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The Development of the Concepts of Materialism and Idealism in the Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Ali Kamil Sadeq Al-Saffar School of English University of Leicester January 2018 The Development of the Concepts of Materialism and Idealism in the Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Ali Kamil Sadeq Al-Saffar Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to trace the development of the concepts of materialism and idealism in Coleridge’s poetry and philosophy. ‘Trace’, in this sense, signifies the poet’s interaction with earlier and contemporary schools of philosophy and how their thoughts and influences contributed to the gradual evolution of his poetic identity during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As such, the study will trace Coleridge's literary and philosophical development from his early engagement with classical literature and philosophy, particularly Plato, down to Neoplatonism which will be initially represented here by the two key figures of Thomas Taylor (1758-1835) and Ralph Cudworth (1617- 1688). The significance of this study lies in the renewed attention it will give to the poet’s endeavours to reform what he regarded as the constrictive influence of post-Lockean British philosophy. Furthermore, it attempts to show the poet's creative and causative abilities through which he has shown the possibility of synthesizing poetry and philosophy, mind and matter, in such a way that refutes the hypothesis of mind’s passiveness in front of mechanical nature. It will, therefore, demonstrate how Coleridge’s imagination invigorates the mind to transcend beyond the sphere of matter and nature itself. i Acknowledgements I have been inspired by Coleridge since my undergraduate years at the College of Arts/ University of Baghdad. Therefore, I am delighted to have been given the opportunity of completing a PhD thesis about him. I am indebted to the Iraqi ministry of higher education for helping me to realize this aspiration. I have accrued other debts of gratitude. First of all, I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor, Professor Philip J. Shaw, with whom I have never felt alone or without support. Thank you, Phil, for helping me to make the seeds of this project a mature ‘‘broad-breasted, old oak tree’’, for your patience and understanding, and for your wholehearted ‘‘Best wishes,’’ with which you sign off your encouraging emails. The College Postgraduate Development Fund at the College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities has generously awarded me five bursaries towards the costs of my participations in a variety of literary fora in York, Cambridge, Wales, Bristol, and Strasburg/ France. These participations enriched my experience and enhanced my self- confidence and presentation skills. I want to specifically thank Dr Kathy Baddiley- Davidson for her cheerfulness and efficient help. I like to express my gratitude to Dr Felicity James and Dr Julian North for their encouragement and willingness to speak with me about my project. Also I am grateful to Professor Tim Fulford and Dr Richard Berkeley for their invaluable comments and assistance as conference directors and as inspiring tutors. Thanks are also due to my colleagues at the School of English, specifically Dr Nisreen Yousef for her matchless congenial company, Rachel Evans, Sara Alzahrani, and Mona Albassam for their affections and cooperation with me. I am also indebted to the administrative staff of the School of English, particularly Stephanie Collins and Angela Hullait. Lastly, and of course by no means the least, I would like to heartily thank my beloved family in Iraq: my dear mother, my sisters Nahla and Hala. Thanks to the second most important person in my life, my wife Sarah and my adored children Alaq and Alhassan who offered me their best support, love, and care throughout my PhD journey. Thanks to my lovely nieces and nephews Duaa, Rafal, Dania, Hussein, Mohammed Ali, and Ibrahim for their kind wishes and sincere prayers. This thesis is respectfully dedicated to the heroes of Iraq, fallen and alive, who were combating terrorism during the time this thesis was written. ii Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. iii List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... iv Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 I. Thomas Taylor ........................................................................................................... 2 II. Ralph Cudworth...................................................................................................... 10 III. Thesis Structure ..................................................................................................... 14 Chapter One .................................................................................................................. 16 I. Coleridge and the Kantian Thought ......................................................................... 20 II. Coleridge, Kant, and Nitsch ................................................................................... 23 Chapter Two .................................................................................................................. 50 I. ‘‘Imitations of Du Bartas’’ ...................................................................................... 55 II. ‘‘Limbo: A Fragment’’: .......................................................................................... 57 III. ‘‘The Pang More Sharp Than All’’ ....................................................................... 61 IV. ‘‘Christabel’’ ......................................................................................................... 70 Chapter Three ............................................................................................................... 84 I. Hartley, ‘‘our Greatest Metaphysician’’ .................................................................. 94 II. Priestley’s Practical Necessitarianism: ................................................................... 97 Chapter Four ............................................................................................................... 115 I. Schelling’s Naturphilosophie: ............................................................................... 120 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 143 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 149 iii List of Abbreviations AR: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Aids to Reflection and the Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit. London: George Bell and Sons, 1884. BL: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Biographia Literaria. Ed. James Engell and W. Jackson Bate. 2 vols. Princeton: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983. CN: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Notebooks of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Ed. Kathleen Coburn. 5 vols. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962-90. CL: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Ed. Earl Leslie Griggs. 6 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956-71. EM: Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine 31(1819), October 1819. LG: The Literary Gazette or Journal of Belles Letters, Politics, and Fashion. 27, 26 July 1817. LR: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Ed. Henry Nelson Coleridge. London: William Pickering, 1839. LS: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Lay Sermons. Ed. R. J White. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972. MD: Joseph Henry Green. Mental Dynamics; Or, Groundwork of a Professional Education. London: William Pickering, 1847. OM: David Hartley. Observations on Man, His Frame, His Duty, and His Expectations. 2 vols. London: W. Eyres, 1801. PL: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Philosophical Lectures of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Ed. Kathleen Coburn. London: The Pilot Press Limited, 1949. Preface: William Wordsworth. Preface to the Lyrical Ballads. Ed. W. J. B. Owen. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1957. PW Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge. 3 vols. London: William Pickering, 1828. iv SL: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Sibylline Leaves: A Collection of Poems. London: S. Curtis, 1817. STI: F. W. J. Schelling. System of Transcendental Idealism. Trans. Peter Heath. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001. SW&F: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Shorter Works and Fragments. Ed. H. J. Jackson. 2 vols. London: Routledge, 1995. System: Ralph Cudworth. The True Intellectual System of the Universe. Trans. John Harrison. 3 vols. London: J. Haddon Printer, 1845. TT: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Specimens of the Table Talk. London: John Murray, 1874. Treatise: Ralph Cudworth. A Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality: With a Treatise of Freewill. Ed. Sarah Hutton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. VD: Joseph Henry Green. Vital Dynamics, The Hunterian Oration Before the Royal College of Surgeons in London, 14th February 1840. London: William Pickering, 1840. Works:
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