S.T.COLERIDGE

Introduction :-

" No one before him in England had brought such mental breadth to the discussion of aesthetic value."

                                                      - Cazemion

 S.T.Coleridge has been considered as the leading literary critic of the romantic age. He is the first critic whose critical aspects are based on philosophy. His important critical observations are found in his works like ' Biographia Literaria', ' Literature on Shakespeare ', ' The Talle Talk' etc. He was the first critic who resolved the age old problem of the form and content of poetry. His most original contribution in criticism is his theory of imagination. Let's get information about it.

Biographia Literaria :-

 It is a discussion of elements of writing and what makes writing considered to be genius.

 In Biographia Litreria he discussed not literature but also many variables that influence and inspire writers. He expresses his own thoughts from a personal point of view. He tackles issues like politics, religion, social values and human identity. His treatment of these issues tend to be conservative in judgement and yet so blatant and original.

Coleridge's Theory of Imagination:-

Primary Imagination :-

          Primary Imagination acts dependently of human will. It represents the basic agency of human awareness. Primary imagination is something that is there in every human being because it is the living power of human perception. It is a common faculty of every human being. It enables us to separate, divide and order in order to make perception possible and to understand the unity of object.

         The primary imagination is a spontaneous creation of new ideas and they are expressed perfectly. Primary imagination, for Coleridge , is automatically balances and fuses the innate capacities and powers of  the mind with the external presence of the objective world that the one receives through the senses. Primary imagination is the consciousness , shared by all men while the secondary imagination is limited to poets.

Secondary Imagination :-

 Secondary  imagination is also known as " Esemplastic" imagination. Coleridge explained this property of the "Imagination" as " Esemplastic" , to " share into one " and to " convey a new sense". Coleridge in the 10th chapter of Biographia Litereria described this ability of the imagination as 'Esemplastic'. 

   Secondary imagination acts independently of human will. It represents the conscious use of human power. It is a creative gift possessed by the poet. Secondary imagination is rather symbolic , it produces a form it's own. It helps in understanding the unity of universal, like good, divinity , truth, moral. Secondary imagination selects and orders the raw material and reshapes and remodels it into objects of beauty.

Fancy :-

Coleridge distinguishes secondary imagination with fancy. He introduces his concept of fancy. Fancy is the lowest form of imagination because it has no other counter to play with but fixtures and definities. It constructs and memories. Fancy in Coleridge's eyes was employed for tasks that were passive and mechanical, the accumulation of the fact and documentation of what is seen.

  For Coleridge , Fancy is attribute of poetic genius but imagination is its soul. Fancy is a limited or false parallel of the secondary imagination.

Coleridge's views about poem and poetry :-

 

" A poem contains the same elements as a prose composition, the difference therefore , must consist in a different combination of that , the composition will be a poem, merely because it is distinguished from prose by meter or by rhyme.".    

                                S.T.Coleridge

The poem contains the same elements as a prose composition. But the difference is between the combination of those elements and objects aimed at in both the compositions. According to the differences of the object will be the difference of the combination. If the object of the poet may simply be to facilitate the memory to recollect certain artificial arrangement of words with the help of meters. As a result composition will be a poem, merely because it is distinguished from composition in prose by meter , or by rhyme. In this , the lowest sense, one might attribute the name of a poem to the well-known enumeration of the days in the several months;

     Thirty days hath September,

     April , June and November.

Thus, to Coleridge mere super addition of meter or rhyme does not make a poem.

Conclusion:-

It can be said that Coleridge's theory of imagination is the chief contribution in literary criticism. This theory modifies tradisional view of art as a mere imitation. It carries philosophical foundation. It opens new vista in the field of literary criticism too.