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The Nemesis of Coleridge and Wordsworth's Friendship

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The Nemesis of Coleridge and Wordsworth's Friendship University of Lisbon Faculty of Letters Department of English Studies Christabel – The Nemesis of Coleridge and Wordsworth’s Friendship Milan Jovanović Master Course in English Studies English Literature 2009 University of Lisbon Faculty of Letters Department of English Studies Christabel – The Nemesis of Coleridge and Wordsworth’s Friendship Dissertation of the Master Course in English Studies, presented at the Faculty of Letters of University of Lisbon. Mentored by Professor Alcinda Pinheiro de Sousa. Milan Jovanović Master Course in English Studies English Literature 2009 To my family and friends i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am eternally grateful to the following people in realizing this thesis: to my parents, Radoljub and Dragica, for their endless love and support during the most difficult times of our lives in war-torn Yugoslavia; to my brother, Dragan, for his professional perspective in understanding the psychological implications of this thesis; to my Portuguese family, Maria Margarida and Maggie, for their outstanding and generous kindness and love, without which none of this would have been possible; to my English colleagues, Joanna and Luis, for their help in proofreading the text; to all my friends for their sincere friendship and needed technical support; to the professors I worked with during my Master course; and last, but not the least, to my professor and mentor, Alcinda Pinheiro de Sousa, who believed in me, and who, with wisdom and genuine dedication, guided me in writing this thesis. To all of you, I thankfully dedicate this dissertation. ii RESUMO Embora actualmente Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834), poeta inglês da época romântica, seja celebrado como uma das figuras públicas mais importantes do seu tempo, a sua vida profissional e privada é prova de que este estatuto nem sempre o acompanhou durante a vida. Frequentemente criticado pelos seus pares contemporâneos, viu como os seus poemas, em particular Christabel (1816), eram geralmente incompreendidos e rejeitados como sendo pouco merecedores da sua autoria. O poema Christabel, foco da nossa atenção nesta dissertação, funcionou como nemesis, como inimigo-mor, razão pela qual (entre outras) a amizade entre Coleridge e o seu melhor amigo, William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850), começou a definhar. Duas ideias fundamentais levaram-nos a escrever esta tese. A primeira diz respeito à natureza da amizade entre Coleridge e Wordsworth. Enquanto representantes do Romantismo inglês, marcaram o final do século XVIII e o início do século XIX. Coleridge e Wordsworth tornaram-se amigos íntimos em 1797, e esta amizade, considerada das mais relevantes na literatura inglesa, deu origem a uma colecção comum de poemas, as Lyrical Ballads (1798), cuja publicação marca o princípio do Romantismo em Inglaterra. Daí que esta amizade, e as complexidades que lhe são subjacentes, constituam a motivação da nossa investigação. A segunda ideia directriz, envolvendo directamente tanto Coleridge como Wordsworth, é, de facto, o poema inacabado de Coleridge, Christabel. É um poema que tencionavam incluir em último lugar na segunda edição das Lyrical Ballads (1800). Infelizmente, mesmo antes da impressão dessa edição, Wordsworth decidiu excluí-lo. Esta decisão teve um efeito devastador sobre Coleridge, tanto do ponto de vista poético como psicológico. Profundamente perturbado pela reacção de Wordsworth, entre outras razões, Coleridge tornou-se viciado no ópio até ao fim da vida, lamentando-se que os seus poderes poéticos tinham desaparecido. Assim, Christabel tornou-se numa verdadeira vingança na vida de Coleridge, num destruidor indesejado daquela amizade, que, à semelhança de uma maldição ou de um feitiço, atormentou Coleridge pela vida fora. Tendo em consideração tanto a amizade entre Coleridge e Wordsworth, como o poema da autoria de Coleridge, Christabel, propomos a actual dissertação, que se encontra dividida em duas partes. A primeira parte, intitulada ‘Auto-Confiança Readquirida’, explora a natureza iii da amizade entre Coleridge e Wordsworth ao longo de três fases distintas. Na primeira secção olhamos para o começo da sua amizade; na segunda, para o conceito das Lyrical Ballads dos dois poetas; e, finalmente, na terceira secção, centramo-nos na obra Biographia Literaria, escrita por Coleridge. Tal como já referimos, a amizade entre Coleridge e Wordsworth teve um impacto forte na literatura inglesa da época romântica, e o poema Christabel foi escrito antes de esta amizade começar a definhar, mais precisamente no período de maior intimidade. Assim sendo, consideramos extremamente importante ilustrar exactamente em que consistia tal relação. Assim, na primeira secção da primeira parte desta dissertação, chamada ‘Caleidoscópio de Sentimentos’, propomo-nos contribuir para a análise dos primórdios dessa amizade. Os dois poetas eram vizinhos no oeste de Inglaterra – Coleridge vivia em Nether Stowey, Wordsworth em Alfoxden. Através de uma análise aprofundada deste período das suas vidas, pretendemos fornecer algumas provas daquilo que os aproximou, designadamente as suas visões partilhadas sobre poesia e o seu amor pela natureza. Foi nas colinas de Quantock que Coleridge e os Wordsworth começaram a dar frequentes passeios na natureza, um hábito a que se entregariam entusiasticamente durante o período em que a sua amizade foi mais forte. Foi precisamente nessa altura que os dois poetas perceberam a coincidência dos seus sentimentos e sensibilidades poéticas. Assim, o período das Quantocks, de 1797 a 1798, marcou a colaboração mais prolífica de Coleridge e Wordsworth. Na segunda secção, intitulada ‘O Projecto Comum e as Suas Implicações’, procuramos mostrar que não tardou muito que Coleridge e Wordsworth tivessem a ideia de compilar os seus poemas numa colecção anónima, que seria como que o culminar, ou o coroar, da sua escrita colaborativa – surgindo, assim, as Lyrical Ballads. Este projecto foi iniciado na esperança de render dinheiro suficiente para a viagem que tinham planeado fazer à Alemanha. Foi concebido como um volume anónimo de versos compostos pelos dois poetas, nos quais Wordsworth se centraria em temas da vida quotidiana, enquanto Coleridge exploraria o sobrenatural e os elementos irracionais. Esta distinção derivava dos interesses diferentes de cada um deles relativamente aos seus respectivos processos de construção imaginária. Esta secção concentra-se, portanto, nos elementos em torno do projecto das Lyrical Ballads, exemplificando a sua importância e, ao mesmo tempo, fornecendo a necessária ligação ao poema Christabel. iv Por fim, na terceira secção, denominada ‘Uma Cura pelas Palavras’, abordamos alguns aspectos da obra Biographia Literaria (1817), focando a nossa análise nas opiniões de Coleridge quanto à amizade entre os dois poetas, demonstrando em que pontos as suas filosofias divergiam. É nesta secção que pretendemos dar exemplos de alguns dos aspectos principais das ideias de Coleridge, relativamente a Wordsworth, no que toca à imaginação, à fantasia, ao poema, à poesia e à métrica, ideias essas que Coleridge expressou na sua Biographia Literaria. Entre outras coisas, Coleridge exprimiu nesta obra os seus sentimentos, há tanto tempo reprimidos, sobre as questões acima referidas, que eram aquelas em que até certo ponto diferia de Wordsworth. O que provocou a decisão de Coleridge de realizar o projecto da Biographia Literaria foi o prefácio de Wordsworth à colecção de poemas publicada em 1815. Ao exprimir publicamente as suas opiniões a respeito das diferenças entre si próprio e Wordsworth, em termos psicológicos, Coleridge ambicionava uma espécie de catarse, uma libertação que toda esta iniciativa poderia oferecer. A segunda parte desta dissertação, intitulada ‘Descrença Voluntariamente Suspensa’, centra-se no poema Christabel. Tal como terá sido demonstrado na primeira parte da tese, Christabel foi o poema que marcou o início do fim da forte amizade e colaboração produtiva entre Coleridge e Wordsworth. Assim, focamos nesta segunda parte os diversos aspectos do poema em si. Na primeira secção da segunda parte, chamada ‘Integridade Fragmentada’, discutimos alguns aspectos da forma fragmentária do poema Christabel. Pretendemos, com isto, levantar algumas questões sobre a ideia de fragmento, sobre o valor paradoxal que o próprio estado de incompletude acarreta. Esta discussão é de suma importância, em especial porque Coleridge vivia atormentado pela sua incapacidade de concluir o poema. Na verdade, como nunca o fez, achamos que esta questão deve ser levada em conta antes de procedermos à análise do poema em si. Sugerimos também várias hipóteses quanto à razão pela qual Coleridge nunca terminou o poema Christabel. Tão misteriosa quanto o próprio poema é a pergunta intrigante sobre a inspiração do poeta relativamente a Christabel, pergunta essa que continua por responder, assim como a problemática em torno da sua incapacidade de terminar este poema. Seguem-se a esta discussão as duas últimas secções, intituladas ‘Os Puros de Coração Traídos’ e ‘O Veredicto da Imaginação’, nas quais interpretamos as duas partes do poema, tendo em consideração diversas abordagens críticas. Procuramos revelar as dificuldades que v surgiram na análise do poema Christabel, reflectidas na incapacidade de académicos e críticos encontrarem respostas uniformes e universais para a miríade de questões levantadas pelo poema. A razão principal desta incapacidade é o facto de o poema nunca ter sido concluído, de modo que quem quer que tente encontrar o seu caminho só consegue embrenhar-se mais e mais no
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