source 10)