Hartley Coleridge

Hartley Coleridge
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Name	Hartley Coleridge
Caption	Portrait by Edward Nash, c. 1833
Birth date	19 September 1796
Birth place	Keswick, Cumberland, England
Death date	6 January 1849
Death place	Rydal, Westmorland, England
Occupation	Poet, essayist, teacher
Education	Merton College, Oxford
Parents	Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sara Fricker
Relatives	Sara Coleridge (sister), Derwent Coleridge (brother)

Hartley Coleridge was an English poet, essayist, and teacher, the eldest son of the renowned Romantic poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His life was profoundly shaped by the legacy of his famous father and the intellectual circle of the Lake Poets, including William Wordsworth and Robert Southey. Despite early promise, his career was marred by personal instability, though he produced a significant body of lyrical poetry and critical prose. He remains a notable, if tragic, figure in early 19th-century English literature.

Early life and family

Hartley Coleridge was born in Keswick, within the scenic Lake District, to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Sara Fricker. His early childhood was spent partly at Greta Hall and under the guardianship of Robert Southey after his father's departure for Malta. He was a particular favorite of the poet William Wordsworth, who immortalized him as the "six years' Darling of a pigmy size" in his Immortality Ode. His siblings included the writer Sara Coleridge and the scholar Derwent Coleridge, creating a family deeply embedded in the Romantic movement.

Education and career

He was educated at Ambleside school and later won a scholarship to Merton College, Oxford. His academic career at the University of Oxford showed great promise, but ended disastrously in 1820 when his fellowship at Oriel College was not renewed, ostensibly due to intemperance and irregular habits. He subsequently attempted a career as a schoolmaster in London and later at a school in Leeds, but these ventures were unsuccessful. He returned to the Lake District, living in Grasmere and Ambleside, where he supported himself through writing, tutoring, and contributing to publications like Blackwood's Magazine.

Literary works and style

His principal publications include Poems (1833) and a two-volume collection, Poems, with a Memoir by his Brother (1851), published posthumously. He also authored Biographia Borealis (1833) and Essays and Marginalia (1851), which showcased his skills as a perceptive literary critic. His poetic style, often overshadowed by that of his father, was characterized by its lyrical simplicity, melancholy tenderness, and keen observation of nature, reminiscent of the later Lake Poets. Many of his sonnets and shorter verses, such as those addressing November or childhood, are considered among his finest work.

Personal struggles and later life

Hartley Coleridge's adult life was a continuous struggle against the expectations set by his father's genius and his own personal demons, including alcoholism and chronic insecurity. He never married and lived a solitary, itinerant life in the villages of the Lake District, becoming a familiar, eccentric figure. His later years were spent under the care of the Wordsworth family at Rydal Mount. He died at Rydal in 1849 and was buried in the churchyard of St Oswald's Church, Grasmere, near the grave of William Wordsworth.

Legacy and influence

Though not a major literary figure, Hartley Coleridge has been the subject of biographical and critical interest as a poignant case of unfulfilled potential and the burdens of a famous lineage. His life and work have been examined in studies of the Coleridge family and the Lake Poets. His poetry, particularly his sonnets, has retained a modest but enduring place in anthologies of 19th-century poetry. He is also remembered through the writings of his contemporaries, including Thomas De Quincey and Charles Lamb, who left personal accounts of his troubled yet gifted character.

Category:1796 births Category:1849 deaths Category:English male poets Category:19th-century English poets Category:People from Keswick, Cumbria Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Category:Coleridge family