Samuel Taylor Coleridge “The Eolian Harp”
Coleridge was a man unlike any other, he was a man of his own will, who paved his owns roads by trial and error. Coleridge was married to a woman named sara Fricker but that marriage was unhappy, and so in the 1800’s he followed Wordsworth to the Lake District where he fell in love with another woman names Sara, in which was Wordsworth’s future wife’s sister. Needless to say this led to Coleridge being estranged from his wife. During this time Coleridge suffered from rheumatic pain and became addicted to laudanum (opium dissolved in alcohol).
In my further interpretation of this poem I was slightly confused as to which Sarah he was referring to, but I will assume that it is the first Sara considering that this poem was published in 1796 right before he met the second Sara. Obviously he used to be madly in love with his then wife in order to write such a beautiful piece, and to describe his feelings for her in such intricate details.
“My pensive Sara! they soft cheek reclined
Thus on mine arm, most soothing sweet it is
to sit beside our cot, or cot o’ergrown
with white-flowered jasmin, and the broad-leaved myrtle
(Meet emblems they of innocence and love!)”
(pg.325, lines 1-5).
At the moment when he wrote this poem he must have been overwhelmed by his feelings for his wife Sara, and my how quickly do things change. I swear to me some men emotions are like on and off switches, if you can describe your feelings for someone so deeply how can you just grow apart. That seem to me as if it were more lust than love. I wonder how the Sara he ended up with felt when or if she read this piece, I know I would have felt a bit jealous. Knowing that passionately he described how he felt when he was holding her. I know Sara was probably a common name back then but I don’t know how much I would like the fact that he left another woman named Sara to be with me.
Leanne Holt are discussing. 
KB's Blog 
Leanne Holt 11:57 pm on July 6, 2010 Permalink |
The sad thing about the people of this era was that they married so young. I feel that they often rushed into a marriage at teh first sign of a crush. These feelings were probably thought of as love back then.
glancejc 8:54 pm on July 8, 2010 Permalink |
Kenisha,
OK comments and exploration of Coleridge’s life and poem. I wish you had discussed the end of the poem too, though, because it has better clues to the relationship between the poet and his wife.