Religious Musings

Last updated

Religious Musings was composed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1794 and finished by 1796. It is one of his first poems of critical merit and contains many of his early feelings about religion and politics.

Contents

Background

While staying in London over the 1794 Christmas season, Coleridge began writing Religious Musings. He continued to work on the poem for over a year and it was published in his 1796 collection of poems as Religious Musings: A Desultory Poem, Written on the Christmas Even of 1794. [1] This was the first true publication of the poem, but an excerpt was printed in his short lived paper The Watchman, [2] in the 9 March issue under the title "The Present State of Society". Also, Religious Musings was expanded with an addition just after its first publication. [3]

After finishing the poem in March 1796, Coleridge wrote to his friend Thomas Poole in April to say "I pin all my poetical credit on the Religious Musings." [4] In a letter to John Thelwall, a fellow poet with similar political views, he wrote in April, "I beg your acceptance of my Poems — you will find much to blame in them — much effeminancy of sentiment, much faulty glitter of expression. I build all my poetic pretentions on the Religious Musings". [5]

Poem

Religious Musings is a 420-line blank verse poem. The poem begins with a connection to John Milton's On the Morning of Christ's Nativity by referring to the narrator as a prophet. Along with this prophetic emphasis is a description of Christ's birth: [6]

This is the time, when most divine to hear,
The voice of Adoration rouses me,
As with a Cherub's trump: and high upborne,
Yea, mingling with the Choir, I seem to view
The vision of the heavenly multitude,
Who hymned the song of Peace o'er Bethlehem's fields!
Yet thou more bright than all the Angel-blaze,
That harbingered thy birth, Thou Man of Woes! [7]

— lines 1–8

Partway through the poem, the narrator introduces the idea of One Life: [8]

There is one Mind, one omnipresent Mind,
Omnific. His most holy name is Love.
Truth of subliming import! with the which
Who feeds and saturates his constant soul,
He from his small particular orbit flies
With blest outstarting! From himself he flies,
Stands in the sun, and with no partial gaze
Views all creation; and he loves it all,
And blesses it, and calls it very good!
This is indeed to dwell with the Most High!
Cherubs and rapture-trembling Seraphim
Can press no nearer to the Almighty's throne. [7]

— lines 105-116

As the poem progresses, the narrator lists those who work to use science and reason to help mankind, including Benjamin Franklin, called "Patriot Sage": [9]

From Avarice thus, from Luxury and War
Sprang heavenly Science; and from Science Freedom.
O'er waken'd realms Philosophers and Bards
Spread in concentric circles: they whose souls,
Conscious of their high dignities from God,
Brook not Wealth's rivalry! and they, who long
Enamoured with the charms of order, hate
The unseemly disproportion: and whoe'er
Turn with mild sorrow from the Victor's car
And the low puppetry of thrones, to muse
On that blest triumph, when the Patriot Sage
Called the red lightnings from the o'er-rushing cloud
And dashed the beauteous terrors on the earth
Smiling majestic. [...] [7]

— lines 224–237

The poem continues to introduce more of that elect group of individuals that are helping the world: [9]

  To Milton's trump
The high groves of the renovated Earth
Unbosom their glad echoes: inly hushed,
Adoring Newton his serener eye
Raises to heaven: and he of mortal kind
Wisest, he first who marked the ideal tribes
Up the fine fibres through the sentient brain.
Lo! Priestley there, patriot, and saint, and sage,
Him, full of years, from his loved native land
Statesmen blood-stained and priests idolatrous
By dark lies maddening the blind multitude
Drove with vain hate. Calm, pitying he retired,
And mused expectant on these promised years. [7]

— lines 364–376

The poem ends optimistically with images of nature: [9]

I discipline my young and novice thought
In ministeries of heart-stirring song,
And aye on Meditation's heaven-ward wing
Soaring aloft I breathe the empyreal air
Of Love, omnific, omnipresent Love,
Whose day-spring rises glorious in my soul
As the great Sun, when he his influence
Sheds on the frost-bound waters—The glad stream
Flows to the ray and warbles as it flows. [7]

— lines 412–419

Themes

Religious Musings deals with many political and religious issues with topics including the British Parliament, slavery, God and the French Revolution, property rights, and atheism. [6] One of the issues within the poem and in Coleridge's lectures in 1794 and 1795 was to criticize the notion that peace could be won during the French Revolution through aggressive action by England. [10] Also, the poem describes problems with society that include crime, prostitution, disease, and other forms of suffering. The poet can conquer these problems, but only in his own imagination. Changes to the text from the various versions remove the poem's original claim that individuals can better the world. He does praise those that help, including Newton, Hartley, Priestly, and others, but puts any notion of changing the world as more contemplative than actual. [11]

Many of the religious images are similar to those in the Book of Revelation, including an emphasis on a New Heaven and New Earth that would eventually come. [6] By using the Book of Revelation, Coleridge removes the possibility for a golden age from occurring after the French Revolution. [12] The poem also undermines the actuality of there being a golden age, as the concept becomes more of a contemplative act than any event that will actually happen. [13] However, there is the idea of atonement possible for humanity within the poem. The atonement present within the poem is through the use of imagination to realise that one's self is united to the rest of humanity, known as One Life. [14]

Critical reception

Coleridge's friend and schoolmate Charles Lamb wrote in 1796 to say, "I have re-read [Religious Musings] in a more favourable moment, and hesitate not to pronounce it sublime. If there be anything in approaching to timidity [...] it is the gigantic hyperbole by which you describe the evils of existing society." [15] He continues: "I have read all your Rel. Musings with uninterrupted feelings of profound admiration. You may safely rest your fame on it." [16] Later, Lamb told Coleridge to simplify the language within the poem. However, Wordsworth emphasised that some of the best lines were those that weren't simple. [17]

During the late 20th-century, Richard Holmes points out, in regard to the early reviews, that "it was the Miltonic pieces — 'Chatterton', 'Religious Musings', and 'The Songs of the Pixies' — which drew most comment, much of it favourable. But the praise was polite rather than perceptive; no reviewer was prepared to tackle the apocalyptic mixture of religion and politics in 'Religious Musings'". [12] A review for the 1796 Analytical Review declares that the poem is "chiefly valuable for the importance of the sentiments which it contains, and the ardour which they are expressed". [18] John Aikin's review in the 1796 Monthly Review argues that the poem "is reserved for the conclusion: and properly so, since its subject, and the manner of treating it, place it on the top of the scale of sublimity." [19] John Bowring, in an 1830 review in the Westminster Review discussing the One Life concept present within the poem, wrote, "If there has ever been a pure and true theology upon earth-a theology which can abide the strictest application of the rules of ratiocination to its evidences, and of the principle of utility to its influences, it is that inculcated in the 'Religious Musings'". [20]

In 1981, David Aers, Jonathan Cook, and David Punter view Religious Musings in terms of Coleridge's other political poems and claim, "Although the position arrived at by the end of 'France: an Ode' is recognisably different from, and, in an important sense, more decisive than the awkward social engagement of 'Religious Musings', the two poems can be read as different moments within the same poetic mode, a mode which can incorporate both Coleridge's radicalism and his withdrawal from political concerns." [21] Later, Rosemary Ashton claims that the poem "is little more than poeticized opinion, a blank verse, iambic pentameter runthrough of ideas familiar from his lectures and letters [...] Musings' is hardly an appropriate description of the sustained tone of righteous horror in the poem." [6] Richard Cronin argues that "the poem, as it subtitle acknowledges, signally fails to embody in itself the kind of whole that it celebrates. It remains a fragmentary poem that lauds the process by which fragments collapse into unity." [22] He continues, "Religious Musings is at once a poem spoken by a prophet, from a command height, and a poem made up of a series of bulletins scribbled down by someone caught up in the press of events, and the difficulty of defining whom the poem is spoken by is matched by the difficulty of deciding whom it is spoken to." [23]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ashton 1997, pp. 62, 84.
  2. ↑ Ashton 1997, p. 82.
  3. ↑ Cronin 2000, p. 22.
  4. ↑ Letter to Thomas Poole, 11 April 1796.
  5. ↑ Ashton 1997, qtd. pp. 83–84.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Ashton 1997, p. 84.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Coleridge 1921 pp. 108-125
  8. ↑ Ulmer 2001, p. 37.
  9. 1 2 3 Ashton 1997, p. 85.
  10. ↑ Ashton 1997, p. 79.
  11. ↑ Cronin 2000, pp. 22–23.
  12. 1 2 Holmes 1989, p. 114.
  13. ↑ Cronin 2000, p. 23.
  14. ↑ Perry 1999, p. 74.
  15. ↑ Lamb 1886, p. 95.
  16. ↑ Lamb 1886, p. 97.
  17. ↑ Holmes 1989, p. 121.
  18. ↑ Jackson 1996, qtd. p. 33.
  19. ↑ Jackson 1996, qtd. p. 37.
  20. ↑ Jackson 1996, qtd. p. 543.
  21. ↑ Aers, Cook and Punter 1981, p. 93.
  22. ↑ Cronin 2000, p. 21.
  23. ↑ Cronin 2000, p. 27.

Related Research Articles

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on 21 October 1772. The youngest of 14 children, he was educated after his father's death and excelled in classics. He attended Christ's Hospital and Jesus College, Cambridge. While attending college, he befriended two other Romanticists, Charles Lamb and Robert Southey, the latter causing him to eventually drop out of college and pursue both poetic and political ambitions.

"Monody on the Death of Chatterton" was composed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1790 and was rewritten throughout his lifetime. The poem deals with the idea of Thomas Chatterton, a poet who committed suicide, as representing the poetic struggle.

On Receiving an Account that his only Sister's Death was Inevitable was composed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1794, and deals with the death of Coleridge's step-sister Ann (1791), as well as that of his brother Luke (1790). A later poem, was written for Coleridge's friend Charles Lamb and seeks to comfort him after the loss of his sister.

Songs of the Pixies was composed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge during 1793. The poem describes Coleridge's summer vacation and his childhood home. It also incorporates Coleridge's own view of himself as a young poet.

Lines Written at Shurton Bars was composed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1795. The poem incorporates a reflection on Coleridge's engagement and his understanding of marriage. It also compares nature to an ideal understanding of reality and discusses isolation from others.

Ode on the Departing Year was composed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1796. The poem describes Coleridge's feelings on politics and religion, and it emphasises an idyllic lifestyle as an optimal way of living.

The Eolian Harp is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1795 and published in his 1796 poetry collection. It is one of the early conversation poems and discusses Coleridge's anticipation of a marriage with Sara Fricker along with the pleasure of conjugal love. However, The Eolian Harp is not a love poem and instead focuses on man's relationship with nature. The central images of the poem is an Aeolian harp, an item that represents both order and wildness in nature. Along with the harp is a series of oppositional ideas that are reconciled with each other. The Eolian Harp also contains a discussion on "One Life", Coleridge's idea that humanity and nature are united along with his desire to try to find the divine within nature. The poem was well received for both its discussion of nature and its aesthetic qualities.

Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement is a poem written by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1796. Like his earlier poem The Eolian Harp, it discusses Coleridge's understanding of nature and his married life, which was suffering from problems that developed after the previous poem. Overall, the poem focuses on humanity's relationship with nature in its various aspects, ranging from experiencing an Edenic state to having to abandon a unity with nature in order to fulfill a moral obligation to humanity. The discussion of man's obligation to each other leads into a discussion on the difference between the life of a philosopher and the life of a poet. By the end of the poem, the narrator follows the philosophical path in a manner similar to what Coleridge sought to do. The response to the poem from critics was mostly positive, with many of them emphasizing the religious aspects of the work in their analysis.

"This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison" is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge during 1797. The poem discusses a time in which Coleridge was forced to stay beneath a lime tree while his friends were able to enjoy the countryside. Within the poem, Coleridge is able to connect to his friend's experience and enjoy nature through him, making the lime tree only a physical prison, not a mental one.

Sonnets on Eminent Characters or Sonnets on Eminent Contemporaries is an 11-part sonnet series created by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and printed in the Morning Chronicle between 1 December 1794 and 31 January 1795. Although Coleridge promised to have at least 16 poems within the series, only one addition poem, "To Lord Stanhope", was published.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To Priestley</span> Sonnet by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"To Priestley" is a sonnet by Samuel Taylor Coleridge first published in the 11 December 1794 Morning Chronicle. Like most of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters, "To Priestley" addresses an individual Coleridge particularly admired; Joseph Priestley held many political and theological beliefs that Coleridge adopted during this time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To Fayette</span> Poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"To Fayette" was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 26 December 1794 Morning Chronicle as part of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters series. Coleridge, like other Romantic poets, viewed Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette as a hero of liberty for his part in the American and French revolutions. The poem coincides with Fayette's imprisonment in Austria, and he is treated as a martyr for liberty. The language Coleridge uses within the poem to describe Fayette and revolutions appears in many of his later works.

France an Ode was written by Samuel Coleridge in April 1798. The poem describes his development from supporting the French Revolution to his feelings of betrayal when they invaded Switzerland. Like other poems by Coleridge, it connects his political views with his religious thoughts. The Gothic elements of the poem connect the poem's style to many of his early poetic works.

The Fall of Robespierre is a three-act play written by Robert Southey and Samuel Coleridge in 1794. It follows the events in France after the downfall of Maximilien Robespierre. Robespierre is portrayed as a tyrant, but Southey's contributions praise him as a destroyer of despotism. The play does not operate as an effective drama for the stage, but rather as a sort of dramatic poem with each act being a different scene. According to Coleridge, "my sole aim to imitate the impassioned and highly figurative language of the French Orators and develop the characters of the chief actors on a vast stage of horrors."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To Pitt</span> Political poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"To Pitt" is a political poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 26 December 1794 Morning Chronicle as part of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters series. Describing William Pitt the Younger and his role as Prime Minister of Great Britain, the poem is one of the few in the series that is not about a hero of Coleridge. Instead, Pitt is described as Judas, the betrayer of Christ, because of, among other issues, his treatment of political dissidents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To Godwin</span> Poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"To Godwin" or "To William Godwin" was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 10 January 1795 Morning Chronicle as part of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters series. William Godwin was admired by Coleridge for his political beliefs. However, Coleridge did not support Godwin's atheistic views, which caused tension between the two. Although the poem praises Godwin, it invokes an argument that the two shared over theological matters. After the poem was written, the relationship between Coleridge and Godwin cooled and the poem was not reprinted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To Southey</span> Poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"To Southey" or "To Robert Southey" was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 14 January 1795 Morning Chronicle as part of his Sonnets on Eminent Characters series. Robert Southey became a close friend of Coleridge during the summer of 1794 and the two originally formed a plan to start an ideal community together. Although the plan fell apart, Coleridge dedicated the poem to his friend and emphasized Southey's poetic abilities. Following the poem, Coleridge further drifted from Southey and the poem was not republished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To Sheridan</span> Poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"To Sheridan" or "To Richard Brinsley Sheridan" was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in the 29 January 1795 Morning Chronicle. As the last poem running as part of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters series, it describes Coleridge's appreciation of Richard Brinsley Sheridan and his theatre talents. Coleridge, unlike most, preferred Sheridan's somber works over his comedies and emphasizes them within the poem. Coleridge also respects Sheridan's political actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To Lord Stanhope</span> Poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"To Lord Stanhope" is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It was published in his 1796 collection of poems. The subject, Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope, had originally shared political views with Coleridge, but as time passed, Coleridge's views gradually shifted. By 1803, Coleridge was claiming that he did not want the poem published anymore and that it was originally intended to mock those who held the beliefs which Coleridge had held years earlier. It is part of the Sonnets on Eminent Characters series, although it was not published in the Morning Chronicle unlike the others in the series. There is, however, a possible predecessor sonnet to the 1796 version that some editors have attributed to Coleridge.

<i>Poems on Various Subjects</i>

Poems on Various Subjects (1796) was the first collection by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, including also a few sonnets by Charles Lamb. A second edition in 1797 added many more poems by Lamb and by Charles Lloyd, and a third edition appeared in 1803 with Coleridge's works only. All three editions included poems in Coleridge's early Miltonic style, such as his Religious Musings and Monody on the Death of Chatterton, alongside lyrics and some of his first conversation poems, such as The Eolian Harp, in a style suggested by the works of William Cowper. The book was on the whole well received by reviewers; modern critics value it more for its shorter and lighter poems than for its formal set-pieces.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.