‗THE BALANCE OR RECONCILIATION OF OPPOSITE OR DISCORDANT QUALITIES‘: POLITICAL TENSIONS AND RELIGIOUS TRANSITIONS IN THE WORKS OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE KATHRYN ELIZABETH BEAVERS A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Greenwich for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2011 DECLARATION I certify that this work has not been accepted in substance for any degree, and is not concurrently being submitted for any degree other than that of PhD being studied at the University of Greenwich. I also declare that this work is the result of my own investigations except where otherwise identified by references and that I have not plagiarised another‘s work. Student: 31 May 2011 Supervisor: 31 May 2011 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who have supported me in various ways over the course of my PhD, whom I would like to take a moment to thank here. Particularly, I would like to thank my family for their continual support and encouragement: Jon, for enduring my thesis-related mood-swings and crises over the last seven years, whilst also simultaneously handling his own; Mum and Dad, for their sustained financial and emotional support; Granddad, for his enthusiastic support in the early stages of my PhD; Sarah and Adam, Mike and Chris, for their sustained interest and encouragement, especially valued at times when the going was rough; and Jan and Gordon, for their continued and sustained interest in many areas of my life, in addition to my thesis. I would particularly like to express my gratitude to Gordon for his sound advice, and constructive criticism and suggestions, as well as his willingness to transfer his interest and abilities from aeronautical engineering to Romantic poetry. I would also like to express my gratitude to my colleagues Catherine and Liz for their continued support and flexibility regarding my PhD, especially in its latter stages, during what has been a very difficult and stressful period at work; and to David for his sound and timely advice regarding the viva, and his sustained interest in the progress of my PhD in general. Thanks are also due to The Friends of Coleridge and The Charles Lamb Society, who have awarded me bursaries over the course of my PhD. This has enabled me to attend the Cannington Summer Conference and the Kilve Study Weekend for the last seven years. This experience has proved invaluable in allowing me to network with people with whom I have been able to discuss, and then subsequently refine, my research. Finally, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor John Williams, and to express my immense gratitude for his never-ending patience, his sustained and enthusiastic critique and crafting of my work, and for guiding my research and curiosity over the last seven years. I am immensely grateful to John for continuing to supervise me following his retirement in 2010, and for seeing my PhD through to the end. iii ABSTRACT My thesis considers the profound effect of the all-pervading late Eighteenth-Century revolutionary climate on the evolving religious and political views of the young Coleridge, and their expression through his published works from 1794-1800. I consider how Coleridge‘s continuing use of religious imagery evolved, following his transition from the established tradition of Dissenting religion, towards a more personal form of Dissent, grounded in Pantheism. Chapter One considers how Coleridge‘s sonnets, lectures and periodical (The Watchman) of 1794-5 articulated his developing radical political and Dissenting religious views. Fundamental to Coleridge‘s views was a notion of the Establishment Anglican Church as a hollow Christian sham, needing a spiritually renewed form of religion to bring it back to God. Chapter Two compares Religious Musings and Fears in Solitude, examining how Coleridge‘s political and religious views matured in the intervening four years. I also focus on iconic and archetypal figures featured in The Wanderings of Cain, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Christabel. A key figure is the Wanderer, who appeared in different guises in Coleridge‘s works of this period. I also examine the protean nature of Geraldine, from Christabel, as a rare female manifestation of the Wanderer, as well as the iconic and archetypal guises of serpent, Lamia, Lilith, and succubus. Chapter Three considers Coleridge‘s exploration of the relationship between power, politics, and religion, in his translation of Schiller‘s Wallenstein trilogy, through a comparison of Wallenstein and the archetypal figures of Satan and Faust. I consider how Coleridge has used the vehicle of translation as a creative space, allowing him to articulate and develop his changing religious and political opinions. The notion of translation as creation has not previously been considered. Chapter Four examines Coleridge‘s influence on second-generation Romantic Period writers, specifically Mary Shelley. I discuss the evidence for Coleridge‘s influence on her novels and short stories, also drawing attention to her religious and political expression in microcosm, compared with Coleridge‘s macrocosmic political views. iv CONTENTS Declaration Page ii Acknowledgements Page iii Abstract Page iv Introduction Page 1 Chapter One - A Revolutionary Setting Page 6 Chapter Two - Icons and Archetypes Page 65 Chapter Three - Coleridge and Schiller: Politics, Religion and the Page 120 Romantic (anti-) Hero in the Wallenstein Trilogy Chapter Four – Coleridge‘s Influence on Mary Shelley‘s Literary Page 168 Life Conclusion Page 203 Bibliography and References Page 216 v INTRODUCTION …there are but two subjects worthy the human intellect – politics and religion, our state here, and our state hereafter... (Patton and Mann: 1971: 314) Coleridge‘s formative years coincided with a period of great international social unrest. The period 1772-1797 was punctuated by independent uprisings across the world, all of which shared the common factor of the attempted, but not always successful, seizure of power from the authorities by the oppressed. This all-pervading climate of revolution, and social and political unrest, had a profound effect on the young Coleridge and influenced many of his early works, thoughts and ideas. Even as an adolescent, Coleridge was very aware of, and greatly interested in, the religious, social and political climate in which he lived. The influence of the Enlightenment meant that many of these religious ideas in particular were being questioned. Fundamental to Coleridge‘s position is a notion of the Establishment Church of England as a hollow Christian sham, needing a centralised form of religion to bring it back to God. The story of Coleridge‘s early life is well known, along with its highly religious overtones. The youngest son of an Anglican vicar, Coleridge was born in the vicarage of St Mary‘s parish church, Ottery St Mary, in 1772. Following the death of his father in 1781, Coleridge was sent away to the Christian charity school, Christ‘s Hospital, from which he progressed to study at Cambridge University. At this time, Cambridge University was still an orthodox Christian institution, but elements of Dissent were beginning to creep in, notably in the person of William Frend, Coleridge‘s tutor. The main aim of my thesis is to consider how Coleridge‘s religious and political views influenced, and were incorporated into, his early works. Through examining the expression of Coleridge‘s varying religious and political beliefs and ideas in his works, I consider whether Coleridge eventually synthesised or reconciled them, given that they were influenced by the secularist tendencies of Enlightenment rationalism. Coleridge‘s radical poetic rhetoric was founded in the rhetoric of religious Dissent; for Coleridge the two were inseparable. This is a reminder of the significant part religion played in the development of English radicalism in the 1790‘s. The thesis is divided into the following areas: 1 Chapter One, ‗A Revolutionary Setting‘, focuses on the political and social history of the late Eighteenth century, concentrating on Coleridge‘s early life, and his response to the world around him. I focus on the impact which the American Declaration of Independence, the French Revolution, and the onset of the Industrial Revolution had on the works and opinions of the young Coleridge. Religion is introduced as an inescapable fact of Coleridge‘s life. Through his works, he interprets both the Old and New Testaments in ways that substantiate his own political theories of the time, falling back on earlier historical or biblical events to corroborate those of the present day. I consider how Coleridge‘s changing religious beliefs remained central to his works of this period of transition from the politically radical sonneteer of 1794, whose language is largely, if not wholly, derived from a late Eighteenth century vocabulary of sentimental and sensationalist popular poetry, to the accomplished and more cautious composer of poems such as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and ‗Fears in Solitude‘, both published in 1798 , where Coleridge‘s more mature poetic voice is seen developing alongside his changing views. In doing so, I consider Coleridge‘s continuing use of religious imagery coupled with his transition from the established tradition of Dissenting religion into a more personal idiosyncratic form of Dissent grounded in Pantheism derived from his reading of German philosophy. To illustrate Coleridge‘s quest to find his own voice, both as a poet and in terms of articulating his changing theories on politics and religion, I consider a range of Coleridge‘s early works. All quotations from Coleridge‘s works are taken from the Bollingen Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, unless otherwise stated in the text. The primary sources on which I focus in this chapter are the ‗Sonnet on Pantisocracy‘; ‗On the Prospect of Establishing a Pantisocracy in America‘ (still of uncertain authorship); the Sonnets on Eminent Characters; the lectures on politics and religion and other lectures delivered in 1795; and finally The Watchman (also 1795).