Coleridge - strays from the traditional...

Sarah – with an “h” is the traditional spelling and its origin is Hebrew meaning princess. However Coleridge speaks of a Sara without an “h” perhaps he left off the “h” by mere accident but I highly doubt this is the case. So then why would he stray from the biblical spelling?

In the opening of the ballad, Effusion XXIII: To the Nightingale, Coleridge addresses the “sister of love- lorn poets Philomel”! Philomel comes from the name Philomela the princess of Athens. Long story short - both Philomela and her sister were turned into birds specifically Philomela into a nightingale – hence the nightingale being called Philomel.

This background information is rather important since Coleridge does hear the call of the Nightingale which in turn inspires his “phantasies”. Perhaps he believes the bird pictured to the above to be the call of the ancient princess. Although Sara is the best belov’d of human kind, Coleridge wants to go back into nature and listen to the sweet melancholy song of the Nightingale. This may explain why the “h” is left off in the spelling of Sarah – because she is not as alluring as the Nightingale and not a true princess like the soul of Philomela. As we find out in the end of the ballad however, Sara is a real woman who will soon take Coleridge's last name but the superstition still remains - Sara with out an "h" has a more wild and superstitious appeal connecting to the world of fantasies drawing Coleridge to her.

Give up on your pride...

Pride – yet another deadly sin…

In Lines left upon a Seat in a Yew-Tree a stranger tells us of a kind of man whose soul was fed and sustained on pride. The very man who taught the tree how to bend its arms in circling shade; the same man who looks down on the world, and humanity, with mournful joy because of its loveliness. The stranger tells us a story of a man who seems to be oppressed through his own prideful life who died and left the Earth the Yew-Tree seat his only monument.

Pride stops us from seeing the real beauty of nature for we become entrenched in our own lives and forget the serenity of the world. Wordworth warns us of the power of pride and that “true knowledge leads to love”. True knowledge lies in the aesthetic values in life, in appreciating the natural world for its vast beauty and understanding nature’s intrinsic value. But when we become consumed with our own abilities sin can quickly overtake aesthetic values.

The lyrics of Pride by Syntax seem to reinforce the same message of Wordsworth “don’t hide, shine a light, give up on your pride…” If one is not careful with their pride it will shroud the fact that life is beautiful and nature is aesthetic.

Envious Opression

Envy – it is one of the seven deadly sins also known as the Cardinal Sins. The Christian church uses the Cardinal Sins to instruct its followers about “fallen humanity’s tendency to sin”. Sonnet XLIV written by Charlotte Smith is full of envy towards the dead bodies being battered in the oceans surf. The bodies no longer hear the warring elements but as for Miss Smith – she is doomed by an oppressive lifelong storm. It is therefore not surprising that she is envious and wishes she could be free and gazes with envy on their gloomy rest.

Charlotte Smith is oppressed by life and her inability to control her emotions. She longs to be part of the Earth again like the dead bodies although this thought itself is oppressing. It can be argued that envy can lead towards a life of oppression as it did for Miss Smith. Sonnet forty four is filled with melancholy emotions but the cause of envy is not revealed until the end. Perhaps if Charlotte Smith stopped being so envious her overall tone would be different. Yes, she lived a hard life but her works of literature could portray an optimistic look into nature. It was not until I read this Sonnet of hers that I believed that the cause of such oppression was in fact her envious view of the freed dead.

The picture below is a some what comical view of envy. The big green dog represents Charlotte Smith who has a life, and yet is envious of the smaller dog who has a bone, the dead floating bodies!