The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 150

The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 150

[Coleridge marks these lines as 'a specimen of the Sublime dashed to pieces by cutting too close with the fiery Four-in-Hand round the corner of Nonsense.']

[6] They, like moles Friend, 1818.

[8] Shrink from the light, then listen for a sound Friend, 1818.

[12] so] such MS. S. T. C.

[16] the] his MS. S. T. C.

[17] Mark'd but by Flit MS. S. T. C.

[30] at] on MS. S. T. C.

[31 foll.]

In one sole Outlet yawns the Phantom Wall, And through this grim road to [a] worser thrall Oft homeward scouring from a sick Child's dream Old Mother Brownrigg shoots upon a scream; And turning back her Face with hideous Leer, Leaves Sentry there _Intolerable Fear_!

A horrid thought is growthless dull Negation: Yet that is but a Purgatory Curse, SHE knows a fear far worse Flee, lest thou hear its Name! Flee, rash Imagination!

_S. T. Coleridge, 1st Oct. 1827, Grove, Highgate._

_NE PLUS ULTRA_[431:1]

Sole Positive of Night!

Antipathist of Light!

Fate's only essence! primal scorpion rod-- The one permitted opposite of G.o.d!-- Condensed blackness and abysmal storm 5 Compacted to one sceptre Arms the Grasp enorm-- The Intercepter-- The Substance that still casts the shadow Death!-- The Dragon foul and fell-- 10 The unrevealable, And hidden one, whose breath Gives wind and fuel to the fires of h.e.l.l!

Ah! sole despair Of both th' eternities in Heaven! 15 Sole interdict of all-bedewing prayer, The all-compa.s.sionate!

Save to the Lampads Seven Reveal'd to none of all th' Angelic State, Save to the Lampads Seven, 20 That watch the throne of Heaven!

? 1826.

FOOTNOTES:

[431:1] First published in 1834. The MS., which is inscribed in a notebook, is immediately preceded by that of the first draft of _Limbo_ (_ante_, p. 429). The so-called 'Ne Plus Ultra' may have been intended to ill.u.s.trate a similar paradox--the 'positivity of negation'. No date can be a.s.signed to either of these metaphysical conceits, but there can be little doubt that they were 'written in later life'.

THE KNIGHT'S TOMB[432:1]

Where is the grave of Sir Arthur O'Kellyn?

Where may the grave of that good man be?-- By the side of a spring, on the breast of Helvellyn, Under the twigs of a young birch tree!

The oak that in summer was sweet to hear, 5 And rustled its leaves in the fall of the year, And whistled and roared in the winter alone, Is gone,--and the birch in its stead is grown.-- The Knight's bones are dust, And his good sword rust;-- 10 His soul is with the saints, I trust.

? 1817.

FOOTNOTES:

[432:1] First published in _P. W._, 1834. Gillman (_Life_, p. 276) says that the lines were composed 'as an experiment for a metre', and repeated by the author to 'a mutual friend', who 'spoke of his visit to Highgate' and repeated them to Scott on the following day. The last three lines, 'somewhat altered', are quoted in _Ivanhoe_, chapter viii, and again in _Castle Dangerous_, chapter ix. They run thus:--

The knights are dust, And their good swords are rust;-- Their souls are with the saints, we trust.

Gillman says that the _Ivanhoe_ quotation convinced Coleridge that Scott was the author of the Waverley Novels. In the Appendix to the 'Notes' to _Castle Dangerous_ (1834), which was edited and partly drawn up by Lockhart, the poem is quoted in full, with a prefatory note ('The author has somewhat altered part of a beautiful unpublished fragment of Coleridge').

Where is the grave of Sir Arthur Orellan,-- Where may the grave of that good knight be?

By the marge of a brook, on the slope of Helvellyn, Under the boughs of a young birch-tree.

The Oak that in summer was pleasant to hear, That rustled in autumn all wither'd and sear, That whistled and groan'd thro' the winter alone, He hath gone, and a birch in his place is grown.

The knight's bones are dust, His good sword is rust; His spirit is with the saints, we trust.

This version must have been transcribed from a MS. in Lockhart's possession, and represents a first draft of the lines as published in 1834. These lines are, no doubt, an 'experiment for a metre'. The upward movement (ll. 1-7) is dactylic: the fall (ll. 8-11) is almost, if not altogether, spondaic. The whole forms a complete stanza, or metrical scheme, which may be compared with ll. 264-78 of the First Part of _Christabel_. Mrs. H. N. Coleridge, who must have been familiar with Gillman's story, dates the _Knight's Tomb_ 1802.

ON DONNE'S POETRY[433:1]

With Donne, whose muse on dromedary trots, Wreathe iron pokers into true-love knots; Rhyme's st.u.r.dy cripple, fancy's maze and clue, Wit's forge and fire-blast, meaning's press and screw.

? 1818

FOOTNOTES:

[433:1] First published in _Literary Remains_, 1836, i. 148, from 'notes written by Mr. Coleridge in a volume of "Chalmers's Poets"'. Line 2 finds a place in Hartley Coleridge's couplets on Donne which are written on the fly-leaves and covers of his copy of Anderson's _British Poets_.

In the original MS. it is enclosed in quotation marks. First collected in _P. W._, 1885, ii. 409.

ISRAEL'S LAMENT[433:2]

'A Hebrew Dirge, chaunted in the Great Synagogue, St. James's Place, Aldgate, on the day of the Funeral of her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte. By Hyman Hurwitz, Master of the Hebrew Academy, Highgate: with a Translation in English Verse, by S. T. Coleridge, Esq., 1817.'

Mourn, Israel! Sons of Israel, mourn!

Give utterance to the inward throe!

As wails, of her first love forlorn, The Virgin clad in robes of woe.

Mourn the young Mother, s.n.a.t.c.h'd away 5 From Light and Life's ascending Sun!