DOCSLIB.ORG

The Transcendental Analysis of Cognition and Coleridge's Theory

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Transcendental Analysis of Cognition and Coleridge's Theory φThe Weights & Measures of the Human Mind’: The Transcendental Analysis of Cognition and Coleridge’s Theory of the Mental Faculties Dillon Struwig PhD University of York English September 2015 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to lay the ground for further work on interpreting Coleridge’s Logic and its relation to the rest of his philosophy, particularly the system of speculative metaphysics and theology presented in Coleridge’s Opus Maximum fragments. I do this by exploring the connections between Coleridge’s conceptions of the a priori, the cognitive faculties (or capacities), and the nature of logical theory. Part 1 seeks to place Coleridge’s views on logic in their broader historical and intellectual context, showing why Coleridge considered the investigation of the faculties, and the analysis of our cognitive operations and contents, to be fundamental to logical theory, and arguing that this position is a product of Coleridge’s critical engagement with the early modern logic of ideas and faculties. Part 2 gives a preliminary account of Coleridge’s interpretation of two key Kantian terms, φa priori’ and φtranscendental’, exploring the analogies Coleridge uses to elucidate the nature of the a priori and the purpose of transcendental claims. Part 3 expands on this account, considering how Coleridge’s conceptions of the a priori and the transcendental inform his claims, especially in Logic, on the human mental faculties and their contribution to sensory experience and cognition; it focuses on Coleridge’s views on φthe obvious threefold division’ of our cognitive capacities into sense, understanding, and reason, his descriptions of the formal (a priori) and material (a posteriori) elements of cognition, and his functional theory of the constitution of our faculties. Part 4 discusses the relations between Coleridge’s theory of the cognitive capacities and his conception of the a priori, focusing on Coleridge’s claims concerning the origins of a priori forms and contents in our cognitive capacities, and the transcendental method of inquiry which he contends is able to prove such claims. 2 Contents Abstractλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ...2 Contentsλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ..3 Prefaceλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ6 Acknowledgementsλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ.8 Author’s Declarationλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ...9 1. Coleridge on Logic, Psychology, & the Cognitive Facultiesλλλλλλλ...10 1.1 Coleridge on Logic, Psychology, & the Understandingλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ.12 i. Coleridge’s Criticisms of Eighteenth-Century Logic: An Overviewλλλλλλλ12 ii. Coleridge’s Definitions of φLogic’ & φthe Understanding’λλλλλλλλλλ...14 iii. Coleridge on Logic & the Problem of Faculty Terminology...........................................17 1.2 Coleridge, Aristotle’s Logic, & the Question of Kant’s Influenceλλλλλλλλλλ..21 i. Coleridge’s Kantian Reading of Aristotleλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ21 ii. Logical Rules & the Cognitive Faculties in Kant & Coleridgeλλλλλλλλλ24 1.3 Faculties, Ideas, & Origins: Coleridge & the Facultative Traditionλλλλλλλλλλ26 i. The Development of Facultative Logic: An Outlineλλλλλλλλλλ.λλ..26 ii. Facultative Logic in Coleridge’s early 1800s Letters & Manuscriptsλλλλ.λλ..28 iii. Facultative Logic in Coleridge’s 1820s Logic Manuscriptλλλλλλλλλλ...32 1.4 Long Eighteenth Century Logic & Coleridge’s Critique of Hartley & Condillacλλλλ....35 i. Locke’s Influence on the Structure & Content of Logical Theoryλλλλλλλ...35 ii. Watts, Condillac, & Hartley in the Context of Facultative Logicλλλλλλλλ38 iii. Coleridge’s Conflation & Criticism of Hartley & Condillacλλλλλλλλλ...41 iv. Coleridge’s Distinction between Psychological & Logical Theories of Cognitionλ..43 1.5 Powers & Plantules: Coleridge on the Nature of the Facultiesλλλλλλλλλλλ..49 i. Education & Inquiry into the Faculties: An Overviewλλλλλλλλλλλλ49 ii. The φeducible and eductive nature’ of the faculties: Coleridge’s Plantule Analogyλ..50 iii. From Faculties to Powers: The Potential & Actualised Modes of Sense & Understanding.............................................................................................................................................55 iv. Cognitive Constitution & Capacities as Componentsλλλλλλλλλλλ....59 2. Kantian & Coleridgean Conceptions of the Transcendental & the A Prioriλ..64 2.1 Kant & Coleridge on A Priori Cognitions, Transcendental Knowledge, & the Content of Transcendental Representationsλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ....λλλλλ..64 3 i. Kant’s Definitions of φA Priori’ & φTranscendental’ in Coleridge’s Logicλλλλλ..64 ii. Coleridge on Transcendental Knowledge & the Analysis of the Facultiesλλλλ..67 iii. Coleridge on the Criteria for Apriority & the Problem of A Priori Originsλ.λλ...70 2.2 The Spectacles of the Mind: Coleridge on Interpreting the Kantian A Prioriλλλλ.λλ74 2.3 Coleridge on the A Priori, the Transcendental, & Necessary Conditionsλ.λλλλλλ..80 i. The Problem of Pre-existence: Coleridge on A Priori Forms as Necessary Conditionsλλλλ.................................................................................................................................80 ii. Coleridge on the Relationship between the A Priori & the Transcendentalλλλλ85 iii. The Psychological A Priori & Coleridge’s Twofold Conception of A Priori Representationsλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ..90 3. The Elements of Experience: Coleridge’s Transcendental Theory of Cognition & the Transcendental Analysis of the Cognitive Powersλλλλλλλλλλ95 3.1 Transcendental Analysis & the Threefold Division of the Cognitive Powersλλλλλλ95 3.2 Transcendental Analysis & the Sources of Experience: Coleridge on the Formal & Material Elements of Cognitionλλλλλλλλλ.λλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ101 i. Coleridge on Transcendental Analysis: An Overviewλλλλλλλλλλλ....101 ii. Kant’s Matter/Form Distinction in Coleridge’s Logicλλλλλλλλλλλ...102 iii. Kant’s Aesthetic & Logic: The Forms of Sense & Understanding in Coleridge’s Logicλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ.106 iv. Transcendental Dialectic vs. Transcendental Noetic: Coleridge’s Departure from Kantλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ.108 v. A Priori Form & Content: Coleridge’s Act-Product Terminologyλλλλλλλ111 3.3 Coleridge on Ancient Greek Faculty Terminology: The Threefold Division of the Cognitive Powers, their Contents, & their relation to Experienceλλλλλλλλλ..λλλλλ...114 i. Coleridge’s Kantian Reading of Ancient Greek Faculty Terminologyλλλλλ...114 ii. Coleridge on Probable vs. Certain Knowledge & the φpermanent truths of pure reason’λλ...............................................................................................................................................120 3.4 The Transcendental, the A Priori, & the Constitution of the Facultiesλ..λλλλλλ...124 i. Coleridge on A Priori Cognitions & Cognitive Constitution: An Overviewλλλ...124 ii. Coleridge’s Conception of φConstituent Forms’: the Mechanist Analogyλλλλ..127 iii. Formal, Transcendental, & Empirical Aspects of Mind: Coleridge’s Sextant Analogyλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ130 4. ‘The Weights & Measures of the Human Mind’: Coleridge on the Threefold Division of Transcendental Inquiry & The Nature of the A Prioriλλλλλ...137 4 4.1 Transcendental Reflection & the Sources of A Priori Evidence: Coleridge’s Table of Pure Sciences & The Threefold Division of the Facultiesλλλλλλλλλλλλ...................137 4.2 The Classification of Content & The Analysis of the Faculties: Two Perspectives on Coleridge’s Table of Pure Sciencesλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ......................142 i. Coleridge’s Table of Pure Sciences & the Employment/Analysis Distinctionλλ...142 ii. From Classification to Analysis: Coleridge’s History of Faculty-Theoryλλλλ...146 iii. Coleridge on Transcendental Inquiry & the Unanalysability of Reasonλλλλ...155 4.3 Coleridge’s Two-Level Theory of the A Priori: The Grounds for the Distinction Between Transcendental Analysis & Transcendental Noeticλλλλλλλλλ..λλλλλλλ.158 i. Coleridge on Conditionally vs. Absolutely Necessary A Priori Formsλλλλλ....158 ii. Coleridge on the Subsistence of Subjective & Objective A Priori Formsλλλλ..162 4.4 From the φPoint of Reflection’ to the φReality of Reason’: Noetic, The Universal Subjective, & the Principle of Subject-Object Identityλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ....166 i. Coleridge’s Apriority Criteria & the Evidence of Reasonλλλλλλλλλλ..166 ii. Coleridge on the Subjective, the Objective, & the Limits of Reflectionλλλλ....168 iii. The Reality of Reason vs. The Reality of Nature: Noumenal & Phenomenal Objectsλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ...λλ..171 4.5 Transcendental Inquiry & Transcendent Metaphysics: The Possibility of Noetic Knowledge & the Limits of Human Cognitionλλλλλλ....λλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ176 i. Transcendent or Transcendental Knowledge? Coleridge’s Case for Noeticλλ...λ176 ii. Coleridge on the Relationship between Transcendental Analysis & Transcendental Noeticλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ..λ180 Coda: A Final Word on Coleridge’s Transcendent/Transcendental Distinctionλλ...183 Abbreviationsλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ..187 Bibliographyλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλλ188 5 Preface: Introduction to the Outline for a System of the Philosophy of Reading Coleridge’s Logic I began this project with the intention of producing an exposition of the theory of cognition which Coleridge presents in his Logic. Yet it soon become apparent to me that, before such an exposition could be produced, many currently unresolved (and largely unaddressed) issues in Coleridge studies would have to be confronted. To list a few of the most notable examples: The view that Kant is one of the greatest
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Genesis of the OED
    University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana English Faculty Publications English 8-1992 "Living Words": Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Genesis of the OED James C. McKusick University of Montana - Missoula, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/eng_pubs Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation McKusick, James C., ""Living Words": Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Genesis of the OED" (1992). English Faculty Publications. 6. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/eng_pubs/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "Living Words": Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Genesis of the OED JAMES C. McKUSICK University of Maryland, Baltimore County Today we are at a crucial moment in the evolution of the Oxford En­ glish Dictionary, as the dog-eared volumes are withdrawn from library shelves and replaced by the sleek second edition of 1989. This new OED bears witness to the continuing relevance and utility of the "New English Dictionary on Historical Principles" for the current generation of literary scholars. The event of its publication provides an opportunity for a fresh historical perspective on the circum­ stances surrounding the production of the original OED, which was published between 1884 and 1928 in a series of 125 fascicles and bound up into those thick volumes so familiar to students and teachers of English literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Organizing Knowledge: Comparative Structures of Intersubjectivity in Nineteenth-Century Historical Dictionaries
    Organizing Knowledge: Comparative Structures of Intersubjectivity in Nineteenth-Century Historical Dictionaries Kelly M. Kistner A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Gary G. Hamilton, Chair Steven Pfaff Katherine Stovel Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Sociology ©Copyright 2014 Kelly M. Kistner University of Washington Abstract Organizing Knowledge: Comparative Structures of Intersubjectivity in Nineteenth-Century Historical Dictionaries Kelly Kistner Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Gary G. Hamilton Sociology Between 1838 and 1857 language scholars throughout Europe were inspired to create a new kind of dictionary. Deemed historical dictionaries, their projects took an unprecedented leap in style and scale from earlier forms of lexicography. These lexicographers each sought to compile historical inventories of their national languages and were inspired by the new scientific approach of comparative philology. For them, this science promised a means to illuminate general processes of social change and variation, as well as the linguistic foundations for cultural and national unity. This study examines two such projects: The German Dictionary, Deutsches Worterbuch, of the Grimm Brothers, and what became the Oxford English Dictionary. Both works utilized collaborative models of large-scale, long-term production, yet the content of the dictionaries would differ in remarkable ways. The German dictionary would be characterized by its lack of definitions of meaning, its eclectic treatment of entries, rich analytical prose, and self- referential discourse; whereas the English dictionary would feature succinct, standardized, and impersonal entries. Using primary source materials, this research investigates why the dictionaries came to differ.
    [Show full text]
  • The Early Years
    HISTORY OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY: THE EARLY YEARS BY FIONA MARSHALL University of Sheffield 1. THE ORIGINAL PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON1 Formed in response to the new comparative philology practised by a handful of scholars on the Continent in the 1820s, the original Philological Society held the first in a series of informal meetings at London University in the early 1830s. Word of the new continental philology, established primarily by Rasmus Kristian Rask (1787- 1832), Franz Bopp (1791-1867), and Jacob (Ludwig Karl) Grimm (1785-1863), filtered through to London principally, though not exclusively, via Friedrich August Rosen (1805-1837), the first and only incumbent of a chair in Oriental Literature at London University (1828-31). Partly due to the heightened interest in comparative philology and partly in pursuit of the 'Philological Illustration of the Classical Writers of Greece and Rome' (PPS V, 1854: 61), Cambridge classicists Thomas Hewitt Key (1799-1875) and George Long (1800-1879), together with German-born Rosen, established the Society for Philological Inquiries (subsequently renamed the Philological Society) in 1830. With the addition of fellow Cambridge scholar Henry Malden (1800-1876) in 1831, the founding principles behind the original and succeeding Philological Society were established. The primary aims of the Society epitomised the growing and groundbreaking desire in early nineteenth-century British scholarship, not customary elsewhere, to combine the old (classical) philology with the new. Since few records remain in the archives, extant details about the original Society are vague. The whereabouts of the Society's manuscript minutes book, laid on the table by Key at a meeting of the present Society in 1851, are unknown (PPS V, 1854: 61).
    [Show full text]
  • 2011 Alipiocorreiafrancaneto.Pdf
    1 UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO FACULDADE DE FILOSOFIA, LETRAS E CIÊNCIAS HUMANAS DEPARTAMENTO DE TEORIA LITERÁRIA E LITERATURA COMPARADA PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM TEORIA LITERÁRIA E LITERATURA COMPARADA “A Balada do Velho Marinheiro” como representação do devaneio dos românticos Alípio Correia de Franca Neto Tese apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Teoria Literário do Departamento de Teoria Literária e Literatura Comparada da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo, para a obtenção do título de Doutor em Letras. Orientador: Profa. Dra. Viviana Bosi v.1 São Paulo 2011 2 Esta tese é dedicada à memória de minha mãe, Eunice Dias Ribeiro, por seu amor e estímulo de toda uma vida. 3 4 Agradecimentos Gostaria de deixar consignados aqui meus agradecimentos a pessoas que de uma forma ou de outra deram sua contribuição a este trabalho. São elas: À professora Viviana Bosi, por sua orientação segura, paciência e amabilidade em me facultar o acesso a um sem-número de referências bibliográficas importantes para esta tese; Ao professor John Milton, por algumas sugestões pertinentes acerca de focos para abordagem; Às professoras Moira Andrade e Thaís Giammarco, por sua ajuda na revisão da tese, tornada tanto mais valorosa pelas circuntâncias adversas; E a Raphael Nunes e a Márcia Frai, por sua solicitude na aquisição de material para pesquisa. A FAPESP, sem cujo apoio não teria sido possível realizar esta pesquisa. 5 RESUMO A pesquisa procurará demonstrar que o poema “A Balada do Velho Marinheiro” (1798, primeira versão publicada), do poeta inglês Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), é uma representação artística do conceito de “devaneio” [revery ] dos românticos.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Genius, Heredity, and Family Dynamics. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and His Children: a Literary Biography Yolanda J. Gonz
    ABSTRACT Genius, Heredity, and Family Dynamics. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his Children: A Literary Biography Yolanda J. Gonzalez, Ph.D. Chairperson: Stephen Prickett, Ph.D. The children of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Hartley, Derwent, and Sara, have received limited scholarly attention, though all were important nineteenth century figures. Lack of scholarly attention on them can be blamed on their father, who has so overshadowed his children that their value has been relegated to what they can reveal about him, the literary genius. Scholars who have studied the children for these purposes all assume familial ties justify their basic premise, that Coleridge can be understood by examining the children he raised. But in this case, the assumption is false; Coleridge had little interaction with his children overall, and the task of raising them was left to their mother, Sara, her sister Edith, and Edith’s husband, Robert Southey. While studies of S. T. C.’s children that seek to provide information about him are fruitless, more productive scholarly work can be done examining the lives and contributions of Hartley, Derwent, and Sara to their age. This dissertation is a starting point for reinvestigating Coleridge’s children and analyzes their life and work. Taken out from under the shadow of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, we find that Hartley was not doomed to be a “child of romanticism” as a result of his father’s experimental approach to his education; rather, he chose this persona for himself. Conversely, Derwent is the black sheep of the family and consciously chooses not to undertake the family profession, writing poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • The History and Future of the OED
    The History and Future of the OED Thank you very much for the honour you have given me. I am delighted to be here, and hope that I can keep you entertained: there are odd, interesting, and sometimes even amusing people and anecdotes in the long history of the Oxford English Dictionary. As you know, the OED is the largest English dictionary in existence, consisting of 12 volumes and a Supplement in the first edition of 1933, and 20 volumes in the second edition of 1989. There is however often misunderstanding: “the OED”, especially in the media, becomes a generic name given to all Oxford dictionaries. The second edition takes up over a metre of shelf space and weighs 62.6 kilos, and it is therefore very funny to find a statement in a novel that somebody, in a rage, “hurled the OED across the room”!) The Dictionary was called The New English Dictionary (or NED) until 1933, when its name was officially changed to the OED. A dictionary “on historical principles”, it tells the story of each word from its beginnings to the present by using quotations from printed literature, newspapers, and journals—quotations which enable editors to discover the meaning or meanings of a word, to establish the date at which it seems first to have entered the language, and, arranged chronologically, to illustrate its usage through time for the reader. 1. The Context for the OED The earliest English word lists were 16th-century bilingual glossaries of Latin, Italian, or French words. The first true monolingual English dictionary, Robert Cawdrey’s Table Alphabeticall of 1604, had the aim of helping and enlightening what he called “Ladies, Gentlewomen, or any other all unskilfull persons” with the “hard vsuall English wordes”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Place of the Personal Estimate in the Critical Theories of Certain Nineteenth- Century Critics
    THE PLACE OF THE PERSONAL ESTIMATE IN THE CRITICAL THEORIES OF CERTAIN NINETEENTH- CENTURY CRITICS by John ?ifinStanley Bilsland A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in th© Department of ENGLISH We accept this thesis as conforming to the standard required from candidates for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS. Members: of the Departmen;t of THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA OCTOBER, 1951 The Place of the Personal Estimate in the Critical Theories of Certain Nineteenth- Century Critics The thesis covers the critical theories of eight English critics of the nineteenth century: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quineey, Arnold, Pater, and Wilde. I have first defined the personal estimate as "that estimate of art in which the nature of the critic as an individual man has influenced his judgment.w I recognize that all criticism mast have something of the personal estimate in it, hut the true critic will, as much as possible, cleanse his criticism of it in order to reveal the nature of the work of art as in itself it really is. I have then analyzed the theories of Wordsworth and Coleridge in order to indicate that the basis on which they established Romantic criticism is one of personal emotion - first in the poet, and then in the reader - and personal pleasure. In the theories of Lamb, Hazlitt, and De Quineey I have traced the development of impres• sionism in Romantic criticism, and the degree to which that impressionism leads these three men to a personal estimate of literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Sara Coleridge: Poems and Their Addressees Peter Swaab 1 ______
    From The Coleridge Bulletin The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge New Series 33 (NS) Summer 2009 © 2009 Contributor all rights reserved http://www.friendsofcoleridge.com/Coleridge-Bulletin.htm Sara Coleridge: Poems and Their Addressees 1 Peter Swaab ____________________________________________________________________________________________ I OST OF Sara Coleridge’s poetry remained unpublished in her lifetime, a M situation she shares with many poets in the long Romantic period, from Blake to Emily Bronte. Often her readership extended no further than her immediate family. Her verses would be first read or heard by addressees linked by family ties—her cousin Henry Nelson Coleridge when during their long courtship he opened his fiançée’s letters, her children Herbert and Edith Coleridge when their mother read to them. Later, in her widowhood, her crucial addressee was the young Irish poet Aubrey de Vere, again generally within letters, and she seems to have wistfully entertained the romantic prospect of making him part of the family too. Some poems were hidden from all other eyes, even family ones, in private notebooks perhaps meant to be found after her death. A number of her poems did make it into print, but without a blazon of attribution to Sara Coleridge. Thirty-five were included in the children’s book Phantasmion, but this was an anonymous publication, and the poems were songs of figures in the story. A few appeared in her lifetime in editorial footnotes and addenda, in for instance the 1848 sixth edition of Aids to Reflection (and only there), or the 1849 second edition of Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit,2 only visible as her poetry to readers with the curiosity or stamina to trace them back to her editorial pen.
    [Show full text]
  • Grief and Consolation in Sara Coleridge's Poems
    From The Coleridge Bulletin The Journal of the Friends of Coleridge New Series 33 (NS) Summer 2009 © 2009 Contributor all rights reserved http://www.friendsofcoleridge.com/Coleridge-Bulletin.htm Suffering Servant: Grief and Consolation in Sara Coleridge’s Poems Jeffrey W. Barbeau ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ARA COLERIDGE’S poems explore the relationship between earthly S suffering and heavenly, divine comfort. Two years ago at this conference I argued that Sara Coleridge is the consummate theologian of the heart—a thinker devoted to the integral power of the wholly active mind perceiving the relationship between nature and the supernatural.1 I maintained that Sara is one of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s most intentional disciples, seeking to develop his theology not merely as a defense, but as an extension of a system of thought that she regards as truth. In this paper, I wish to extend my portrait of Sara’s work by turning to the matter of grief and consolation, chiefly through her poetic compositions. Sara knew many of the deepest pains of life, most notably through a series of losses due to untimely deaths, an experience she shared with many Victorians in England. Sara’s pains were legion: the frailties of childhood that led her to study in her Uncle Southey’s library, the distance from her father in youth that seems in some sense to have weighed on her throughout her life, and more seriously the loss of three children in infancy, the early death of her husband Henry Nelson Coleridge, the sudden passing of her mother Sara Fricker Coleridge, as well as her own adult illnesses—including severe depression, opium addiction, and a slow, painful deterioration from breast cancer—that led to her own untimely death at the young age of forty-nine.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses Ars biographica poetica: Coleridgean Imagination and the Practical Value of Contemplation CHEYNE, PETER,ROBERT How to cite: CHEYNE, PETER,ROBERT (2014) Ars biographica poetica: Coleridgean Imagination and the Practical Value of Contemplation, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10754/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Ars biographica poetica: Coleridgean Imagination and the Practical Value of Contemplation Submitted by Peter Robert Cheyne For the degree of Ph.D. in Philosophy, Durham University, 2014 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, who requests that no quotation from it be published without the author’s prior written or e-mailed consent ([email protected]) and that information derived from it be acknowledged. 1 This work is dedicated with love and prayers for my wife, Sachie Francesca, and our children, Maria Matsumi, Angus Keita, and Martha Taylor.
    [Show full text]
  • Sara Coleridge (1802-1852)
    Sara Coleridge (1802-1852) Poet, editor, translator, author of children's literature and fairy tales, Sara Coleridge, born on 22 December 1802 in Keswick, in the Lake District, was the only daughter and youngest child of Sara Fricker and Samuel Taylor Cole­ ridge. Because her parents were estranged for almost all of her childhood, she never lived with her father for much more than a few weeks at a time, and he sometimes allowed years to elapse between letters. While he lived in London, she lived with her mother in Greta Hall, in Keswick, the home of her uncle, Robert Southey. She would later admit that she had known both William Wordsworth and Southey better than she had known her father. Although her father was hardly an attentive parent, Sara did impress him; after his final visit to Keswick, in February 1812, he wrote of her: "Little Sara [then nine years old] ... reads French tolerably & Italian fluently, and I was astonished at her acquaintance with her native Language. The word 'hostile' occurring in what she read to me, I asked her what 'hostile' meant? And she answered at once-Why! inimical: only that inimical is more often used for things and measures, and not, as hostile is, to persons & nations .... [S]he is such a sweet-tempered, meek, blue-eyed Fairy, & so affectionate, trust­ worthy, & really serviceable!" 1 Before long, she was also learning Latin and Spanish (she would later learn Greek and German), continuing her voracious reading in the Southeys' extensive library, and becoming a talented musician. John Murray published her first book when she was nineteen, a three-volume translation from the Latin of Martin Dobrizhoffer's An Account of the Abi­ phones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay.
    [Show full text]
  • Edith Coleridge
    Edith Coleridge: An Inventory of Her Collection at the Harry Ransom Center Descriptive Summary Creator: Coleridge, Edith, 1832-1911 Title: Edith Coleridge Collection Dates: 1835-1911, undated Extent: 1 box (.42 linear feet), 1 galley folder (gf), 1 oversize folder (osf) Abstract: Includes letters and manuscripts written by Edith Coleridge, daughter of Sara Coleridge and Henry Nelson Coleridge, and the granddaughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Present are memoirs for and recollections of various members of the Coleridge family, as well as a number of family letters. Also present are a few personal items, including a diary of a trip, a passport, and a scrapbook. Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-0856 Language: English, French Access: Open for research Administrative Information Processed by: Joan Sibley and Jamie Hawkins-Kirkham, 2011 Note: This finding aid replicates and replaces information previously available only in a card catalog. Please see the explanatory note at the end of this finding aid for information regarding the arrangement of the manuscripts as well as the abbreviations commonly used in descriptions. Repository: The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center Coleridge, Edith, 1832-1911 Manuscript Collection MS-0856 2 Coleridge, Edith, 1832-1911 Manuscript Collection MS-0856 Works: Diary of a trip to the continent, initialed handwritten manuscript in notebook, 69 Container pages, 2 August 1856. 1.2 Goethe. Aus meinem lebens, dichtungs, und wahrheit, translated by Edith Coleridge, Container handwritten manuscript, 3 pages, undated. 1.1 The Mark and the prize: a Bible-chair lesson, initialed handwritten manuscript, 7 pages, undated. Memoir and letters of Sara Coleridge, galley proofs with handwritten corrections, 2 Container pages, undated.
    [Show full text]