Abstract
This chapter applies the principles of Coleridge’s mature poetic theory to three of his early poetic works: The Eolian Harp, This Lime-tree Bower My Prison and Frost at Midnight. The first of these will focus on the subjective apprehension of time, examining how the poem constructs a struggle between a mindful, reflection upon nature and an active drive towards metaphysical systematising. The second reading examines the theme of perceptual limitation and the role this plays in the perception of objects. The final reading will explore themes of intersubjective connection to examine how the role of otherness complicates the notion of perception as an achievement of the sovereign self. All three poems share a common structure of a personal crisis or conflict that becomes transposed onto a more general philosophical problematic, the resolution of which lies the speaker being made aware of the mental acts underpinning their consciousness.
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Marshall, T. (2020). ‘The Acts of the Mind Itself’: Eidetic Intuition and the ‘Conversation Poems’. In: Aesthetics, Poetics and Phenomenology in Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52730-3_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52730-3_6
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