Do you think that the Romantic poets aren’t relatable because they lived in the 1800s? Think again! You think they’re too privileged to be relatable? Nahhh. Too conservative? Well, you’re kinda right. I’ll give you that one. Otherwise, you’d be wrong by saying Romantic poets can’t be relatable. For instance, take Coleridge’s conversation poems. One time he wrote the equivalent of a social media rant. Another time he wrote a heart-warming poem about how much he adores his baby. There are plenty of moments from Coleridge’s poems that modern readers can find relatable. In the spirit of that, here are the top 5 times Coleridge was actually really relatable.
5. That time he lowkey wrote a fear-mongering Facebook post
It’s no secret that our boy Coleridge was a little conservative. His poem, “Fears in Solitude,” contains strong patriotic and religious themes and at one point, he disapproves of anti-government beliefs—which is bit contradictory but whatever, we’ll let him off this time. After all, many aspects of “Fears in Solitude” are hallmarks of a modern liberal call-out post. First, there is liberal sentiment. Which in this case, is an anti-slavery sentiment. Also, it would not be far off the mark to say that he drops names to call-out those he thinks are corrupt. Both of these rhetorical choices are seen in this quote:
“Engulfed in Courts, Committees, Institutions,
Associations and Societies,
A vain, speech-mounting, speech-reporting Guild,
[…]
We have drunk up, demure as at a grace,
Pollutions from the brimming cup of wealth;
[…]
Yet battering freedom and the poor man’s life
For gold, as at a market!” (Coleridge 559–560)
Not only does he criticize those in power, he also gives a call to action to the common people about their pro-war attitude. This is where the fear-mongering comes in.
We join no feeling and attach no form!
As if the soldier died without a wound;
[…]
As though he had no wife to pine for him,
No God to judge him! Therefore, evil days
Are coming on us, O my countrymen! (Coleridge 560)
When you can’t get people to emphasize, you get people to care by scaring them. Who can blame Coleridge? Especially when it’s for a cause like anti-war and anti-slavery. I admit, it’s not the best persuasive strategy, but it’s one we’ve all used before. We have all had that social media moment where we just went off in a moment of fury and thought later, “Yikes, that was not a very logical argument.” However, no one can deny the power that comes from taking to social media to say what we think must be said. Spreading the messages that we think need to be heard makes us feel like righteous activists and I bet Coleridge felt the same way.
4. That time he gushed about how much he loves his kid 😭❤️
In “Frost at Midnight,” Coleridge makes connections between his childhood and what his baby’s childhood will look like. He says,
I was reared
In the great city pent ‘mid cloisters dim,
And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.
But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze
By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags
Of ancient mountains, and beneath the clouds,” (Coleridge 562).
This is so sweet that not much else needs to be said. Some things never change, even after hundreds of years. One of those things is what parents want for their kids. Coleridge wants to raise his child in an environment that’s more peaceful than the one he grew up in and he wants to show his child how beautiful the world can be. Who wouldn’t?
3. That time he gushed about how much he loves his wife 😭❤️😭❤️
Right from the beginning of “Eolian Harp,” Coleridge is simping over his wife.
My pensive Sara! thy soft cheek reclined
Thus on my mine arm, most soothing sweet it is
To sit beside our Cot [cottage], our Cot o’ergrown
With white-flower’d Jasmin, and the broad-leav’d Myrtle,
(Meet emblems they of Innocence and Love!) (Coleridge 558)
Coleridge goes on to wonder outloud about whether nature could be God. Sara “holily disprais’d / These shapings of the unregenerate mind;” and “biddest me [Coleridge] walk humbly with my God” (Coleridge 559). Coleridge immediately thanks God for all he has, including his wife.
From the way Coleridge abides by his wife’s wishes, I can tell that he was the type of guy to worship the ground his wife walked on. I love how Sara is characterized as this sensible, upright, woman who complements Coleridge’s poetic (and slightly sacrilegious?) side. Due to this dynamic, I bet Coleridge was always saying stuff like, “I don’t know what Sara saw in me! She’s so out of my league!” or “What did I do to deserve a woman like Sara?” If you have an S.O. whom you simp over, you can probably relate to Coleridge’s feelings towards Sara.
2. That time he pranked his friend James with Wordsworth
Did you know that Coleridge wrote the first stanza for “We Are Seven”? Wordsworth needed help with it and “Coleridge immediately threw off the stanza thus: — ‘A little child, dear brother Jem,’ — I [Wordsworth] objected to the rhyme, ‘dear brother Jem,’ as being ludicrous, but we all enjoyed the joke of hitching-in our friend, James T — ‘s name, who was familiarly called Jem” (Wordsworth 292). When James asked him not to publish the poem, Wordsworth went, “Nay! Said I, that [“We Are Seven”] shall take its chance, however, and he [James] left me in despair.”
I don’t blame James for wanting out. In “We Are Seven,” the narrator gets into an argument with a little girl about whether she should count her dead siblings in her family size. Not exactly a poem you want a shout-out in. We will never knew whether the dead-sibling topic had anything to do with James’ shout-out being “ludicrous,” but I like to believe that Coleridge and Wordsworth were just prankin’. It’s similar to the way people joke around during an inappropriate moment. Like when your friend says, “ShHHH, my Mom is calling. Hi, Mom—” and someone shouts, “DAMN JAMES, STOP SMOKING ALL THE WEED!” It’s funny to mess around with your friends. The humor of inappropriate situations is timeless, especially when you’re the one pranking, not the one getting pranked 😈
1. That time he had FOMO
Coleridge’s experience in “Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” is a typical case of FOMO. In the poem, Coleridge has a leg injury and has to stay behind while his friends visit a dell. He says,
This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost
Beauties and feelings, such as would have been
Most sweet to my remembrance even when age
Had dimm’d mine eyes to blindness! They, meanwhile,
Friends, whom I never more may meet again,
[…]
Wander in gladness, and wind down, perchance,
To that still roaring dell, of which I told; (Coleridge 576)
There is so much FOMO going on.
First of all, Coleridge thinks he is missing out on an experience that would comfort him at old age. We’ve all been there. We’ve all thought, “They must be having the time of their life. Oh my God. What if I’m missing out on the best time of my life?”
Then, Coleridge gets really dramatic. He thinks his friends might never come to visit again. This is fair because it was harder to travel back then, but it’s still relatable; when all your friends have conflicting work or school schedules, hang-outs come rarely. Missing out on one can seem like a catastrophe. Who knows when you’ll see your friends again?
Those are the top 5 times Coleridge was relatable! If there’s anything you should take away from this, it’s that 1800 problems are 2021 problems and that certain experiences transcend time, like simping over your wife, duh.
Works Cited
Black, Joseph Laurence. The Age of Romanticism. Broadview Press, 2018.
Wordsworth, William. “Poems by William Wordsworth.” Internet Archive, McClure Phillips,
1970, https://archive.org/details/poemsbywilliamw00wordgoog.
