Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was Born - October 21, 1772

On this date in English literary history – October 21, 1772, poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in the small town of Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire, England. Coleridge's father died when he was a boy, and young Samuel was sent off to boarding school in London and eventually attended Cambridge. After becoming disillusioned with school he fled his debtors and enlisted in the cavalry, which he later abandoned with help from his brothers. He then returned to Cambridge, where he met poet Robert Southey. The two dreamed of one day establishing a utopian society in Pennsylvania. In 1795, Coleridge met poet William Wordsworth. The two became close friends and collaborators, assisted by Dorothy Wordsworth, the poet's sister. The siblings moved near Coleridge, and in 1798 Wordsworth and Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads, which established the Romantic school of poetry. It included Coleridge's famous poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." 

Coleridge's life began to unravel at the turn of the century. He became estranged from his wife and fell in love with Sara Hutchinson, whose sister married William Wordsworth three years later. Meanwhile, his health began to suffer, and he began taking large doses of opium to control his rheumatism and other problems. He became addicted to the drug, and his creative output waned. In 1810, he broke with Wordsworth, and the two would not reconcile for nearly 20 years. During this period, Coleridge supported himself through a series of successful lectures on literature. Meanwhile, he single-handedly wrote, edited, and distributed his review, The Friend. In 1813 he published, Remorse, which was well received by critics. Thanks to the help of Dr. James Gillman and his wife, Coleridge began to cut back on his opium use. In 1816, he published the fragmentary poem "Kubla Khan," written under the influence of opium, circa 1797. In 1817, he published a significant work of criticism, Biographa Literaria, and in 1828 was reconciled with Wordsworth. Coleridge died at Highgate, London on July 25, 1834 from heart failure.

 

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of numerous books that includes the gold medal winning Literary Legends of the British Isles: The Lives and Burial Places of 50 Great Writers. Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com for more information. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link: 

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Samuel Taylor Coleridge publishes "The Friend" - 1809

On June 1, 1809, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who helped establish the Romantic school of poetry, begins to publish his own periodical, The Friend. The essays that Coleridge published in magazine were later collected into a book. Coleridge led a turbulent, tragic life. Born in 1772 in the small town of Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire, he was sent to school in London after his father's death. He was a lonely student who fell into dissolution and debt after he went to Cambridge in 1791. He fled his creditors and enlisted in the cavalry, which he later abandoned with help from his brothers. He returned to Cambridge, where he met poet Robert Southey. The two launched an ambitious plan to establish a democratic utopia in Pennsylvania. To further the plan, Coleridge married a woman he did not love, the sister of Southey's fiancée. When Southey abandoned the plan, Coleridge remained in the ultimately unhappy marriage.

In 1795, Coleridge met poet William Wordsworth and they became close friends and collaborators, assisted by Dorothy Wordsworth, the poet's sister. The Wordsworth’s moved near Coleridge in 1797, and the following year Wordsworth and Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads, which established the Romantic school of poetry. It included Coleridge's famous poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Coleridge's life began unraveling at the turn of the century. He became estranged from his wife and fell in love with Sara Hutchinson, whose sister had married Wordsworth. Meanwhile, his health began to suffer, and he began taking large doses of opium to control his rheumatism and other problems. He became addicted to opium, and his creative output waned. In 1810, he broke with Wordsworth, and the two would not reconcile for nearly 20 years. Starting in 1808, he supported himself for a decade with successful lecture series on literature. Meanwhile, he single-handedly wrote, edited, and distributed The Friend for about a year, and in 1813 his tragedy Remorse was well-received. Thanks to the help of Dr. James Gillman and his wife (with whom Coleridge eventually lived), the poet began to cut back on his opium use. In 1816, he published the fragmentary poem "Kubla Kahn," written under the influence of opium around 1797. In 1817, he published a significant work of criticism, Biographa Literaria, and in 1828 was reconciled with Wordsworth. Coleridge died in 1834.

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain’s Literary Legends. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following links:

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Poet William Wordsworth died - 1850

Poet William Wordsworth died on April 23, 1850 in Cumberland, England. He was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads. He was born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumberland, to John and Anne (Cookson) Wordsworth, the second of their five children. His father was law agent and rent collector for Lord Lonsdale, and the family was fairly well off. After his mother's death in 1778 he was sent to Hawkshead Grammar School, near Windermere; in 1787 he went St. John’s College, Cambridge. He enjoyed hiking: during the "long" (i.e., summer) vacation of 1788 he tramped around Cumberland county; two years later went on a walking tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany; and in 1791, after graduation, trekked through Wales.

His enthusiasm for the French Revolution took him to France again in 1791, where he had an affair with Annette Vallon, who bore him an illegitimate daughter, Caroline, in 1792. Having run out of money, Wordsworth returned to England the following year, and the Anglo-French war, following the Reign of Terror, prevented his return for nine years. In 1794 he was reunited with his sister Dorothy, who became his companion, close friend, moral support, and housekeeper until her physical and mental decline in the 1830s.

The next year he met Coleridge, and the three of them grew very close, the two men meeting daily in 1797-98 to talk about poetry. The three friends traveled to Germany that fall, a trip that produced intellectual stimulation for Coleridge and homesickness for Wordsworth. After their return, William and Dorothy settled in his beloved Lake District, near Grasmere. The Peace of Amiens in 1802 allowed Wordsworth and his sister to visit France again to see Annette and Caroline. They arrived at a mutually agreeable settlement, and a few months later, after receiving an inheritance owed by Lord Lonsdale since John Wordsworth's death in 1783, William married Mary Hutchinson. By 1810 they had five children, but their happiness was tempered by the loss at sea of William's brother John (1805), the alienation from Coleridge in 1810, and the death of two children in 1812. In 1813 Wordsworth received an appointment as Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland, which him financially secure. The whole family, which included Dorothy, moved to Rydal Mount, between Grasmere and Rydal Water.

Wordsworth's literary career began with Descriptive Sketches (1793) and reached an early climax before the turn of the century, with Lyrical Ballads. His powers peaked with Poems in Two Volumes (1807), and his reputation continued to grow; even his harshest reviewers recognized his popularity and the originality. The important later works were well under way. His success with shorter forms made him the more eager to succeed with longer, specifically with a long, three-part "philosophical poem, containing views of Man, Nature, and Society, having for its principal subject the sensations and opinions of a poet living in retirement." The 17,000 lines which were eventually published made up only a part of this mammoth project. The second section, The Excursion, was completed (pub. 1814), as was the first book of the first part, The Recluse. During his lifetime he refused to print The Prelude, which he had completed by 1805, because he thought it was unprecedented for a poet to talk as much about himself — unless he could put it in its proper setting, which was as an introduction to the complete three-part Recluse. Inspiration gradually failed him for this project, and he spent much of his later life revising The Prelude. Finally fully reconciled to Coleridge, the two of them toured the Rhineland in 1828. Durham University granted him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1838, and Oxford conferred the same honor the next year. When Robert Southey died in 1843, Wordsworth was named Poet Laureate. William Wordsworth died on April 23, 1850, and his wife published the much-revised Prelude that summer.

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Great Britain’s Literary Legends. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following links:

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