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moved with the Morgans to marginal commentaries, and both Coleridge Memorial Project Calne in Wiltshire and entered Kubla Khan and Christabel - M5 uponaperiodofrenewed formerly Coleridge’s oratorical literary activity. party-pieces, were published at Cullompton the insistence of Lord Byron 28 In 1816 he returned to London who had been much impressed to try again to come to terms A373 Discover SamuelTaylor by them. with his opium addiction, A30 consultinganumberofeminent The Highgate years offered physicians before finally Coleridge some stability and becoming the house guest of Dr contentment. He holidayed in James and Mrs Anne Gillman in Ramsgate, becoming an Highgate.The Gillmans’ affection enthusiastic sea bather, and even Coleridge for Coleridge, and their success undertook in 1828 a nostalgic at managing his health issues, repeat of his German tour provided an environment secure with Wordsworth. B3177 and comfortable enough for the A375 His health, never robust, entered poet to remain with them for the B3174 a final decline in the early 1830s A30 rest of his days. and in spite of rallying to some 29 The publication of Sibylline extent in 1833, by the beginning Leaves and Biographia Literaria of the following year he was 30 confirmed his celebrity as a clearly very ill. leading writer, critic and talker. ColeridgediedatHighgateon A3052 The Ancient Mariner was now M5 25th July 1834. republished with additional

An Archangel, a little damaged. Ottery St Mary resources for visitors

Coleridge was often condemned by many of his contemporaries for Tourist Information Centre failing to fulfill his potential and of wasting his genius.They would 10a, Broad Street, EX11 1BZ Tel. 01404 813964 sometimes prefix their remarks with “Poor Coleridge, ...”. Charles Lamb, email [email protected] web: www.otterytourism.org.uk STC’s oldest friend and greatest admirer, objected to this:“He is a fine Ottery St Mary Town Council fellow,in spite of all his faults and weaknesses. Call him Coleridge - I The Old Convent, Council Offices, 8 Broad Street. Ottery St Mary, hate ‘poor Coleridge.’I can’t bear to hear pity applied to such a one.” EX11 1BZ Tel. 01404 812252 The passage of time has shown us with increasing clarity how email [email protected] fundamental his contribution to our modern cultural outlook has been, www.otterystmary-tc.gov.uk and how much we are indebted to him for his literary and cultural heritage. He left us with some sublime poetry and he helped to change the way we think about our relationship with the natural world. In this sense he was among the very first ‘environmentalists’. Published by the Coleridge Memorial Project, Fir Grove, Lower Broad Road, West Hill, Ottery St Mary, EX11 1UF. If there was anything about Coleridge that you discovered in Ottery © Coleridge Memorial Project, 2011. which caught your imagination, you may find yourself joining the More information is available at worldwide ranks of those who continue to find him a source of endless www.coleridgememorial.org.uk fascination and interest. His life and work are well worth pursuing. Start Photos: Wikimedia Commons, Google Books, Phyllis Baxter, at www.colerigememorial.org.uk or www.friendsofcoleridge.org.uk. Chris Wakefield, Peter Harris.

COLERIDGE An introduction to MEMORIAL The European Agricultural Fund PROJECT for Rural Development: ’s most famous literary figure is supported by Europe investing in rural areas. stc intro leaflet:Layout 1 6/12/11 15:00 Page 2

It was clear from his very early which set him apart from other His father was his preferred there was little hope of SamuelTaylor Coleridge years that Coleridge was not an children in Ottery.In his own companion and he would educating such a child prodigy ordinary child; at three years old words, he “became fretful, & accompany him around Ottery in Ottery St Mary,so she sent he could read a chapter in the timorous, & a tell-tale & the on parochial business. him to the Christ’s Hospital Coleridge was the youngest Ottery St Mary,a small market bible, and at seven he was reading School-boys drove me from play, School in London, where he child of the Reverend John and town in . John was the Arabian Nights. But it was far & were always tormenting me & When his father died in 1781, boarded and felt abandoned. Anne Coleridge who lived the vicar and also master of the from an idyllic childhood. He hence I took no pleasure in Coleridge was approaching nine opposite St. Mary’s Church in local Grammar School. was clever well beyond his years boyish sports but read incessantly.” years of age. His mother felt Poet & Philosopher (1772-1834) Portraits of a Poet 1796 - 1834

Front cover: Coleridge at twenty two. Far left: Coleridge at twenty six. Right (from left): aged twenty four; forty five; early fifties; sixty one; death mask.

Left: Coleridge’s birthplace (demolished 1884). Above: St Mary’s Church, Ottery. Alone, alone, all, all alone, Right above: The old King’s School; Christ’s Hospital School; Jesus Alone on a wide wide sea! College Cambridge. Right: Pixies’ And never a saint took pity on Parlour; Memorial plaque marking Coleridge’s birthplace; the River My soul in agony. OtteratHeadWeir.

A genius discovered radical scheme for the perfect At the end of 1797 Coleridge and illness, opium use and a passionate thesametimetryingtostayin remark caused a rift between society which he called Sara moved, with their 18 month but celibate involvement with Sara touch with his children and, less Coleridge and Wordsworth for It was at Christ’s Hospital he Pantisocracy.Southey’s old son Hartley,to Nether Stowey. Hutchinson (Wordsworth’s sister- frequently,his wife. First stop was over a year.Although things were discovered friendship and a gift connections drew Coleridge to Here he began his long association in-law) undermined his health and with the Wordsworths at patched up in time, they never for effortless, mesmerising oratory. where he established a with Wordsworth, and the two in 1804 he left for Malta to Coleorton and later Allen Bank fully restored their earlier reputation for radical political years at Stowey 1797-99 were the attempt a cure and general where he published a new,but friendship. He won a place at Cambridge, journalism and oratory, period during which his most restoration. short-lived, periodical called but very soon money troubles Coleridge remained in London eventually attracting the famous poetry was written. The Friend. drove him out of the university, unwelcome attention of the Returning from Malta Coleridge and moved in with the Morgan and briefly into the army.Then, government. In 1795 he married After a spell in Germany,he was unwilling to resume married Beset still by opium and drinking family - friends from his Bristol with Robert Southey - a future Sara Fricker and moved to returned and moved the family to life and embarked on a protracted too heavily,Coleridge was not an days - returning to journalism poet laureate - he devised a Clevedon on the coast. Keswick in the Lake District but search for a place to live, while at easy house guest, and a chance and lecturing. In 1814 he