DEJECTION: AN ODE (1802)

DEJECTION: AN ODE (1802)

·         This is one of Coleridge’s the most personal and autobiographical poems.

·         Dejection is the last good poem of Coleridge.

·         The first draft of the poem was written in 4^th April 1802.

·         It is originally a “verse letter” to Sara Hutchinson the sister-in-law of Wordsworth, A woman with whom Coleridge was desperately in love.

·         The poem was published in Morning Post.

·         Originally the poem has 340 lines.

·         Now the poem has 139 lines.

·         Dejection is compared with Immortality ode.

·         Dejection ode is often referred to “It is the dirge of infinite pathos over the grave of creative imagination”.

·         Hutchinson is not mentioned directly because at the time of the poem’s publication Coleridge was unhappily married to Sara Fricker.

·         Coleridge was inspired the opening lines of Wordsworth’s “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”.

·         Coleridge also expressed his disillusionment in love and the loss of imaginative powers.

·         His opening quotation is from “Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence”, yet his poem is given the title of an ode.

·         The poem is dedicated to Lady.

·         The motif of the power of nature is a major theme in “Dejection”.

·         In the first stanza, Coleridge hopes that the storm can revive him from his paralyzed emotional state.

·         In the second part, he tries to escape from broken love feeling by gazing at the skies and the stars but he could not feel the beauty of nature.

·         In the third part, he doubts that anything can “lift the smothering weight from off my breast”.

·         He admits that gazing at the beauty of the skies is a vain to ease his pain.

·         In the fourth part, he again addresses his Lady, telling her that some things are inevitable in life and controlled by nature, a person must still be an active agent in creating his or her own happiness.

·         In the fifth part, Coleridge describes the characteristics of the feeling of Joy to his Lady.

·         He states the power of joy which can create beauty as well as create a “new Earth and New Heaven”.

·         In the sixth part, he pretends that he possesses the joy that surrounded him in nature despite sadness occupied him firmly.

·         In the seventh part, he now turns his attention to the tumultuous weather. Within this raging storm, he is able to hear the less frightful sounds of a child looking for her mother.

·         In the last part, he has no having sleep though it is midnight. He wishes for “Sleep” to visit his lady and to use its healing powers to lift the Lady’s spirits and bring her joy.

·         Coleridge concludes the poem by wishing the Lady eternal joy.

·         We receive from nature what we give.

·         The ordinary person considers nature a cold and inert mass.

·         The poet was distress because his imagination was dulled.

·         The poisonous thoughts cling around the mind like a snake.

·         The poet gives farewell to the poisonous thoughts and turns to wind which gives a wild music.

·         The principle in Dejection is Transcendentalism.