EMAIL<\/a> | SYLLABUS<\/a> | POLICIES<\/a> | QUESTIONS<\/a> | PRESENTATIONS<\/a> | JOURNALS<\/a> | PAPER<\/a> | FINAL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Assigned: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Biographia Literaria<\/em> (584-91 in Leitch, Vincent B. and William E. Cain, eds. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.<\/em> 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2010. ISBN 978-0-393-93292-8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. On 584, how does Coleridge compare the relative faults and merits of poets before his time (he seems to be referring to Metaphysical poets such as John Donne) and of his contemporaries or near contemporaries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. On 584, what does Coleridge write concerning any poem whose words can be rearranged? What is wrong with such a poem? What method of composition does his observation suggest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. On 584-85, how does Coleridge begin to differentiate \u201cfancy\u201d and \u201cimagination\u201d in this chapter? Look up online the etymological hints he provides \u2013 the Greek word phantasia<\/em> (\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03b1) and the Latin imagination.<\/em> What do they appear to mean? What does Coleridge\u2019s enlistment of Wordsworth and Milton as imaginative poets add to you understanding of the term \u201cimagination\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. On 584-85, what is \u201cthe only way to imitate without loss of originality\u201d (585)? Why? Against what doctrine of poetic creation is Coleridge writing here? How do you yourself conceptualize \u201coriginality\u201d? When do you consider a work of art original or not original? How important is that to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. On 585-86, Coleridge offers his famous definition of the imagination, which faculty or power he further differentiates into a primary and secondary mode. What is the primary mode \u2013 why does Coleridge resort to the Scriptures to define it, and what does this mode of imagination do? What is the secondary imagination \u2013 what does it do, and how is it related to the primary imagination? (Hint: the primary mode has to do with basic self-consciousness, and the secondary with poetic creativity — now spin out the definitions, starting with my simple statements and using some of Coleridge\u2019s language along with your explanation of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. On 586, Coleridge also concerns himself briefly with a capacity he calls \u201cthe fancy.\u201d What sort of operations does this faculty perform? Why is it of less interest to Coleridge than the power of imagination?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. On 586-87, what respective tasks does Coleridge say he and Wordsworth set themselves in agreeing to collaborate on the poems that became Lyrical Ballads?<\/em> What common goal does Coleridge suggest the two poets are trying to achieve in that work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. On 588-91, preparing the ground for a later differentiation of his own poetic theory from that of Wordsworth, Coleridge offers to explain what he means by \u201ca poem\u201d and \u201cpoetry.\u201d On 589, what \u201cfinal definition\u201d does Coleridge set forth concerning the first item: \u201ca poem\u201d? What are the key distinguishing qualities of a poem as opposed to ordinary prose or scientific treatises? How might Coleridge\u2019s definition be described as involving an organic<\/em> conception of the structure of literary works? (Look up the word \u201corganic\u201d if you\u2019re not certain of its precise meaning aside from common usages such as \u201cI sometimes buy organic food.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. On 589-90, how does Coleridge elaborate on his definition of what a poem is? What is the relationship of parts to parts in a \u201clegitimate<\/em> poem\u201d? How does a genuinely satisfactory poem engage the reader\u2019s attention with respect to its parts, and with respect to the whole? Why is the mind\u2019s progression in reading a poem best described as resembling \u201cthe motion of a serpent\u201d? By inference, what should a reader\u2019s mind not<\/em> be doing when that reader is engaged with a poem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. On 590-91, Coleridge turns his attention to explaining what poets are and what they do. What spiritual and perceptual benefits flow to readers when they enjoy the imaginative efforts of excellent poets? What transformative effect does poetry — the product of a poet\u2019s imagination \u2013 have upon a reader\u2019s mind and spirit? Consider also Coleridge\u2019s claim that imagination \u201creveals itself in the balance or reconciliation of opposite or discordant qualities\u201d (590): how does the list that follows this phrase help to explain what the imagination works with, and what it accomplishes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11. On 590, since we know that Coleridge believes Wordsworth to be possessed of poetic imagination in the highest degree, how does that author\u2019s poetry achieve \u201cthe balance or reconciliation of opposite or discordant qualities\u201d? And how might it be said that Wordsworth\u2019s poetry \u201cblends and harmonizes the natural and the artificial\u201d without exalting art over nature? Give an example or two of such accomplishments or qualities from Wordsworth\u2019s poems that you have read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12. On 591, how does the quotation from the Elizabethan author John Davies\u2019 poem Nosce Teipsum<\/em> reinforce the claims Coleridge has been making in favor of the dignity and vitality of imagination?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE QUESTIONS FOR E256 LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISMCHAPMAN UNIVERSITY, FALL 2012 Assigned: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Biographia Literaria (584-91 in Leitch, Vincent B. and William E. Cain, eds. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2010. ISBN 978-0-393-93292-8). From Biographia Literaria Part 1, Chapter 1 1. On 584, how does Coleridge compare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"wf_page_folders":[18],"class_list":["post-1131","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1131"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4801,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1131\/revisions\/4801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/academic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=1131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}From Biographia Literaria<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Part 1, Chapter 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Part 1, Chapter 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Part 1, Chapter 13<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Part 2, Chapter 14<\/h3>\n\n\n\n