Coleridge’s Criticism of Life
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njackson-coleridgecriticismoflife.pdf
Description
Coleridge's Criticism of Life
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134.86 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
Jackson, Noel B.
Date Issued
January 2011
Journal
Coleridge Bulletin
Publisher
Friends of Coleridge in Somerset
Citation
Jackson, Noel. "Coleridge’s Criticism of Life." Coleridge Bulletin, New Series 37, Summer 2011.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
MY PAPER IS ABOUT AN EXPERIENCE that Coleridge puts at the origin
and at the heart of aesthetic response. This is a state for which Coleridge provides
a phenomenological record of extraordinary precision and sensitivity; and Coleridge
is as extraordinary—with Keats, perhaps, the best—phenomenologist of such
experiences as we have. The experience features prominently in the poem
“Dejection: an Ode,” and Coleridge elaborates on it in his first sustained piece of
aesthetic criticism, the periodical “Essays on the Principles of Genial Criticism” of
1814—citing “Dejection” in that same text. These two very different texts are I’ll
argue both primarily concerned with an experience of the beautiful, more
particularly a manner of relation to the beautiful, that can be characterized as a state
of “blank attachment.” This is a form of interest without interest, attachment
without (as Coleridge says) the “intervenience of charm or emotion”—a “blank” and vacant form of perception in which one is conscious of attachment to the
beautiful object without taking any pleasure in it whatsoever. I call this state of
attachment “blank” in the sense that it is without character, and in a corollary sense
in which its character is still to be filled in. The speaker in such moments accepts
this open-ended arrangement, remaining committed to the object for as long as is
required to see some change (whether in or outside of himself). His commitment
to the object is without pleasure and without prospect, beyond this prospect of
change.
Description
This is a slightly modified transcript of a talk delivered at the 2010 Coleridge Summer Conference.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Humanities. Literature Section
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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