Radical Similarity: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the Dejection Dialogue

For most critics, the poems of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Dejection Dialogue--the "Immortality Ode," the "Letter" to Sara, and "Resolution and Independence"--reveal the poets disagreeing vehemently over the epistemological relationship of mind and nature. My essay...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ELH 2009-04, Vol.76 (1), p.189-213
Main Author: Ulmer, William A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allusion
Ballad poetry
British & Irish literature
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834)
Conversation
Creativity
English literature
Friendship
Immortality
Judgment
Literary criticism
Lyric poetry
Mottos
Odes
Poetry
Poets
Preludes
Rhyme
Stanzas
Theory
Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:For most critics, the poems of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Dejection Dialogue--the "Immortality Ode," the "Letter" to Sara, and "Resolution and Independence"--reveal the poets disagreeing vehemently over the epistemological relationship of mind and nature. My essay argues conversely that Wordsworth and Coleridge cannot be segregated along an inner/outer perceptual axis, and that Coleridge's engagement of the Ode confirms and extends its leading claims. As reinterpreted here, the Dejection Dialogue sequence belies theories of poetic influence as a subject-centered rivalry, and thereby accommodates our increasing appreciation on the non-proprietary Grasmere culture in which Wordsworth and Coleridge actually produced their work.
ISSN:0013-8304
1080-6547
1080-6547
DOI:10.1353/elh.0.0033