Coleridge was a pioneer in making the supernatural a psychic phenomena. It lacks the objective palpability and crudeness of the marvelous found in almost all pre-Coleridgean ghost literature. Refinement and Subjectivity of Coleridge’s SupernaturalismĬoleridge’s poems feature refined and subjective supernaturalism. Here are some major characteristics of Coleridge’s supernaturalism: 3.1. Major Characteristics of Coleridge’s Supernaturalism Summing up his intentions, Coleridge said in Biographia Literaria that, whereas Wordsworth would deal with the natural, he would deal with supernatural, or at the very least romantic, persons and characters, in order ‘to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that suspension of disbelief for the moment that constitutes poetic faith.’ 3. He not only succeeds in making the supernatural appear natural and so plausible, but he also deals with the supernatural in a way he has never dealt with before. As a result, he devised a nuanced human and psychological therapeutic strategy. He also depicted the human characters’ impact. It implies that he dealt with the supernatural in a psychological way. He rejected objective representations of these aspects in favor of a subjective approach in which readers interpret the supernatural based on their own intuition and beliefs. Coleridge, in his poetry, avoids such tarrying and gruesome machinery of supernaturalism. Coleridge As A Poet of Supernaturalism: His Novelty and the Romantic Concept of the Supernatural Thus, their supernaturalism, according to general assumption, is dull and unconvincing. Therefore, devils appeared either tearing human bodies or chasing the innocent people. Their aim was to cause horror by means of supernatural machinery.

They usually tried to produce an atmosphere of mystery and horror by various artificial methods, such as ghostly figures, strange noise and thunder.įurthermore, they depicted these ghosts and witches as playing with the lives of innocent people. But these novelists of the school of horror used to present them in a horrible and gruesome manner. All these writers presented various supernatural characters and scenes in their novels. Then, supernaturalism was handled by the 18th century Gothic writers, such as Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Monk Lewis and others. Despite their efforts, it’s merely sensational as we can see in William Shakespeare’s plays. They made several efforts to make it more natural and convincing. With the Renaissance, the writers and artists began to present the supernatural in all allegorical and symbolic cover. But the supernatural in medieval literature is crude, sensational, hair-raising, and palpable. Ghosts, witches, fairies, and monsters appear quite frequently in medieval literature. The literature of the Middle Ages-the romances and ballads-freely exploits the supernatural or the marvelous. In addition, the mystic experiences of Christian saints and the Catholic legends sought to present the supernatural as holy truths. The medieval and the primitive people were the strong believers of the supernatural and always looked at the phenomena of nature with wonder and awe. The term ‘supernatural’ refers to events and beings which are above nature’s order and out or beyond the ordinary laws of cause and effect in the human world. Supernaturalism is a belief in an otherworldly realm or reality, often connected with all types of religion in one way or another. Frost at Midnight by Coleridge: Summary & Analysis.The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: Poem Analysis.Kubla Khan by Coleridge: Summary & Analysis.Analysis of Samuel Taylor Coleridge As A Poet.Coleridge’s power is in the very fineness with which, as with some really ghostly finger, he brings home to our inmost sense in his inventions, daring as they are.” The too palpable intruders from a spiritual world in almost all ghost literature, in Scott and Shakespeare even, have a kind of coarseness or crudeness. “It is delicacy, the dreamy grace in the presentation of the marvelous which makes Coleridge’s work so remarkable. “ Coleridge’s imagination seems to acquire poetic distinction in the region of the fantastic and the supernatural.” In fact, he made an epoch in the poetry of the supernatural.

Coleridge’s supernaturalism is supreme among all the Romantic poets.

Supernatural element definition