Julys devonian

July's famous Devonian is Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher. Born in Ottery St. May on the 21st October 1772, he became one of the most 'Influential and controversial figures of the Romantic period'. [1]  

His signature. [2].

The son of a Reverend he entered Jesus college Cambridge in 1791, here he joined in the reformist movement stimulated by the French Revolution, and in 1793 he abandoned his studies.[3] He enlisted in the 15^th Light Dragoons under the name of Silas Tomkin, some say because of rising debts and issues in his love life. However, he soon he realized that he was unfit for an army career and he was brought out under 'insanity' clause by his brother.[4] In October of 1795 Coleridge married Sarah Fricker, and took up his residence at Clevedon on the Bristol Channel.[5] His close friend William Wordsworth married Sarah’s sister Mary in 1802. It was around 1796 that Coleridge started taking Laudanum as a pain-reliever, for ailments including toothache and facial neuralgia, this would soon become an disruptive addiction in Coleridge’s life.

Coleridge's career as a poet and writer were established after he befriended Wordsworth. Together they produced the Lyrical Ballads in 1798. Coleridge contributed four poems to the collections, including one of his most famous works, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', a 625 line ballad published in 1798. It tells the story of a sailor who kills an albatross and for this crime against nature the sailor suffers terrible punishments.

And every tongue, through utter drought,

Was withered at the root;

We could not speak, no more than if

We had been choked with soot. 

(II.33)

For most of his adult life Coleridge suffered with addiction to opium and laudanum, some of his works present supernatural themes and exotic images, perhaps related to his use of drugs.[6] His much-admired poem "Kubla Khan" was inspired by a dream vision in an opium-induced state. His addiction and pain led to near suicide, separation from his wife in 1808, and estrangement from his children.[7]

Coleridge died on the 25^th July 1834 from heart failure. He is buried at St. Michael’s Church, Highgate, London. Coleridge's legacy has been ‘tainted with accusations of plagiarism, both in his poetry and critical essays; he had a propensity for leaving projects unfinished and suffered from large debts. But, such was the originality of his early work, that his place and influence within the Romantic period is undisputed’.[8] 'Kubla Khan' and 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' are known as ‘two of the greatest poems in English literature and perfected a mode of sensuous lyricism that is often echoed by later poets’.[9]

Samuel Taylor Coleridge. [10].

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[1] BBC Arts, ‘The Romantics’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/coleridge.shtml. (Accessed 27/06/2012).

[2] Wikipedia, 'Samuel Taylor Coleridge', 2012. [Online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge. (Accessed 27/06/2012).
[3] Books and Writers, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’, 2008. [Online] Available from: www.kirjasto.sci.fi/coleridg.htm. (Accessed  27?06/2012).

[4] Books and Writers, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’, 2008. [Online] Available from: www.kirjasto.sci.fi/coleridg.htm. (Accessed 27/06/2012).

[5] NNDB Tracking the Entire World, 'Samuel Taylor Coleridge', 2012. [Online] Available from: www.nndb.com/people/852/000024780/. (Accessed 27/06/2012).

[6] BBC Arts, ‘The Romantics’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/coleridge.shtml. (Accessed 27/06/2012).

[7] New World Encyclopaedia, ‘Samuel Taylor Coleridge’, 2012. [Online] Available from:  www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge. (Accessed 27/06/2012).

[8] BBC Arts, ‘The Romantics’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/coleridge.shtml. (Accessed 27/06/2012).

[9] Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition, ‘Samuel Taylor Coleridge’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/125261/Samuel-Taylor-Coleridge. (Accessed 27/06/2012).
[10] Wikipedia, 'Samuel Taylor Coleridge', 2012. [Online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge. (Accessed 27/06/2012).