The Hard Life of Samuel Coleridge

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The Hard Life of Samuel Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on October 21, 1772 in Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire. He was the youngest of ten children and was often teased and bullied by the others. When he was 7 years old, Coleridge ran away from home. He was found unharmed the next morning. This event has recurred, in a literary sense, in a large portion of his writings. Many of his poems, sketches, and notebooks contained pictures and descriptions of his night spent outdoors. Although it was evident that Coleridge was a prodigy, he did not do well at a young age because he lost himself in women, drugs, and alcohol. He turned to the army, but this too fell through for him because his family was furious and his brother had him released for reasons of insanity. He immediately brought him back to Cambridge. It was here that he met William Wordsworth (Ashton 29).

In 1797, Coleridge published "Poems" which was well liked. This excited him because he thought that this would begin his road to success. One year later, Wordsworth and Coleridge had their famous "Lyrical Ballads" published. Coleridge's "The Ancient Mariner," opens the book. Many people believe that the work the two men did together greatly contributed to the creation of the Romantic Period. It was chosen to open the book because of its powerful descriptions about remorse. This, combined with the element of psychological obsession, may have had a lot to do with his younger years. In several ways, Coleridge's life experiences seem to have a lot to do with his poem, "Frost at Midnight."

However brilliant, Coleridge was not necessarily a happy man. In 1802 he wrote to Southey: "All my poetic genius is gone, and I have been fool enough to suffer deeply in my my mind, regretting the loss, which I attribute to my long and exceedingly severe metaphysical investigations, and these partly to ill-health, and partly to private afflictions..." (Watson 3). He, like many, was going through a tough period in his life. His poem, "Frost at Midnight," is an excellent example of his attempts to find hope in his life. He wrote this poem for his son, Hartley.

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