Coleridge: Early Visions

Coleridge: Early Visions

Richard Holmes' intent in his biography on Coleridge is apparent from the opening pages. In fact, even his title implies his purpose of showing Coleridge as a visionary hero. In his preface Holmes clearly spells out his plan for achieving this purpose. He explains that much of the previous work done on Coleridge has focused on the more negative aspects of his life--his "opium addiction, his plagiarisms, his fecklessness in marriage, his political 'apostasy', his sexual fantasies, [and] his radiations of mystic humbug" (xv). Holmes sets out to write a different type of biography; his attempt examines Coleridge's "entire life in a broad and sympathetic manner" and reconciles his faults with the "extraordinary man" and the "extraordinary mind" (xv). In the process he hopes to show that Coleridge's visionary genius alone makes him "worth rediscovering" (xv). In this first volume of a planned two part biography, Holmes traces Coleridge's life up to the year 1804. Throughout his work he consistently emphasizes the spirit, energy, and unrelenting power of imagination that made Coleridge unique. He examines the highs and lows of his life and leaves his reader with both a vivid image of Coleridge, the man, and a number of questions and possibilities to ponder.

Holmes' structure and style are essential to his success at bringing Coleridge alive for his reader. His biography follows a traditional narrative structure, and his language is direct and unpretentious. This style brings a novelistic quality to the biography; it reads quickly and enjoyably. Holmes encourages his reader to forget all that he has heard about Coleridge in the past and discover him again as a fresh character in Holmes' story. Holmes moves quickly through the early part of Coleridge's life, stopping along the way to focus on specific instances which exemplify Coleridge's early intellectual and imaginative powers or which later influence aspects of his life or literary work. Holmes discusses Coleridge's enormous appetite for reading and the early age at which it began; he focuses on a specific night Coleridge nearly froze to death along the River Otter; and he examines the emotional and practical consequences of the death of Coleridge's father. Holmes repeatedly returns to these moments throughout the biography as they become relevant. In chapter four, with his discussion of Coleridge's friendship with Robert Southey and their plans for their utopian Pantisocratcy, Holmes makes a transition from Coleridge's youth to his adult literary life.