Sara Coleridge
Encyclopedia
Sara Coleridge was an English author and translator. She was the fourth child and only daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
and his wife Sarah Fricker.
. Here, after 1803, the Coleridges, Robert Southey
and his wife (Mrs. Coleridge's sister), and Mrs. Lovell (another sister), widow of Robert Lovell
, the Quaker poet, all lived together; but Coleridge was often away from home; and Uncle Southey was a paterfamilias. The Wordsworths at Grasmere
were their neighbors.
Wordsworth
, in his poem, the Triad, has left us a description, or poetical glorification, as Sara Coleridge calls it, of the three girls: his own daughter Dora, Edith Southey and Sara Coleridge, the last of the three, though eldest born. Greta Hall was Sara Coleridge's home until her marriage; and the little Lake
colony seems to have been her only school. Guided by Southey, and with his ample library at her command, she read by herself the chief Greek and Latin classics, and before she was twenty five had learnt in addition French, German, Italian and Spanish.
, undertaken in connexion with Southey's Tale of Paraguay, which had been suggested to him by Dobrizhoffer's volumes; and Southey alludes to his niece, the translator (canto, iii, stanza 16), where he speaks of the pleasure the old missionary would have felt if "…he could in Merlin
's glass have seen/By whom his tomes to speak our tongue were taught."
In less grandiloquent terms, Charles Lamb, writing about the Tale of Paraguay to Southey in 1825, says, "How she Dobrizhoffered it all out, puzzles my slender Latinity to conjecture." In 1825 her second work appeared, a translation from the medieval French of the Loyal Serviteur, The Right Joyous and Pleasant History of the Feats, Jests, and Prowesses of the Chevalier Bayard, the Good Knight without Fear and without Reproach: By the Loyal Servant.
In September 1829, at Crosthwaite Church, Keswick, after an engagement of seven years duration, Sara Coleridge was married to her cousin, Henry Nelson Coleridge
(1798–1843), younger son of Captain James Coleridge. He was then a chancery
barrister
in London.
The first eight years of her married life were spent in a little cottage in Hampstead
. There four of her children were born, of whom two survived. In 1834 Mrs. Coleridge published her Pretty Lessons in Verse for Good Children; with some Lessons in Latin in Easy Rhyme. These were originally written for the instruction of her own children, and became very popular.
In 1837 the Coleridges moved to Chester Place, Regents Park; and in the same year appeared Phantasmion, a Fairy Tale, Sara Coleridge's longest original work, described by critic Mike Ashley
as "the first fairytale
novel written in English". Historian of literature
Dennis Butts describes Phantasmion as a "remarkable pioneering fantasy" and "an extraordinary momument to her talent".
The songs in Phantasmion were much admired at the time by Leigh Hunt and other critics. Some of them, such as Sylvan Stay and One Face Alone, are extremely graceful and musical, and the whole fairy tale is noticeable for the beauty of the story and the richness of its language. Some historians of the
fantasy
genre believe Phantasmion may have influenced the work of George MacDonald
.
During the last few years of her life Sara Coleridge was a confirmed invalid. Shortly before she died she amused herself by writing a little autobiography for her daughter. This, which reaches only to her ninth year, was completed by her daughter, and published in 1873, together with some of her letters, under the title Memoirs and Letters of Sara Coleridge. The letters show a cultured and highly speculative mind. They contain many apt criticisms of known people and books, and are specially interesting for their allusions to Wordsworth and the Lake Poets. Sara Coleridge died in London on 3 May 1852.
Her son, Herbert Coleridge
(1830–1861), won a double first class in classics
and mathematics at Oxford
in 1852. He was secretary to a committee appointed by the Philological Society
to consider the project of a standard English dictionary, a scheme of which the New English Dictionary, published by the Clarendon Press, was the ultimate outcome. His personal researches into the subject were contained in his Glossarial Index to the Printed English Literature of the Thirteenth Century (1859).
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
and his wife Sarah Fricker.
Early life
Coleridge was born at Greta Hall, KeswickKeswick, Cumbria
Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...
. Here, after 1803, the Coleridges, Robert Southey
Robert Southey
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
and his wife (Mrs. Coleridge's sister), and Mrs. Lovell (another sister), widow of Robert Lovell
Robert Lovell
-Life:He was born in Bristol, the son of a wealthy Quaker, and probably followed some business. He estranged himself from his original circle by marrying, in 1794, Mary Fricker, a girl of much beauty and some talent, who had gone on the stage...
, the Quaker poet, all lived together; but Coleridge was often away from home; and Uncle Southey was a paterfamilias. The Wordsworths at Grasmere
Grasmere
Grasmere is a village, and popular tourist destination, in the centre of the English Lake District. It takes its name from the adjacent lake, and is associated with the Lake Poets...
were their neighbors.
Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
, in his poem, the Triad, has left us a description, or poetical glorification, as Sara Coleridge calls it, of the three girls: his own daughter Dora, Edith Southey and Sara Coleridge, the last of the three, though eldest born. Greta Hall was Sara Coleridge's home until her marriage; and the little Lake
Lake Poets
The Lake Poets are a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake District of England at the turn of the nineteenth century. As a group, they followed no single "school" of thought or literary practice then known, although their works were uniformly disparaged by the Edinburgh Review...
colony seems to have been her only school. Guided by Southey, and with his ample library at her command, she read by herself the chief Greek and Latin classics, and before she was twenty five had learnt in addition French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Career
In 1822, Sara Coleridge published Account of the Abipones, a translation in three large volumes of Martin DobrizhofferMartin Dobrizhoffer
Martin Dobrizhoffer was an Austrian Roman Catholic missionary.Dobrizhoffer was born in Frymburk in Czech Republic. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1736, and in 1749 proceeded to Paraguay, where for eighteen years he worked devotedly first among the Guaranis, and then among the Abipones...
, undertaken in connexion with Southey's Tale of Paraguay, which had been suggested to him by Dobrizhoffer's volumes; and Southey alludes to his niece, the translator (canto, iii, stanza 16), where he speaks of the pleasure the old missionary would have felt if "…he could in Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
's glass have seen/By whom his tomes to speak our tongue were taught."
In less grandiloquent terms, Charles Lamb, writing about the Tale of Paraguay to Southey in 1825, says, "How she Dobrizhoffered it all out, puzzles my slender Latinity to conjecture." In 1825 her second work appeared, a translation from the medieval French of the Loyal Serviteur, The Right Joyous and Pleasant History of the Feats, Jests, and Prowesses of the Chevalier Bayard, the Good Knight without Fear and without Reproach: By the Loyal Servant.
In September 1829, at Crosthwaite Church, Keswick, after an engagement of seven years duration, Sara Coleridge was married to her cousin, Henry Nelson Coleridge
Henry Nelson Coleridge
Henry Nelson Coleridge was an editor of the works of his uncle Samuel Taylor Coleridge.Henry's father was Captain James Coleridge, the poet's brother. While a chancery barrister, Henry married Samuel's daughter Sara in 1829. He was a great admirer of his uncle and father-in-law...
(1798–1843), younger son of Captain James Coleridge. He was then a chancery
Court of equity
A chancery court, equity court or court of equity is a court that is authorized to apply principles of equity, as opposed to law, to cases brought before it.These courts began with petitions to the Lord Chancellor of England...
barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
in London.
The first eight years of her married life were spent in a little cottage in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
. There four of her children were born, of whom two survived. In 1834 Mrs. Coleridge published her Pretty Lessons in Verse for Good Children; with some Lessons in Latin in Easy Rhyme. These were originally written for the instruction of her own children, and became very popular.
In 1837 the Coleridges moved to Chester Place, Regents Park; and in the same year appeared Phantasmion, a Fairy Tale, Sara Coleridge's longest original work, described by critic Mike Ashley
Mike Ashley (writer)
Michael Ashley is a British bibliographer, author and editor of science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.He edits the long-running Mammoth Book series of short story anthologies, each arranged around a particular theme in mystery, fantasy, or science fiction...
as "the first fairytale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
novel written in English". Historian of literature
Dennis Butts describes Phantasmion as a "remarkable pioneering fantasy" and "an extraordinary momument to her talent".
The songs in Phantasmion were much admired at the time by Leigh Hunt and other critics. Some of them, such as Sylvan Stay and One Face Alone, are extremely graceful and musical, and the whole fairy tale is noticeable for the beauty of the story and the richness of its language. Some historians of the
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
genre believe Phantasmion may have influenced the work of George MacDonald
George MacDonald
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S...
.
Later life
In 1843 Henry Coleridge died, leaving to his widow the unfinished task of editing her father's works. To these she added some compositions of her own, among which are the Essay on Rationalism, with a special application to the Doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, appended to Coleridge's Aids to Reflection, a Preface to the Essays on his Own Times, by S. T. Coleridge, and the Introduction to the Biographia Literaria.During the last few years of her life Sara Coleridge was a confirmed invalid. Shortly before she died she amused herself by writing a little autobiography for her daughter. This, which reaches only to her ninth year, was completed by her daughter, and published in 1873, together with some of her letters, under the title Memoirs and Letters of Sara Coleridge. The letters show a cultured and highly speculative mind. They contain many apt criticisms of known people and books, and are specially interesting for their allusions to Wordsworth and the Lake Poets. Sara Coleridge died in London on 3 May 1852.
Her son, Herbert Coleridge
Herbert Coleridge
Herbert "Herbie" Coleridge was a British philologist, technically the first editor of what ultimately became the Oxford English Dictionary.-Biography:...
(1830–1861), won a double first class in classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and mathematics at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1852. He was secretary to a committee appointed by the Philological Society
Philological Society
The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language. The society was established in 1842 to "investigate and promote the study and knowledge of the structure, the affinities, and the history of languages"...
to consider the project of a standard English dictionary, a scheme of which the New English Dictionary, published by the Clarendon Press, was the ultimate outcome. His personal researches into the subject were contained in his Glossarial Index to the Printed English Literature of the Thirteenth Century (1859).
External links
- Works of Sara Coleridge at Archive.org
- Memoir and Letters of Sara Coleridge edited by Edith Coleridge
- A Poet's Children, Hartley and Sara Coleridge by Eleanor Towle
- The Genealogy of Coleridge Family and Coleridge links
- Worlds Within Worlds: The First Heroic Fantasy by Matthew David Surridge. Article about Sara Coleridge and Phantasmion, arguing it is the first fantasy novel set entirely in a Secondary WorldFictional universeA fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
.
Further reading
- Kathleen Jones, A Passionate Sisterhood: The Sisters, Wives and Daughters of the Lake Poets (Virago, 1998)
- Dennis Low, The Literary Protégées of the Lake Poets (Ashgate, 2006)
- B.K. Mudge, Sara Coleridge: A Victorian Daughter (Yale UP, 1989)
- Peter Swaab ed., Sara Coleridge - Poems (Carcanet, 2007)