Coleridge: Early Visions :: Richard Holmes Biography Essays

Coleridge Early VisionsRichard Holmes emotional state in his narration on Coleridge is apparent from the opening pages. In fact, withal his title implies his purpose of showing Coleridge as a conjurer hero. In his preface Holmes clearly spells out his plan for achieving this purpose. He explains that much of the anterior work done on Coleridge has focused on the more minus aspects of his demeanor--his opium addiction, his plagiarisms, his fecklessness in marriage, his political apostasy, his sexual fantasies, and his radiations of mystic humbug (xv). Holmes sets out to drop a line a different type of biography his attempt examines Coleridges entire life in a broad and sympathetic worldner and reconciles his faults with the extraordinary man and the extraordinary mind (xv). In the process he hopes to show that Coleridges visionary genius alone makes him worth rediscovering (xv). In this first volume of a planned two part biography, Holmes traces Coleridges life up to the year 1804. throughout his work he consistently emphasizes the spirit, energy, and unrelenting power of imagination that make Coleridge unique. He examines the highs and lows of his life and leaves his reader with both a vivid stunt man of Coleridge, the man, and a number of questions and possibilities to ponder.Holmes structure and style are essential to his mastery at bringing Coleridge alive for his reader. His biography follows a traditional history structure, and his language is direct and unpretentious. This style brings a novelistic quality to the biography it reads chop-chop and enjoyably. Holmes encourages his reader to forget all that he has heard about Coleridge in the past and discover him again as a fresh constituent in Holmes story. Holmes moves quickly through the early part of Coleridges life, stopping along the way to focus on specific instances which exemplify Coleridges early expert and imaginative powers or which later influence aspects of his life or literary w ork. Holmes discusses Coleridges enormous appetite for reading and the early age at which it began he focuses on a specific night Coleridge nearly froze to death along the River Otter and he examines the emotional and practical consequences of the death of Coleridges father. Holmes repeatedly returns to these moments throughout the biography as they become relevant. In chapter four, with his discussion of Coleridges friendship with Robert Southey and their plans for their utopian Pantisocratcy, Holmes makes a transition from Coleridges youth to his adult literary life.