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Coleridge on Science, Philosophy, and Poetry: Their Relation to Religion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2011

Lucyle Werkmeister
Lucyle Werkmeister
Affiliation:
Los Angeles, California
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Extract

In 1791, when he was eighteen years of age, Coleridge came across Burke's A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. Although he was sufficiently interested to read the essay, he was not impressed by it. In fact, if one is to judge his reaction by the jeu d'esprit, “Mathematical Problem,” it was chiefly one of amusement. Although he went on to read Burke's other essays, he was attracted by the character of the author and the style of his writing rather than by his point of view; for, certainly a young man who was an avowed disciple of David Hartley, a champion of the French Revolution, and the originator of Pantisocracy could find little comfort in the works of Edmund Burke. But the zeal for Hartley, the French Revolution, and Pantisocracy was short-lived; and by 1796 Coleridge had turned, a “thought-bewilder'd man,” to a reading of Bishop Berkeley.The influence of Berkeley, especially of the later Platonic Berkeley, began to show in his work almost at once; the influence of Burke continued to lag. Out of his reflections on Berkeley, however, came a new admiration for Burke, particularly for his Philosophical Inquiry; and, from the combined teachings of the two, Coleridge ultimately derived suggestions for a theology broad enough to account for and to give meaning and purpose to all human activities. I should like here to indicate briefly the use he made of these suggestions with respect to science, philosophy, and poetry. I do not mean to imply that there were no other influences at work in the formulation of his views; but I do submit that these two influences are basic and that Coleridge's position can be adequately understood only in terms of them.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 1959 , pp. 85 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1959

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References

1 See Werkmeister, “Coleridge's ‘Mathematical Problem,’” Modern Language Notes, forthcoming.

2 As Coleridge put it, Berkeley “in his riper and better years.” See Unpublished Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Griggs, Earl Leslie (London, 1932), II, 265. But there is considerable doubt that Berkeley shifted his position in these later years.Google Scholar

3 Philosophical Inquiry, II, ii. Further references to this work will appear parenthetically in the text.

4 Siris, Sec. 306; Principles of Human Knowledge, Sec. LXVII.

5 Siris, Secs. 308, 309, 333, 336.

6 A Sermon for the Propagation of the Gospel.

7 Siris, Sec. 337

8 Principles of Human Knowledge, Secs. XCII-XCVI.

9 A Sermon for the Propagation of the Gospel.

10 Alciphron, Dia. VII, Sec. xxxiv.

11 Friend; a Literary, Moral, and Political Weekly Paper (Grasmere, 1809–1810), p. 81.

12 Aids to Reflection (London, 1825), pp. 209–210Google Scholar; Notes on English Divines by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, ed. The Rev. Derwent Coleridge (London, 1853), II, 338.Google Scholar

13 English Divines, I, 363.

14 Aids, p. 197.

15 Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Griggs, Earl Leslie (Oxford, 1956), II, 768.Google Scholar

16 English Divines, I, 90.

17 Unpublished Letters, II, 442.

18 English Divines, II, 322; I, 217–18.

19 Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Coleridge, Henry Nelson (London, 1851), Jan. 6, 1823; Unpublished Letters, II, 338.Google Scholar

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21 Friend, p. 26.

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24 English Divines, II, 51.

25 Table Talk, May 15, 1833.

26 Biographia Literaria by Coleridge, S. T., ed. Shawcross, John (London, 1907), II, 117.Google Scholar

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29 “Speech on a Motion … to Inquire into the State of the Representation of the Commons in Parliament.”

30 Remarks on the Policy of the Allies with Respect to France.

31 Three Letters Addressed to a Member of the Present Parliament, on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France.

32 Reflections.

33 Three Letters. It will be evident that by reason Burke means simply “understanding,” whereas Coleridge means the power of creating “ideas” or eternal truths. Although Burke was also an intuitionist, he tends to equate intuition with “inward feelings.”

34 A Discourse Addressed to Magistrates and Men in Authority.

35 Principles of Human Knowledge, Secs. XCII-XCVI.

36 Alciphron, Dia. VII, Secs, xxii-xxiii.

37 The Philosophical Lectures of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Coburn, Kathleen (N.Y., 1949), pp. 264, 268; English Divines, II, 63.Google Scholar

38 The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. Coleridge, Henry Nelson (London, 1836–1839), IV, 433.Google Scholar

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53 Table Talk, July 13, 1832.

54 Philosophical Lectures, pp. 68, 247.

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64 Letters, II, 676.

65 Friend (1818), III, 127.

66 The Statesman's Manual (London, 1816), p. 17Google Scholar. I have dealt with this aspect of Coleridge's thinking at some length elsewhere. See “Coleridge and Godwin on the Communication of Truth,” Modern Philology, LV (1958), 237–246.Google Scholar

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68 Philosophical Lectures, p. 200.

69 Biographia, I, 164.

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71 Philosophical Inquiry, I, I. Further references to this work appear parenthetically in the text.

72 Siris, Sec. 292.

73 Principles of Human Knowledge, Secs. II-III, XXIX, CXLVI.

74 Alciphron, Dia. IV, Secs, x, xiv-xv.

75 Siris, Sec. 253; Principles of Human Knowledge, Sec. LXVI.

76 Siris, Secs. 160, 234.

77 Principles of Human Knowledge, Sees. XXX-XXXI; Siris, Sec. 255.

78 Siris, Sec. 252.

79 Alciphron, Dia. IV, Sec. ii; Dia. VI, Sec. xvi.

80 Siris, Secs. 293–95.

81 Passive Resistance, Secs. X, XII.

82 Alciphron, Dia. VI, Sec. xxii; Dia. VII, Secs, x-xi, xxii-xxiii.

83 Principles of Human Knowledge, Secs. LXVI, CV-CIX, CLIII; Siris, Sec. 260.

84 Friend (1818), III, 221–22.

85 Philosophical Lectures, p. 333; Friend (1818), III, 159.

86 Unpublished Letters, II, 47.

87 Philosophical Lectures, p. 187; Friend (1818), III, 120.

88 Aids, p. 244, note.

89 “The Destiny of Nations,” lines 18–20.

90 “Frost at Midnight,” lines 59–62.

91 Collected Letters, I, 557.

92 “Apologia Pro Vita Sua.”

93 Anima Poetae (Boston, N.Y., 1895), p. 115.Google Scholar

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95 Statesman's Manual, pp. xiii-xiv.

96 The Best of Coleridge, ed. Griggs, Earl Leslie (N.Y., 1934), pp. 288–89.Google Scholar

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99 On the Constitution of the Church and State (London, 1830), p. 144.Google Scholar

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101 Anima Poetae, pp. 25, 244.

102 Coleridge's Shakespearean Criticism, ed. Raysor, Thomas Middleton (Cambridge, Mass., 1930), II, 148; Aids, pp. 228–29.Google Scholar

103 Friend, pp. 76–77; Friend (1818), III, 85; Biographia, I, 59–60.

104 Aids, p. 295.

105 Biographia, I, 202; II, 257, 258–59.

106 Collected Letters, II, 1194.

107 Biographia, II, 255.

108 Unpublished Letters, II, 128, 153.

109 Biographia, II, 255.

110 Philosophical Lectures, p. 367.

111 Statesman's Manual, pp. vi-vii.

112 Shakespearean Criticism, II, 148.