THE ENGLISH ROMANTIC PERIOD (1798-1837)
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)
Coleridge was born in Devonshire in 1772. He studied in London and Cambridge but left the university without taking his degree. In 1795 he met Wordsworth: the friendship and mutual influence of the two poets was important and productive for them both. A new period began in Colerdige’s life: the “Lyrical Ballads” were planned and the two friends agreed that Colerdige was to treat supernatural subjects, to illustrate the common emotions of humanity, while Wordsworth’s task was to show the real poetry that lies in commonplace subjects.
Colerdigesuffered from ill health all his life through and became an opium addict to soothe his pain, and in the tragic weakness that had taken possession of him he dispersed his exceptional talents of learning and intelligence. He worked as a private secretary, went to Rome, returned to London. In the last years of his life he seldom left his home.
Works. – THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER, which appeared in the “Lyrical Ballads”. The narrative is irrational, and though it develops in a supernatural territory of dreams and phantom ships, of Arctic seas and strange birds, it conveys a sense of absolute reality: the suggestion is highly stimulating and reaches the sensation of nightmare; the verse and melody are perfect. Towards the end there is an increasing moral anxiety which is more vividly evident in the remorse and sense of guilt of the Ancient Mariner, in his being condemned to remain an outcast (emarginato), than in the closing stanza reaffirming the duty of loving everything in the nature created by God.
KUBLA KHAN, a fragment of a longer poem that was never written.
CRISTHABEL, an unfinished tale about a virtuous girl.
BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA, about his life and opinions.
LECTURES ON SHAKESPEARE, a collection of lectures which gave a very important impetus to Shakespearian criticism.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (63 – 78)
(A great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality).
(Un grande uccello di mare, chiamato Albatros, giunse attraverso neve e nebbia, e fu accolto con grande ospitalità).
At length did cross an Albatross, Alla fine un Albatrospassò,
Through the fog it came; Uscitodallanebbia:
As if it had been a Christian soul, Come se fosse un’anima Cristiana
We hailed it in God’s name. Lo accogliemmo nel nome del Signore.
It ate the food it ne’er had eat, Ebbeilcibochemaiavevaavuto
And round and round it flew. E lungamente attorno volteggiò.
The icedidsplitwith a thunder-fit; Il ghiaccio si spaccò con un boato
The helmsman steered us through! E il timoniere nel varco ci portò!
(And lo! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice).
(Ed ecco, l’Albatros si dimostra uccello di buon augurio e segue la nave nel suo ritorno verso nord nella nebbia tra gli iceberg).
And a good south windsprung up behind; Dasud a poppa spiròventopropizio
The Albatrossdidfollow, Mentre l’Albatros ancora ci seguiva,
And every day, for food or play, E ognigiorno per gioco o per ilcibo
Came to the mariners’ hollo! Al richiamo dei marinai si abbassava.
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, Nella bruma o nella pioggia si posò per nove sere
Itperchedforvespersnine; All’albero o alle sartie.
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, Mentre la notte, trabianchivapori,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine. A tratti la luna scintillava.
Prua: parte anteriore di una nave a forma di cuneo più o meno acuto per fendere l’acqua.
Poppa: parte posteriore di una nave
Sartie: Ciascuno dei canapi (grosse funi fatte di canapa) che tengono ferma la cima dell’albero perché non crolli.