Dreaming Coleridge

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Dreaming Vol. 7, No. 1, March 1997

Coleridge, Creative (Day)Dreaming, and "The Picture"

Susan Luther, Ph.D.1

Abstract:

Meant less as traditional argument than as a scholarlymeditation, the essay adopts quasi-fictional strategies of

composition to read Coleridges !"he #icture, or the $o%ers

&esolution! through 'reuds !Creati%e (riters and Day-dreaming! and other, rele%ant scholarship. )t adopts the

locali*ed point of %ie+ of the practicing poet to reflect upon

!"he #icture! and interpretation or reading itself

considered as forms of daydreaming, gi%ing particularattention to +hat !"he #icture! suggests aout the dynamics

and consequences of creati%e +ish-fulfillment +hen the

dream of art is dreamt under the sign of /ros. Must the poetsmuse ecome a figment, a shado+0 )s the daydream of

creati%e romance false, or true0 Disclosing to reader and

interpreter in turn selected prospects re%ealed +ithin !"he #ictures! interior landscape, the essay sees to preser%e the

element of self-disco%ery characteristic of dreaming. )t

concludes y reiterating a challenge implicit all along2

+hen are our dreams of interpretation themsel%es truths3 or idle fancies0

KEY !D#: Coleridge; Freud; interpretation; dream poetry; self-projetion; !ish-fulfillment; reati"ity.

#s it that poetry is e$plained through itself and %y itself and from

itself, its o!n and inaliena%le psyhoanalytial %eha"iors&

' (ois)s Lemlij

*1++, 1/

#n 0 Creati"e 2riters and Day-dreaming: 3 Parohial 4ie!0 *5uoted a%o"e/,

(ois)s Lemlij reads Freud through the glass of a speifi Peru"ian ulture *the



6uehua/ as !ell as the insights of friends !ho are !riters. 7his approah honors

Lemlijs sense that 0the artist in the tas8 of perfeting the su%jet, and the

psyhoanalyst in the tas8 of intensifying it, %oth appeal to reati"e means of

interpretation0 *19+/.

7he present essay pays similar tri%ute to the intersu%jeti"e, literary harater ofanalysis. 0Parohial0 in Lemlijs sense, it too adopts a restrited point of "ie! that

thri"es in the pro"ines: in this ase, the point of "ie! of the reati"e artist'

speifially, of the pratiing poet. Li8e Lemlijs meditation, it impliitly mirrors

and ontrasts its models !ith themsel"es, itself !ith itself, and employs

5uasi-0fitional0 strategies of omposition. 7he result is meant less as traditional

argumentation than as a speulation, an attempt at a form of sholarly poesis: that

is, an e$ploration of some aspets of the interpretati"e landsape re"ealed !hen a

literary te$t is read through theoretial and pratial sholarship of similar theme

%y one !ho has a partiular, 0loal0 or 0loalied0 interest in the proess.

#ts immediate point of departure is Coleridges poem a%out eroti and poetidaydreaming titled 07he Piture, or the Lo"ers <esolution,0 in !hih a lo"elorn

narrator !ho has fors!orn all romanti fanies !anders through a for%idding

!ilderness, only to re-enounter his muse in the preints of fantasy and in a

%irh%ar8 dra!ing she has left %ehind her in the !ood. 3n allegory a%out lo"e,

spirit, self-see8ing, poeti ma8ing and also reading, the first-person, playful-and-

serious dramati monologue startlingly prefigures *or models/ the essay of

Freuds that is intensified *to %orro! his term/ %y Lemlij, 0Der Dihter und das

Phantasieren0 *translated into =nglish as 0Creati"e 2riters and Day-dreaming0;

see Freud 1+>? @1+>A/. Freud ma8es e$pliit the aestheti speulation impliit in

07he Piture,0 namely that literary omposition *espeially of !or8s usually judged to %e 0lesser0 art/ may resem%le day-dreaming. Both aounts emphasie

the theme, or themes, of !ish-fulfillment and esape.

Part one of this essay, 07he Critial Fantasy,0 prepares the ground for an

e$ploration of these themes in relation to Coleridgean and sholarly

*day/dreaming. #t loates !ithin Coleridges !ritings the themes of 0true0 and

0false0 dreaming, of literary prodution, 07he Piture,0 and reading itself as types

of *day/dreaming, !ith notie gi"en to Coleridges distrust of *in modern terms/

0esapist0 reading and the literature that promotes it. 7his setion a8no!ledges

the literary, pro"isional harater of interpretation and ta8es up the point of "ie!of the sholarly poet-reader !ho !ill *so to spea8/ 0dream a dream0: !ho !ill

read Coleridges poem through Freuds essay *and the "ie!s of other ritis/ %y

!ay of !hat 07he Piture0 suggests a%out the !or8ings of and ris8s in"ol"ed in

the poeti *and rereati"e/ tas8. Part t!o, 07he Poem as *Day/Dream,0 %riefly

s8ethes the literary-historial and life %a8ground of 07he Piture.0 #t further

lin8s the poems themes !ith those of Freuds essay, and onsolidates the point of



"ie! of the pratiing poet. 7he setion also inludes a phenomenologial plot-

summary of the poem. 7his plot-summary *in its loomoti"e metaphor, or

storyline/ mimis the struture of 07he Piture0 and of the present essay: it

desri%es a !al8 through the muses demesne !herein ertain features of the

territory at as 0landing-plaes0 *to %orro! a term Coleridge used for some of the

prose e$ursions in his periodial "he 'riend /, and "arious prospets ofinterpretation diso"er themsel"es %y turns to reader and narrator ali8e.

3n em%edded setion, 07he Dream !ithin the Dream,0 pursues the theme of true

and false dreaming !ith partiular referene to the entral sene of 07he Piture,0

!herein the lo"e-!ounded narrator imagines his surrogate gaing at the

refletion of the %elo"ed !oman in a !oodland pool. Part three, 07he Dreamer

and the Dreamed,0 the final setion of the essay, frames su%se5uent senes of the

poem !ithin the memory-traes of other Coleridgean *and ritial/ te$ts, to 5uery

!hether the poems resolution ele%rates a ure of false fany *and dreaming/ %y

true lo"e, or ends in self-delusion. 7he essay onludes %y reiterating thehallenge impliit !ithin it all along: to !hat e$tent does the interpreter, too,

onstrut a pitures5ue, !ish-fulfilling fantasy, seeing not 0truth0 %ut her or his

o!n idolied refletion in the linguisti mirror&

$% T&E C'T'CA A*TA#Y

"he critic must recogni*e that criticism is no longer a question of

metaphor ut of metamorphosis.

3s Da"id (iall *1+?/ points out, Coleridges !ritings on dream ommuniate afundamental unertainty and 0am%i"alene0 a%out the moral status of dreaming,

espeially as it relates to the self. 7his am%i"alene e$tends to his representation

and e$periene of ertain phases of omposition as types of day-dreaming or

0re"erie.0 nfa"ora%ly omparing Elopsto8s Messiah to #aradise $ost , for

e$ample, Coleridge admonishes: 03 poem may in one sense %e a dream, %ut it

must %e a +aing dream0 *my emphasis/. 3n often-5uoted note%oo8 entry of

1?> ta8es the analogy %et!een poetry and dream further, outlining the pro%lem

in stri8ingly modern terms:

Poetry a rationalied dream dealing to @&a%outA manifold Forms our o!n Feelings, that

ne"er perhaps !ere attahed %y us onsiously to our o!n personal Sel"es'2hat is theLear, the thello, %ut a di"ine DreamGall Sha8espere, H nothing Sha8espere.' there are

7ruths %elo! the Surfae in the su%jet of Sympathy, H ho! !e ecome that !hih !eunderstandly %ehold H hear, ha"ing, ho! muh Iod perhaps only 8no!s, reated part e"en

of the Form.9

#n the prefae to 0Eu%la Ehan,0 a poem it desri%es as a 0fragment0 omposed

during 0a profound sleep, at least of the e$ternal senses,0 Coleridge outlines an

am%iguous dream-proess !hose mystery has long tantalied interpretation *1,



/. #n his dreamli8e state, the poet *or prefae-!riter/ laims, he !as gi"en >>

to >> lines or more !hih 0n a!a8ing0 he remem%ered and %egan to reord,

until 0a person on %usiness from Porlo80 arri"ed and 8ept him from his !or8 for

o"er an hour *-/. Fragmented %y this interruption, all %ut a fe! of the

dreams impressions, !e are told,

had passed a!ay li8e the images on the surfae of a stream into

!hih a stone has %een ast, %ut, alasJ !ithout the after restoration of the

latter: 7hen all the harm

#s %ro8en'all that phantom-!orld so fair

4anishes, and a thousand irlets spread,

3nd eah mis-shape the other. Stay a!hile,Poor youthJ !ho sarely darst lift up thine eyes'

7he stream !ill soon rene! its smoothness, soon

7he "isions !ill returnJ 3nd lo, he stays,

3nd soon the fragments dim of lo"ely formsCome trem%ling %a8, unite, and no! one more

7he pool %eomes a mirror. */

#s this narrati"e of the poems origins meant to e$plain'or to enhant& #s 0Eu%la

Ehan: or 3 4ision in a Dream0 to %e read as a type of the traditional, di"inely-

inspired dream "ision& r is it'as the artifat of a 0profound sleep,0 as a perhaps

self-reated refletion'to %e regarded as an 0idle flitting phantasy0 of 0Kis

(ajesty the =go&0

#n 07he Piture, or the Lo"ers <esolution,0 from !hih the lines 5uoted a%o"e

are ta8en, the narissisti inferene %arely su%merged in the prefae omes to thesurfae. Eathleen Co%urn, editor of many of his note%oo8 ram%lings, is surely

right that Coleridge desri%ed 07he Piture0 !hen, in (arh 1?>, he made note

of 03 Poem on the endea"or to emanipate the soul from day-dreams H note the

different attempts H the "ain ones'0 *CN 11 9.1 H n/. 7hat this

emanipation might ha"e had personal signifiane he intimated to his friend

and pu%lisher oseph Cottle in 1?1, !hen he onfessed that 0in my early

manhood in lines, desripti"e of a gloomy solitude, # disguised my o!n

sensations in the follo!ing !ords'0 and then 5uoted 07he Piture.0? 7he poem

e$plores a pro%lem of aesthetis similar to that impliit in the prefae to 0Eu%la

Ehan0 and e$pliitly addressed %y Freud !hen he posited the reati"e !riter as a

"ersion of the 0dreamer in %road day-light 0 *0Der 7rMumer am hellihten 7ag0;

1+>? @1+>A, 1+/. 7hat is, the poet as day-dreamer may repliate the strategies

of the night-dreamer and %uild his omposition upon the saffold of !ish and

*frustrated/ desire.+ 3s a romane !hose hero is a %arely-mas8ed figure for the

artist, 07he Piture,0 e"en more pointedly than 0Eu%la Ehan,0 alls into 5uestion

the dream of art, dreamt under the sign of human eroti passion. 07he Lo"ers



<esolution0 poses a entral dilemma of !hat it alls 0passions dreams0 *l.

11+, C# 1, /: !ho is the dreamer& 2hose, and !hat, is the dream& 3nd:

!here is it& For !ords on a page are no dream.

#n their introdution to a reent olletion of essays on dream and literature,

Carol Shreier <uppreht and Eelly Bul8ley de"elop an e$tended metaphor of0oneiroritiism,0 of dream-interpretation itself as a 8ind of dreaming *1++, 1-

1/. 7o Coleridge also, the reader may %e aounted dreamer : 0our state,0 he

says, 0!hile !e are dreaming differs from that in !hih !e are in the perusal of a

deeply interesting No"el, in the degree rather than in the Eind0 * $ectures , 99/.

Kene the dreaming reader, no less than the day-dreaming no"elist or poet, may

%e a fantasist, an esapist, aught in solipsisti !ish-fulfillment. 03s to the

De"otees of the Cirulating Li%raries,0 Coleridge notes aidly,

# may not ompliment their Pastime, or rather 4ill-time, !ith the name of &eading . Call itrather a sort of %eggarly Day-dreaming, in !hih . . . the mind . . . fi$es, reflets, H

transmits the mo"ing phantasms of one mans Delirium so as to people the %arrenness of a

hundred other trains @of assoiationsA . . . under the same mor%id 7rane, or 0 suspended 5nimation0, of Common Sense, and all definite Purpose. * $ectures 1, 1/

Iuided %y morally rigorous te$ts li8e those of Plato and his suessors, ho!e"er,

readers, Coleridge allo!s, may profita%ly engage in 0ats and energies of reati"e

7hought, H <eognition' of onsious re-prodution of states of Being0

*CN + 1?.19/. Does the dream then ome to us through the gate of i"ory, or

the gate of horn&

#n many respets 07he Piture0 models Freuds paradigm of !riting as reati"e

!ish-fulfillment. 3t the same time, li8e Freuds analysis, muh literary ritiism

*inluding the present essay/, and the prefae to 0Eu%la Ehan,0 it resides in !hat

(eredith S8ura desri%es as the 0gap %et!een !hat the te$t @of literature and

dreamA seems to mean and the e$tra meaning it seems to imply0 *1+?>, 9/. Nor

does 0the Piture0 hold its reader harmless in the mirror of interpretation. 2hat

follo!s, then, is one readers train of thin8ing a%out some of the figurati"e and

"oational issues raised %y 07he Piture,0 onei"ed as a !a8ing dream a%out

daydreaming that inludes a possi%ly distempered *see l. 9, C# 1, 1/ dream-

!ithin-the-dream, and that alls us to onsider the authority and "e$ed

pro"enane of the dream-image itself.

+% T&E P!E A# (DAY)DEA

Coleridge !rote 07he Piture,0 or at least ompleted and pu%lished it, in 1?>. #t

first appeared in "he Morning #ost of Septem%er 9, 1?>, and !as reprinted

in "he #oetical &egister, and &epository of 'ugiti%e #oetry for 1?> *1?>/. Ke

re"ised and e$panded it for inlusion in his olletion of poems titled 6iylline

$ea%es *1?1/. #n 1?1 and olleti"e editions thereafter 07he Piture0 appeared



in the setion of 6iylline $ea%es Coleridge alled 0Lo"e-Poems.01> #n it

Coleridge utilies imagery from a !al8ing tour of the La8e Country he undertoo8

in 3ugust 1?>. Ke desri%es this tour in his note%oo8s and in se"eral letters he

!rote that summer to Sara Kuthinson,11 !hom he deeply lo"ed and often sa!, as

she !as a mem%er of the same soial irle. *Saras sister (ary Kuthinson

married 2illiam 2ords!orth, Coleridges %est friend, in to%er of 1?>/. Sarareorded 07he Piture,0 !ith some "ariants from the pu%lished "ersions of 1?>,

in her ommonplae %oo8 6ara utchinsons #oets. ther poems of that period

inspired %y her !hose images and moti"es reappear in 07he Piture0 inlude the

04erse Letter0 to Sara !hih %eame 0Dejetion: 3n de0; 03 Day-Dream,0 and

07he Day-Dream0 *to !hih # shall %riefly return/.1 07he Piture0 is the least

onfessional, most denaturalied and fa%ulist of these. Ko!e"er, its %iographial

onte$t suggests that it may %e read as an allegory of Coleridges relationship

!ith Sara,1 to !hom he !as profoundly attahed %ut, as a married man !hose

religious on"itions permitted neither di"ore nor physial onsummation,

ould not marry e$ept in spirit'and !hom he ine"ita%ly ompromised %y his

attentions. Considered as an e$erise in su%limation, the poem allo!s the

yearning poet to possess his %elo"ed in !ords, if not in person, as the present

a%sene !ho moti"ates his "erse.

Parado$ially, that "erse re-laims her in the at of her *attempted/ e$orism. #ts

0de"ious ourse0 *l. 11+, 6$, 1/'or manifest ontent, to %orro! Freuds

language of dream interpretation'might %e summaried *largely in its o!n

!ords/ as follo!s:

3n erst!hile lo"er, protesting he is 0emanipate G From passions dreams,0

!anders through a !ild landsape !here 02isdom might resort, and here<emorse0; or the 0Ientle LunatiJ,0 the 0lo"e-lorn (an . . . si8 in soul.0

But these are not Lo"es haunts; and, laughing at his pre"ious 0folly,0 he sits

%eside a stream. 7he %reee there 02as ne"er Lo"es aomplie0; and thestream ne"er refleted the 0fae0 or 0form di"ine0 of the 0stately "irgin0

!ho, 0seeJ0 rests her el%o! on a tree mirrored in the pool'!hile her

admirer, too shy to gae upon her diretly, ontemplates her image,0dreaming hopes0 all too 0"ain.0 She plu8s flo!er-heads from %ehind her,

tosses them into the stream, and %rea8s the harm. But if the 0Poor youth0

!ill stay, 07he "isions !ill returnJ0 Ke does; they do; %ut !ithout inluding

the figure of the "irgin, !ho, tra"eling 0home!ard0 no!, is no!here to %e

seen. 0#ll-fated youthJ0'thin8s the ured lo"er: go ahead and 0!aste0 yourlife in 0mad Lo"e-yearning.0 07his tale0 does not %elong to the stream,

!hose ourse he presently resumes follo!ing through his gloomy, 0hosenhaunt.0 =merging from a thi8et of firs to find himself 0Beneath a !eeping

%irh0 %y a !aterfall, he is stru8 %y the landsape re"ealed, hills enfolding a

irular "alley populated %y 0Kalf hid0 ottages. Ke o%ser"es the lose anddistant sene'then diso"ers a piture dra!n !ith %erry-juie on %irh-

%ar8, in !hih he reognies the hand of 0#sa%elJ G Daughter of geniusJ



stateliest of our maidsJ G (ore %eautiful than !hom 3laeus !ood G 7he

Les%ian !oman of immortal songJ0. 2ith %eating heart, he resol"es, andhastes, to return the 0s8eth0'!hih, if 8ept, !ould only 0feed0 his passion

'to her. *see6$, 1?-/1

7he self-ontraditions and semanti dissolutions'or, rather, the dreamli8e

ondensations and displaements'of the narrati"e should, from the !ay #hose to retell it, %e lear. 7hey reate distane from the ation and narrator of the

poem, asting him as a type of the self-deei"ed lo"er. 7he narrati"e eddy

emphasies stasis and gae, ta%leau, o%j)t, image as o%jets of ontemplation and

moti"ating fores; all, li8e the lo"er, to %e loo8ed at rather than *as !ell as/

identified +ith. 7he poems dou%led title *07he Piture, or the Lo"ers

<esolution0/, also signals story, irony, e"en *self-/parody.

#n Freuds aount of reati"e *day/dreaming,

3 strong e$periene in the present a!a8ens in the reati"e !riter a

memory of an earlier e$periene *usually %elonging to hishildhood/ from !hih there no! proeeds a !ish !hih finds its

fulfilment in the reati"e !or8. 7he !or8 itself e$hi%its elements of

the reent pro"o8ing oasion as !ell as of the old memory. *1+>?

@1+>A, 11/

Freud refers to memories and !ishes that are personal, that ha"e to do !ith the

!riters relationships in !a8ing life. 3nd, on these terms, 07he Piture0 dreams a

dream. Coleridges !al8ing tour might %e ta8en as the initing e$periene !hih

a!a8ens *instead of redressing/ memories of one or more similar oasions

shared %y Sara Kuthinson *see, e. g., 0#nsription for a Fountain on a

Keath,0 C# 1, ?1-;6$ 1?9; and CN +?1 1.1 and n./. 7he at of omposition,

and the manifestation of 0#sulia0 *one of Coleridges ode-names for Sara

Kuthinson/ as #sa%el !ithin it, e$press the poets !ish for *re/onnetion !ith

his %elo"ed.1 07he !ish0 then, as Freud puts it, 0ma8es use of an oasion in the

present to onstrut, on the pattern of the past, a piture of the future0 *1+>?

@1+>A, 1?/.

For the reati"e *day/dreamer, ho!e"er, !ish and memory ine"ita%ly assume

"oational and te$tual signifiane %eyond the immediately personal. 7hat is *to

%orro! and amend Freuds !ords 5uoted a%o"e/, for the !riter a strong

e$periene in the present @of reading andGor in !a8ing lifeA may a!a8en amemory of an earlier e$periene @of !riting andGor readingA from !hih there

no! proeeds a !ish @for self-e$pression, to +riteA !hih finds its fulfilment in

the reati"e !or8 @itself; in its ompletionA.19 2hat <uppreht and Bul8ley

desri%e as the 0transitionality of the !a8ing G reading G sleeping G dreaming

ontinuum and its interte$tual %ias0 */ onstitute the !riters homeland, that

plaeless plae !here life and art endlessly *re/om%ine. From the point of "ie!



of the pratiing poet, then, 07he Piture0 presents an allegory of reati"e no less

than eroti desire, !hose implied or, in Freuds dream-terms, latent ontent

addresses 0the su%tleties of inspiration0 *Eelly @1+A, +/. 2ithin the poem

reati"e day-dreaming and eroti day-dreaming fulfill eah other, so that 07he

Piture0 illuminates the human dilemma in terms of the aestheti one, and the

aestheti one in terms of the human: it posits a figural, psyhologial and philosophial pro%lemati of and for the artist. 7he dreams !ish-fulfillment,

then, in"ol"es the desire of art for art, the desire of the artist for inspiration, and

the pro%a%le dependeny of %oth, as (arshall Suther *1+9, 19/ suggests, upon

the (use-imago !ho athets them.1

3 primary 0pattern memory0 or te$tual proess !ithin !hat might %e regarded as

its 0te$tual unonsious0 onfirms that the latent, or metaphori ontent of 07he

Piture0 impliates literary *day/dreaming. For Coleridges poem does not dra!

only from Coleridgean materials. Diretly %ut silently, it turns upon the narrati"e

premise of Salomon Iessners idyll 0Der feste 4orsat0 *the fi$ed <esolution/, a pastoral, eroti *and traditionally ironi/ fare!ell to lo"e.1? Iessners !andering

narrator, indulging in the lush delights of eroti melanholy, follo!s the ourse of

a stream through an e$terior and interior landsape stri8ingly similar to that

!hih Coleridge desri%es. Bidding fare!ell to the dar8 and the fair, to stately

(elinde and 08leine Chloe,0 he omes upon a maidens footprint in the sand;

melanholy "anishes, and he follo!s the maidens trae *0Spur0/, thin8ing ho!

passionately, if he finds her, he !ill em%rae and 8iss her *0J !enn ih dih

faende, in meinen 3rm !yrd ih dih dry8en, und dih 8yssenJ0, 1./1+

Coleridges 0Piture0 transumes Iessners *esapist&/ esprit , suppresses its eroti

moti"e and transforms it into a omple$ refletion on states of mind, espeiallythose of the reati"e artist-as-lo"er !hose muse-lo"er is in turn ingested %y the

(use-imago.> nli8e Iessners simpler tale, Coleridges narrati"e forestalls e"en

as it promotes the readers 0incenti%e onus, or fore-pleasure0 *Freud 1+>?

@1+>A, 1/. #t is a %eautiful, painterly poem that one imagines !ould in many

respets greatly ha"e flattered its #sa%el, its 0#sulia0: yet it suggests unsettling

onse5uenes for and to her, and refuses to ena%le us !ho are her reader-

suessors henefor!ard 0to enjoy our o!n day-dreams !ithout self-reproah or

shame0 *i%id./. Li8e its 5uestiona%le use of Iessner, the poems self-

fragmentations further ompliate, and orro%orate, an understanding of it as a

literary dream, !ith art 3itself , artisti *re/prodution'as its o%jet.

<ather than attempting a omprehensi"e analysis, ho!e"er, # !ill follo! 0the

thread of the !ish0 through the dream-moment # ta8e *!ith (ihael Eelly/ to %e

the imagisti and 0intelletual enter0 of 07he Piture01: the mirror se5uene or

0primal sene0 adum%rated a%o"e, partially 5uoted in the prefae to 0Eu%la



Ehan.0 #ts transumption in the prefae emphasies that the sene in"ol"es not

only the dreams of lo"e, %ut of reati"ity.

The Dream ithin the Dream

7he narrators e$pliitly-stated, or manifest, dream for himself is emanipation,

freedom from lo"es *day/dreams. Kis method of pursuing it is that of Iessnerslo"er, rereated as philosopheme: self-loss in the !ilds of nature *or, for the poet,

self-loss in the !ilderness of "erse/. But one may !onder just !hat the 0ne! joy0

really is that 0Be8ons0 him 0on, . . . G Playmate, or guideJ0 *ll. -11, 6$, 1?/.

Nor is it long %efore the figure of 0Lo"e0'the pastoral, eroti moti"e'returns,

0ensnared0 in the "ery fany of e$pulsion: in the form of a sul8y Cupid !ho is

hased %y Nymphs, reads, =arth-!inds, !ingless 3irs, Fays, and elfin Inomes

through eighteen lines of mo8ing reproof that imagine'in present tense'ho!

the spirits of the plae !ould punish 0Kis little godship0 if he had the temerity to

ross their %orders *ll. ?-, 6$, 1+->/. Ne$t in the ast of imaginary

haraters e$luded from the sene appears a lo"ely maiden, around !hose0tendril ringlets,0 0%lue, deliate "eins0 and 0half dislosed G . . . sno!y %osom0

the %reee, in this landsape, thin8s the narrator, 0Neer playd the !anton0 *ll.

?-9, 6$, 1+-1/. 3lmost immediately thereafter, ho!e"er, a !orshipful youth

*the 0he0 referred to %elo!/ arri"es in his thoughts as the narrators surrogate, to

dream of the 0stately "irgin.0 0Li8e a dissol"ing thing0 *l. 9/, the narrati"e line

disappears so 5ui8ly it is not at first lear that the narrator is still day-dreaming,

that he does not atually see a !oman refleted in the pooled stream %eside

!hih he sits.

7he images rise up %efore the narrator *and reader/ 0as things0 *# %orro! from the

prefae to 0Eu%la Ehan,0 /, !hen the narrator apostrophies the 0desert

Stream0: 0no pool of thine,0 he protests,

7hough lear as la8e in latest summer-e"e,Did eer reflet the stately "irgins ro%e,

Ker fae, her form di"ine, her do!nast loo8

Contemplati"eJ 3h seeJ her open palmPresses her hee8 and %ro!J her el%o! rests

n the %are %ranh of half-uprooted tree,

7hat leans to!ards its mirrorJ Ke, mean!hile,

2ho from her ountenane turnd, or loo8d %y stealth,*For fear is true lo"es ruel nurse,/ he no!,

2ith stedfast gae and unoffending eye,

2orships the !atery idol, dreaming hopesDeliious to the soul, %ut fleeting, "ain,

=en as that phantom-!orld on !hih he gaed.

She, sporti"e tyrantJ !ith her left hand plu8s7he heads of tall flo!ers that %ehind her gro!,



Lyhnis, and !illo!-her%, and fo$-glo"e %ells;

3nd suddenly, as one that toys !ith time,Satters them on the poolJ 7hen all the harm

#s %ro8en'all that phantom-!orld so fair

4anishes, and a thousand irlets spread,

3nd eah mis-shape the other. *ll. -+, 6$, 11-/

7he sene is self-refle$i"e: it mirrors the narrators o!n ati"ity and his

*repressed, or suppressed/ !ish for the 0stately "irgins0 presene *!ho is, in part,

a ondensation of Iessners muses/. 7he lines may also %e supposed to turn upon

speifi, distorted te$tual *and personal/ memories *ompare !ith Iessners

0noh gestern hypftest du froh im !eissen Sommer-8leid um mih her, !ie die

2ellen hier im Sonnen-Liht hypfen,0 1/.

3s figure of the poet, the narrator !ishes for the muses return; as lo"er, he

!ishes for *as she is later named/ #sa%el. Kis 0part-ego0 dreams for him: that,

perhaps, one day his 0Le!ti0 !ill %e 8ind *0Le!ti, or the Cirassian Lo"e-Chant,0 another poem of on"entional, unre5uited lo"e, immediately preedes

07he Piture0 in 6iylline $ea%es./ 7he youth apparently herishes a delusion.

But are his hopes of %eing notied altogether so 0"ain0& 7he 0"irgin,0 presuma%ly

amused or impatient !ith his image-!orship, destroys her image in the pool, in a

gesture perhaps presient *or reminisent/ of the Sara Kuthinson !hom

Coleridge realled in a note%oo8 entry of 1?>? as !ishing to %e aounted 0no

3ngel0 *CN >9 1./. #f one interprets the %eha"ior of this 0sporti"e tyrant0 in

the same !ay Freud interprets that of ensens Iradi"a, ho!e"er, her ation may

impliitly in"ite pursuit *see 1+> @1+>9A, , +/. 3n important line added in

1?? suggests !hat here is only hinted: she tosses the flo!er-heads into thestream %eause her "otarys gae !as 0not unheeded0 *l. ?9, C# 1, 1/. #n any

ase, this dream foretells its *amouflaged/ !ish fulfilled: in the narrati"e future,

the poet-narrator !ill retrie"e the %irh-%ar8 piture #sa%el has dropped into his

dream, and follo! her. Kis dou%les day-dream unmas8s the narrators inspiring

0joy0 !ithin the 0master-passion0 in disguise: desire for the poem, desire for the

maiden-muse.

Li8e its ounterpart in the prefae to 0Eu%la Ehan,0 the 0!atery0 idyll models the

streamli8e flo! of assoiation; it also realls 3ristotles omparison of 0the

mental pitures0 in dreams to 0refletions in !ater,0 suh that 0mo"ementdestroys the larity of the dream.0 Some dreams, 3ristotle onedes, may %e

0%oth signs and auses0 *+/. #n a sense, the dream of his other self funtions as

the sign of the narrators 0true0 !ishes *for reunion !ith the muse or his lost self;

to attrat her notie and fa"or/, and the 0ause0 of su%se5uent ation in the

narrati"e. But 3ristotle is primarily onerned to demonstrate that 0propheti0

dreams do not ome from Iod: they are the hildren of oinidene. Li8e!ise,



the seond mo"ement of the narrators dream emphasies that !hat !e gae on is

neessarily a 0!atery idol 0 *my emphasis/.

ne the 0harm G #s %ro8en,0 !hat Da"id Punter *1++>, 1+/ terms the 0proesses

of primary narissism,0 impliit %efore as a possiility of moti"e, %eome

e$pliit.

9

7he narrator has omforted his dream-dou%le %y in"iting the youth to0Stay a!hile0 that he may enjoy the restored 0"isions0 !hih !ill return !hen

0one more G 7he pool %eomes a mirror.0 But the in"itation heralds a seond,

more serious fall from grae that is elided in the prefae to 0Eu%la Ehan.0

0Behold,0 the narrator ommands his surrogate *and reader/:

=ah !ildflo!er on the marge in"erted there,

3nd there the half-uprooted tree'%ut !here, !here the "irgins sno!y arm, that leand

n its %are %ranh& Ke turns, and she is goneJ

Kome!ard she steals through many a !oodland mae

2hih he shall see8 in "ain. #ll-fated youthJIo, day %y day, and !aste thy manly prime

#n mad Lo"e-yearning %y the "aant %roo8,

7ill si8ly thoughts %e!ith thine eyes, and thouBeholdst her shado! still a%iding there,

7he Naiad of the (irrorJ *ll. ++-11>, 6$, 1/

7he 0phantom-!orld0 of reati"e illusion resol"es into delusion, the spae of its

0shado!.0 No longer does a young man o%ser"e *the figure of/ a real !oman

refleted in a stream; held fast from pursuit of her %y 0fear0 or the sedutions of

!ish-fulfilling fantasy, he loses himself to 0"isions0 in !hih she an only appear

*to purloin (iltons epithet for the lassial rania/ as the 0empty dream0 he

himself has reated. Confined to the asylum of 0mad Lo"e-yearning,0 the no!

0ill-fated youth0 inha%its the realm of 0imaginary 7ime0 *6$, iii/'under the

aspet of 0 suspended 5nimation0 * $ectures 1, 1/.

Kis spiritual malaise seems not unli8e that of his pre"ious te$tual ounterpart, the

0Ientle Lunati.0 Coleridge alluded to the 0Lunatis0 ondition as a disguised

refletion of his o!n, in the letter to Cottle of 1?1 5uoted earlier; the rele"ant

lines, inluded in 6iylline $ea%es, do not appear in the 1?> "ersions of 07he

Piture.0 Coleridge diagnosed his alter ego more fully in a letter to =d!ard

Coleridge of 1?9. Both letters 5uote 07he Piture0 !ith referene to Coleridges pro%lems of religious faith and %elief. #n 1?9, analying his o!n reent

0indolene lea"ening the resignation !hih it ounterfeited,0 Coleridge lamented:

7here !as indeed that imperfet Lo"e !hih made me dread a%o"e all fearsthe falling out of Iod into the a%ysm, the dreadful produti"ity, of my o!n

orrupted Soul, %ut not the Lo"e, that should urge me to press for!ard and

lay hold of the Promises. (y state of mind !as too often in too lose a



neigh%ourhood to the rela$ing (alaria of the (ysti Di"inity, !hih affets

to languish after an e$tintion of indi"idual Consiousness'the si8ly state!hih # had myself desri%ed in one of the Poems in the Si%ylline Lea"es

'the Lo"ers <esolutions'!ho si8 in soul

2orships the Spirit of unonsious Life

#n tree and !ild-flo!er. . . . *C$ 9, /

#n 5ids to &eflection, he had imaged a similar malady in terms that stri8ingly

reall the mirror-trope of 07he Piture.0 ne need not read %a8!ard *or

for!ard/ in this !ay, ho!e"er, to identify the youths si8ness as the sign of the

spiritual "oid, of the soul de"oid of its affirming image of the other.

2ithin the poem, the religious dilemma *the 0falling out of Iod0/ ta8es shape as

*or is displaed !ithin/ its personal, seular and reati"e onse5uene.? 7he first

part of the dream-!ithin-the-dream posits a greater reality 5uotient *so to spea8/,more 02ill and Stri"ing after furtherane in grae0 *C$ 9, /, a more ati"e

and %alaned passage %et!een inner and outer forms, onsious and unonsious,

that foretells the possi%ility of a suessful narrati"e onsummation. #n the

alternate future here presented, ho!e"er, the narrator a%andons his dou%le to a

ontemplation that an only inspirit the 0"aant %roo80 !ith a halluination, an

infernal !raith, a 0Naiad0 of personifiation'the 0Spirit of unonsious Life.0+

7he dream opens the rupture in onsiousness apparent from the %eginning of the

poem, the split %et!een a onsious dreaming self !ho manifestly assoiates

the thorny landsape !ith 0joy,0 a 0joy0 identified !ith emanipation from

passions dreams, and a latent self !ho dreams of passion and is, in fat,

attempting a 8ind of spiritual suiide. 3t dreams end, the 0part-ego0 the narrator

!ould e$lude from the sene ma8es "isi%le his o!n spiritual state in the present

moment of the narrati"e, imaged as a ondition of narissisti stasis.

7he first part of the dream-!ithin-the-dream, then, may %e ta8en to image the

return of the 0master-passion0 *l. 11, 6$, 1?/ as a healing influene, and to hint

at the su%se5uent ourse of the narrati"e, !hen the narrator !ill 0lay hold0 of the

impliit seular and aestheti 0 #romises.0 7hat is, the dream-idylls first

mo"ement presents a 8ind of 0true,0 al%eit still am%iguous, poeti dreaming. #ts

seond mo"ement may %e ta8en as a !arning against false dreaming, the0rela$ing (alaria of the (ysti Di"inity0 in !hih a lo"er, or poet, see8ing 0an

e$tintion of indi"idual Consiousness,0 !orships a figment of his *or her/ o!n

unonsious or half-onsious ma8ing. 07he Piture0 suggests that poeti

dreaming held fast %y its o!n idolatrous, 0purely0 aestheti, self-refle$i"e desire

for desire, for the refleted image, may resem%le nothing so muh as the

nightmarish 0distemper0 or 0delirious 4ision,0 the 0Somnam%ulism, or frightful



<e"erie, or /pilepsy from accumulated feelings0 as Coleridge one remar8ed in

Charles Lloyd *C$ 1, /. 7he onse5uene of the muses e$ile'or departure'

may %e the soul si8ness or "isionary solipsism that translates muse into (use-

imago, and %anishes all the !orld.>

7he ease !ith !hih the dream turns upon itself, !ith !hih it and its figuressplit and reunite and slip from one 8ind of !ish-fulfillment into another, suggests

that the entral am%iguity *re/mediated %y the dream, the Platoni dilemma, may

%e radially ir resol"ea%le. nly the (use-imago, the dreamed, *the o%jet; the

poem as !ords-on-a-page/ annot dream: and yet, as the atheting dou%le of

psyhi energy, the trope in-ha%its, and inspires, reati"e *day/dreaming. 7he

split female figure displays the pro%lem: the desire of the lo"er as a person is

direted to!ard the person of the %elo"ed; %ut the *reati"e/ desire of the poet is

and must al!ays %e direted to!ard the %elo"eds inspiring 0shado!,0 to!ard

idealiation. 0#dyll,0 as Iessners 04orsat0 onludes, ends !here em%rae

%egins *and "ie-"ersa/. 7he onditions of art re5uire the artist to play NarissaGus.1 (oreo"er, just as night-dream %eomes 0reality0 in the daylight

!orld only !hen the dreamer a!a8ens, so is it only in the rupture'!hen the

unonsious %eomes onsious of itself again and 0the harm G #s %ro8en0'

that art, as artifat, an appear.

-% T&E DEAE A*D T&E DEAED

2hen is play-ating re%u8ed %y reality& 2hen is fitionaliing presumptuous& 2hathappens after playating&

2ole Soyin8a

Does the poem resol"e its dilemma of true and false dreaming& For <aimonda

(odiano, the narrators self-healing is e"ident in the youths a%sene from the

poem after the dream-!ithin-the-dream, and in the narrators response to the

piture. 3s a real o%jet, it ontrasts !ith the 0false0 images he has !orshiped;

diso"ering it, he does not *apparently/ relapse into fantasy. #nstead, his

0journey . . . finally a5uires a true destination, the reunion !ith another human

%eing0 *1+?, +/. =d!ard Eessler *1++/ ta8es a different "ie! of the tenor of

the narrators delusions; %ut he, too, agrees that the poems denouementrepresents a positi"e outome. Eessler o%ser"es that 0the spea8er realies !hat

Narissus failed to see: that representation is not Being, and that passion direted

to!ard the phenomenal self produes a destruti"e Phantom0 *9/.

3 Freudian "ie! of the poem as !a8ing dream !ould ha"e to agree that in one

sense it demonstrates ho! 0Coleridge an use his self-refletion as a means to

rediret his passion to!ard a !orld of <eality 0 *Eessler, 9/; that 0the narrators



strategy of letting the youth fall into dangerous modes of self-deeption . . .

reo"er@sA his o!n sanity and freedom0 *(odiano, +1/. 3t poems end, all denials

seem to ha"e eased; the landsape of isolation has %een left %ehind, and a

0gladsome0 mood suffuses the sene. 2ithin the arrested narrati"e, the dream of

arrest has re-moti"ated ation; onfronted !ith the soul-si8ness of his dou%le,

the narrator renounes lethargy'al%eit, at first, in the figure of denial. Li8e Nor%ert Kanold in ensens 8radi%a, he heeds the !a8e-up all from his

unonsious !ithout at first fully assimilating its impliations. But the return of

*reati"e/ day-dreaming is aomplished !hen the narrator arri"es at the sene of

literally 0disparted !aters,0 and imagines their reunion on the other side of a

di"iding ro8 in idylli terms, as the rene!ed ommunion of t!o lo"ers spirits,

0=ah in the other lost and found0 *ll. 1, 19; 6$, 1, i$/.

Freud notes that 0e"ery psyho-analyti treatment is an attempt at li%erating

repressed lo"e0; %y these terms, the poem as !a8ing dream and the narrators

day-dreaming ha"e fulfilled the 0model of a ure %y lo"e0 *1+> @1+>9A, +>/.07he Piture0 resol"es in !hat Coleridge referred to in the note%oo8 entry on

Plato and Plotinian philosophy 5uoted earlier as an 0ahndung0 or 0in!ard

omening,0 a 0tremulous feeling of the heart,

as if it heard or %egan to glimpse something !hih had one %elonged to it,its Lord or its Belo"ed'e"en as a man reo"ering gradually from an

alienation of his Senses or the udgments on %eginning to reollet the

ountenanes of his 2ife, (other, Children, or Betrothed'0 *CN +

1?.19 f>/

Kis false dreams of solitude and self-immolation, the shade of art as narissisti

image-!orship, disappear !ithin a familial landsape of 0%roo8 and %ridge, andgrey stone ottages0 *l. 1; 6$, 1/; the figure of art as the unloo8ed-for gift

!hih must %e returned; and the prospeti"e *hene soulfully present/

ompanionship of the 0maid0 and artist in !hom muse and (use-imago

reom%ine. #n the artifat of human omposition, its o!n dou%led image, 07he

Piture0 finds itself: reati"e dreaming reprodues dreaming; dream and art, in

mutual atalysis, promote rene!al. 7he narrator has diso"ered e$atly !hat the

poet, the 0dreamer in %road daylight,0 !ould !ish to find: a su%jeti"e o%jet to

%e gi"en %a8 to the <eader, espeially to the one reader !hose reeption matters

most. 7he romane of reati"e desire is onsummated %y pu%liation in "he

Morning #ost, "he #oetical &egister and 6iylline $ea%es, and in the pri"atetransription of Sara Kuthinsons o!n hand. 7he gift of inspiration has %een

aepted, and returned; the poems dream for its o!n future has pro"en true.

But the epigraph to the Lo"e-Poems in 6iylline $ea%es reser"es a ne!

understanding only to their author-presenter, not to the *implied/ former self !ho

is their protagonist. Nor, !ithin its o!n narrati"e onstrut, does 07he Piture0

onlusi"ely suggest it has done anything other than simply present 0the



endea"or to emanipate the soul from day-dreams H note the different attempts

H the "ain ones'O *CN 11 9.1/. 3 person truly free of 0passions dreams,0

no longer 0dreaming hopes G Deliious to the soul,0 !ould simply ha"e left the

piture !here it lay *l. 11?, ?-; 6$, 1, 11/. (oreo"er, its latent ontent

%etrays the s8eth itself as a displaed em%lem of *te$tual/ day-dream and desire.

#t depits the ottage ne$t to the !aterfall !here the narrator is standing, 03ndlose %eside its porh a sleeping hild, G Kis dear head pillo!ed on a sleeping

dog0 *ll. 1-, 6$, 1/. 3s (odiano suggests, the 0piture %y itself arries a

positi"e message0; its 0realism . . . indiates that the artist !as engaged in a

onsious reprodution of an o%jeti"e reality and not in a self-indulgent play

!ith her o!n fanies0 *n. 1>?, +; +/. #f the dream-!ithin-the-dream may %e

ta8en as the poems mind, then the s8eth is its heart. But it is no footprint in

the sand, human and soon to %e erased. 3 piture has more masterly am%itions.

Further, as ipher painted in %erry juie on the s8in of that natural o%jet, the

0!eeping %irh,0 the dra!ing is 07he Pitures0 sign or signature for itself: just

as the dream-!ithin-the-dream ontains the narrati"e and psyhi mo"ement of

the poem up to that point, and so is also its refletion or dou%le. 7he "isual o%jet

'the 0urious piture0'no less than the mirror-sene presents an ironi,

synonymiing resorption of the poeti te$t itself, here under the olophon

of muta #oesis *see CN + f+"/.

(oreo"er, its sentimental su%jet engages the poets if not the artists fanies: the

ottage is a reurrent Coleridgean motif, a figure of 0domesti %liss,0 as (ihael

Eelly *1+/ points out, 0!ith numerous predeessors and suessors0 *??; see

?-+>/. 7he figure of the hild and dog also ha"e Coleridgean te$tual analogues.

7hey appear in a note%oo8 entry of (arh, 1?1>, that onsolidates a memory, ormemories, of time spent !ith Sara and (ary Kuthinson at So8%urn and,

espeially, at Iallo! Kill, !here Coleridge "isited in the summer of 1?>1 and, of

most signifiane here, in (arh of 1?> *see C$, -, ?? and n., +/. #n

demonstrating to 0an #dolater of Kume H Kartley0 that he !ell understood 0the

"ast e$tent and multifold ati"ity of the 5ssociati%e 'orce,0 Coleridge onfided

to his note%oo8, he addued many e$amples !hih %rought to mind 0 $e+ti, the

Cirassian

*and as %y this same fore joined !ith the assent of the !ill most

often, tho often too "ainly %eause !ea8ly opposed %y it, #

ine"ita%ly %y some lin8 or other return to you @SaraA . . . the for e"er and e"er Feeling of youG'7he fireG(ary, you, H # at Iallo!-KillG

'or if flamy, refleted in hildrens round faes'ah !hose

hildren&'a dog'that dog !hose restless eyes oft athing the

light of the fire used to !ath your fae, as you leaned !ith your

head on your hand and arm, H your feet on the fender G . . .

*CN >? 1?.1/



3 similar idylli sene inluding (ary and Sara appears in 1?> in the 04erse

Letter0; in a separate poem de"oted to it, 03 Day-Dream0; and as a displaed

transformation in 07he Day Dream,0 pu%lished in"he Morning #ost on to%er

1+, 1?>, some si$ !ee8s after 07he Piture0 appeared there.9 Both entering

dream-moments re-figure, in disguise, this proess of te$t and memory: in the

youths fantasy *of the "irgins open palm, pressing her hee8 and %ro!; herel%o!, resting on the tree/, and in the diso"ered artifat of its presene, the

piture itself. 7he told and re-told day-dream, then, an %e ta8en as the primary

Coleridgean 0pattern memory,0 in %oth the te$tual and personal senses, !hih is

transformed and re-dupliated !ithin 07he Piture,0 and upon !hih the poems

!ish onstruts its o!n 0piture of the future.0 Dreaming %egets dreaming; his

diso"ery of the piture sets the narrator to imagining again, this time ho! he

!ill return the s8eth *no! the prete$t for his rene!ed hopes/ and enjoy the

ompanionship of #sa%el. 7he 5uestion of psyhologial dependeny upon desire

and its 0"ain0 pursuit; of reati"e desire upon *unfulfilled/ eroti or romanti

desire; of the artists desire upon his pro- and intro-jetion of a (use-imago'as

!ell as the latent religious pro%lem of the artists, and the (use-imagos,

relationship to the Di"ine # 3('is not resol"ed.

7he irresolution, or ontinuous dissol"e, of reati"e *day/dreaming ahie"es

ironi, literal representation in the split te$t of the sene of 0disparted !aters0

reunited.? 7he te$tual =rror, the am%iguity of the %elo"ed #mage, also remains

figurati"ely present in #sa%el. 7his 0di"inest maid0 and 0daughter of Ienius0

more %eautiful than Sappho still seems to stand %efore the narrator more 0li8e a

thought0 than a person, 03 dream remem%erd in a dream0 *0<eolletions of

Lo"e0; 6iylline $ea%es, 19>/. 7he at of naming itself, of onferring upon herthe 0master0 "oation of artist *l. 1?, 6$, 1/ a%sol"es her of typologial

anonymity %ut e$pliitly dra!s her into arhetypal reati"e myth, the old story in

!hih 3laeus !oos the fairest'and most elusi"e'of them all. 7he pro%lem of

0attration to the transendent and ideal0'the moti"e of 0nympholepsy0 *see

Per8ins 1++>, 1>>/'has hardly %een o"erome. 7he poem does not simply

o%ser"e the proesses of romanti day-dreaming, or of the reati"e 0dreamer in

%road daylight0: it ironiies them, and alls into 5uestion the "ery figure of

dreaming itself, !hih, li8e the other figures in the poem, dou%les %a8 upon the

reader. For, as the o%jet of his amorous pursuit, #sa%el represents the poets

entire 0potential audiene0'!ho, in Stuart Koods metaphor, may ha"e a "irtuale$istene in the !riters dream-eonomy 0li8e Freud sitting in"isi%ly at the head

of the ouh, at one a presene and an a%sene0 *1+?+, /. #n the immediate

eonomy of reading, ho!e"er, it is the narrator himself !ho ats as the *future/

interpreters most o%"ious dou%le. 7he riti !ho see8s to address the poems

mysteries ine"ita%ly repliates his ations: pursuing the muse, dreaming

refletions upon refletions, retrie"ing the piture, attempting to return it *to



signifiane, to its rightful o!ner, to another reader/. #n its figural shifting of the

%oundaries %et!een dreamer, dreaming and the dreamed, 07he Piture0 images

the progress of its o!n interpretation. 7hat is, as a type of !a8ing dream, 07he

Piture0 itself'not only its split muse'may %e regarded as a narrati"e trope of

and for dream*ing/ that figures the prearious negotiation for all onerned of the

passage %et!een onsious and unonsious other- and self-representation.

#n the third mo"ement of his instruti"e essay 0Kermias Dream0 *first presented

in 1+?/, Norman Kolland offers an e$ample of 0 transati"e ritiism, 0 reading

Kermias dream *in 5 Midsummer Nights Dream/ through his o!n onern !ith

05uestions of fidelity and possession %et!een men and !omen0 *1++, 1+/.

Kolland thus see8s to 0ma8e e$pliit0 the element of 0self-diso"ery0 inherent in

literary ritiism:

7hrough psyhoanalyti identity theory, !e an understand ho! !e

are a%le to tal8 a%out the !ords of another through oursel"es and, in

doing so, tal8 a%out oursel"es through the !ords of another'e"enif they are as airy a nothing as dream of dream of dream. *1+/

2ho then is the literary dreamer& 2hose is the dream& Does it dream the dream

of 0true0 reproduti"e Being, or the illusionary dream 0a musa0& *CN +/. ne

imagines the departed su%jet of these 5ueries asting a handful of 0Si%ylline

lea"es0 into the pool of refletions, just %efore disappearing into the !ood.<=F=<=NC=S

3dair, Patriia. "he (aing Dream2 5 6tudy of Coleridges #oetry. Ne! or8: Barnes H No%le, 1+9?.

Coleridge, Samuel 7aylor. 5ids to &eflection. =d. ohn Beer. 4ol. + of "he Collected (ors. Prineton: Prineton ni". Press, 1++.

Coleridge, Samuel 7aylor. Christael, c. 1?19. $ford and Ne! or8: 2oodsto8 Boo8s 1++1.

Coleridge, Samuel 7aylor. Collected $etters. =d. =arl Leslie Iriggs. 9 "ols. $ford: Clarendon, 1+9-1+1.

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Endnotes

1 Correspondene should %e direted to Susan Luther, 11 Bu8ingham Dri"e,

S.2., Kunts"ille, 3L ?>->1, S3. 7he reader !ill note, for e$ample, that # ha"e often used single 5uotation

mar8s, traditionally employed in literary sholarship to indiate 5uotations !ithin

5uotations or the denotation of !ords, to emphasie "isually the am%iguous,

on"entional, figurati"e or seondary harater of language and meaning.

*=$planatory, parenthetial phrases indiate !hen # ha"e atually re-

presented or re!orded anothers !ords, rather than just emphasied the non-literal 5uality of denotation or the reei"ed harater of ertain ideas, terms, or

onepts./ (any terms are also enlosed !ithin dou%le 5uotation mar8s meant to

signify the meanings so-alled or so to spea8. Both strategies are meant in part

to a8no!ledge that in a sense our ta$onomies, ho!e"er effiaious, still 0ha"e

something prearious and %arren a%out them,0 as Freud puts it *1+> @1+>9A, /.

<ie-Sayre and Sayre *1+?/, + *emphasis mine/.

See 0f the Fragment of Eu%la Ehan,0 in Christael *1?19; fas. rpt. 1++1/, >-

, the te$t to !hih # shall refer hereafter, and Shneider *1+/, - .

$ectures 1:;:-1:192 <n $iterature *1+?9/, ed. <eginald Foa8es, , . See

3dair *1+9?/ for a full-length interpretation of Coleridges 0dreamli8e method of

omposition0 *?/ that sees his early poetry as !a8ing dream; and <ep8a *1+?9,

1>>-9, 9-/ for a disussion of Coleridges poems as 0spea8ing dreams0 that

desire "ati self-reognition.9 Noteoos, "ol. *1+91/, ed. Eathleen Co%urn, >?9 1.. # shall refer to the

note%oo8s hereafter as CN and ite referenes %y entry num%er only.

For the last t!o phrases 5uoted see, respeti"ely, 07he =olian Karp,0 l. >, in

Coleridges Complete #oetical (ors *1+1; rpt. 1+/, ed. =rnest KartleyColeridge, 1, 1>>->, hereafter ited as C# ; and Freud *1+>? @1+>A/, 0Creati"e

2riters and Day-dreaming0 *0Der Dihter und das Phantasieren0/, 1>. Freuds

title more literally translates to 7he Poet @or author of fitionA and Fantasiing @in

the sense of fantasying, that is, to indulge in re"eries or fanies; to imagine,

dream; to ra"e, ram%le, %e delirious; to impro"iseA. # shall here use the term

0fantasy0 almost synonymously !ith 0daydream,0 and 0fany0 to mean a produt



of the imagination harateried %y an espeially strong element of aprie,

*lo"e-/li8ing, !ish-fulfillment, or potential self-deeption *as in 0she fanies

herself a poet0/. For ontemporary interpretations and e$tensions of Freuds

theory and for ommentary on the distintion in psyhoanalysis %et!een modes

of e$periening meant %y the differently-nuaned terms 0phantasy0 and 0fantasy0

see the essays in Person, Fonagy and Figueira *1++/.

Freuds most omplete analysis of the literary dream is to %e found in his study of

ensens 8radi%a *1+> @1+>9A/, from !hose method of *re/turning upon the plot

# %orro!. 7he study also onisely e$plains Freuds theory of dream-

interpretation, inluding suh onepts as manifest and latent ontent,

ondensation and displaement *see, e. g., +, , 9/.? Collected $etters, "ol. *1++/, ed. =. L. Iriggs, ++. Kereafter # shall refer to

Coleridges letters as C$.+Freud suggests that the play-ating of the hild translates itself into the

daydreaming of the adult, !ho must *unli8e the hild/ oneal his fantasies or

suffer e$pulsion from the rights and pri"ileges aorded adult status. nder the

liense of fition, ho!e"er, the reati"e !riter may indulge his daydreams or

fanies *usually eroti or suess-oriented or %oth/ to their gratifiation and our

o!n. 7he !riter, in a sense, dreams for us and permits us to enjoy our o!n day-

dreams !ithin the proteted one of reading.1> See 6iylline $ea%es *1?1; fas. rpt. 1++>/, 1?- and $i, hereafter ited

as 6$, from !hih # shall heneforth 5uote, %y line and page num%ers. # ha"e

supplied line num%ers that ta8e into aount the insertion re5uired %y the =rrata;

follo!ing line ?, these num%ers differ %y one from those in C# 1, 9+-, due toa further insertion made in the te$t of 1??.11 See C$ , letters > and 1; see also letters , , and 9. (ihael Eelly

*1+/ instruti"ely interprets 07he Piture0 in the onte$t of Coleridges letters

and note%oo8 entries, espeially those of 3ugust 1-+, 1?> *CN 1>-1?/.1 See 2halley *1+/ for a disussion of Coleridges 03sra0 poems *that is, those

!ritten a%out Sara Kuthinson/ and 0Saras Poets.0 See 1-19 for the te$t of 07he

Piture0 *9/, !hih 2halley suggests Sara may ha"e transri%ed in 3ugust-

Septem%er 1?>.1

See 3dair *1+9?/, 1+-+9; Shul *1+9/, 1-+; Suther *1+9>/, >-; arlott*1+9/, +->; and <uoff *1+?+/, 1?-+1, !ho interprets the te$t of 1?> as it

enters the dialogue of other Coleridgean and 2ords!orthian te$ts of the period.

See also 2eissman *1+?+/, !ho %elie"es Coleridges lo"e for Sara Kuthinson

itself !as a displaed "ersion of his lo"e for 2illiam 2ords!orth.1 3lternati"ely: <ejoiing in his li%eration from 0passions dreams,0 an

emanipated lo"er !anders through a harsh landsape that Cupid, he assures



himself, !ould ne"er fre5uent. Ko!e"er, his fany of ho! the god of lo"e !ould

%e punished %y the loal spirits if 0in sullen mood0 he dared in"ade their territory

leads the narrator to imagine, in ontrast, a deluded lo"er not unli8e his former

self !ho gaes at the refletion of a 0stately "irgin0 in a !oodland pool. 7he

narrator imagines her frustrating the de"otions of the 0poor youth0 %y tossing

flo!er-heads into the stream, %efore she "anishes into the !ood. 7he narratorfurther imagines the youth transfi$ed %eside the pool in futile 0lo"e-longing,0

!hile he himself follo!s the !oodland stream he has rested %y until it ta8es him

0into light.0 Presently he finds a %irh%ar8 s8eth !hose style re"eals it is a

piture dra!n and left %y his o!n %elo"ed #sa%el. Ke resol"es to find her and

return it to her, and to 0guide0 her home through the dar8ening !ood "ia a path

he 8no!s 0leads straight!ay G n to her fathers house.01 See CN > 1.? @ 3pril 1?>A: 0(y Dreams no+ al!ays onneted in

some !ay or other !ith #sulia.0 3s noted a%o"e, in Freuds paradigm 0a piee of

reati"e !riting, li8e a day-dream, is a ontinuation of, and a su%stitute for, !hat!as one the play of hildhood0 *1+>? @1+>A, 1/. 7he often playful tone of

07he Piture0 and its referenes to play a8no!ledge this. But although one

might therefore tra8 the footsteps of the (other-imago, and the hilds arhai

relationship !ith her, throughout the poem, it is the more adult dream of the

muse # !ish to onsider here.19 7he literary *day/ dream is perhaps unli8e the un!ritten fantasy in that it

usually in"ol"es an e$tended, formally-santioned temporal progression *that is,

ompositions long proess of "ision and re-"ision/, eah phase of !hih may %e

moti"ated and inspired %y further te$tual and personal 0moments0 in a 8ind of

endless dissol"e. 7hus no definiti"e ontainment of reati"e e$periene is possi%le !ithin the figure of reati"e *day/dreaming. 7he present disussion is

neessarily minimal in terms of the many interte$tual dialogues the poem

suggests.1 7o !hat degree might the on"entional typology of the elusi"e muse-lo"er

figurati"ely represent not only the inommensura%le otherness of language *the

ultimate (use&/, %ut some pro%a%le psyhi neessity of reati"e *day/dreaming&

7hat is, to !hat e$tent do poets *and poems/ of a ertain temperament

unonsiously in"ent, and ha%itually in"ol"e others in, Platoni life-dramas

designed to feed reati"e *day/dreaming& 3nd !hen does suh dreaming %eome0esapist0 or destruti"e& Suh 5uestions are impliit in 07he Piture.0 *#ronially

for the 0poor youth,0 Coleridge honored Platoni or 0Plotino-platoni0

philosophy preisely %eause, he !rote, 0it ne"er suffers, muh less auses or

e"en oasions, its Disiples to forget themsel"es, lost and sattered in sensi%le

%jets disjoined or asdisjoined from themsel"es0; see CN +./



1? See Iessner *19; rpt. 1+/, 0Der "este 4orsa,0 1>-, from !hih # shall

5uote. # shall ite page rather than line num%ers; it is a prose poem. See also

Da"is *1+9+/, 1>->9.1+ hJ #f only # found you, ho! # !ould hug you and 8iss youJ>

See Shul *1+9/, !ho argues that Coleridge transforms the on"entionalied pastoral oneption and plot of Iessners piee into a dramati representation of

the psyhology of illusion *0self-deeption0/. 07he Piture0 an thus %e seen as a

satiri, ironi judgment passed upon pastoral on"ention; yet it is e"en more a

0amouflage@dA . . . self-re"elation0 *1>/ of psyhi 0am%iguity0 *1/.1 See Freud *1+>? @1+>A/, 1?, and Eelly *1+/, ?. 7he pu%lished "ersions of 1?> and that in 6aras #oets maintain the

su%junti"e, and de"ote only se"en lines to Cupids ignominy. Coleridge e$pands

upon the smallest hint in Iessner: 0Le% it !ol, 3morJ dein Pfeil !ird mih hier

niht finden . . .0 *1/. *Fare!ell, Lo"eJ our arro! !ont find me here./Iessners narrator !anders !ith 0"er!undeter Fuss0; Coleridges imagines that

0#f in sullen mood G Ke @Lo"eA should stray hither, the lo! stumps shall gore G Kis

dainty feet0 *ll. ?->, 6$, 1+/. 7his transformation of the passage, !ith its sly

jo8e at Iessners e$pense and its e$tension of the impliit pun on metrial feet,

emphasies the poems element of *self/parody and Cupids identity as a self-

projetion of Coleridges o!n narrator. nly yesterday you daned a%out me gaily in a !hite summer-fro8, as the

!a"es dane here in the sunlight. <uoff *1+?+/ notes the Coleridgean 0pattern

memory0 of images imported into 07he Piture0 from the 04erse Letter0 to Sara

Kuthinson, inluding the %reee, ro%in, and figure of the "irgin refleted in the pool. Ker appearane may %e interpreted as 0an ela%orate displaement of one of

the entral senes of the 4erse Letter0 *1??; see 1?-??/. 7his sene reappears,

again transformed, in the images of #sa%els %irh-%ar8 piture; see %elo!. Freud *1+>? @1+>A, 1>/ notes 0the inlination of the modern !riter to split up

his ego, %y self-o%ser"ation, into many part-egos, and, in onse5uene, to

personify the onfliting urrents of his o!n mental life in se"eral heroes.0 0n Prophey in Sleep,0 trans. 2. S. Kett *1+; re". 1+, ?/. See also 0n

Dreams,0 9. # am inde%ted to Bar%ara 7edlo8 *1++, / for alling my

attention to 3ristotles e$planation.9 See Punters 0Narissism and ontamination: Christa%el 0 *1+-/. See also

<ajan *1+?>, >-+/, 0#mage and <eality in Coleridges Lyri Poetry.0 <ajan

disusses in detail Coleridgean narissism, self-projetion, and the pro%lemati of

image, !ith partiular referene to the on"ersation poems and their e$tension in

late "erses suh as 0Constany to an #deal %jet.0 See also Eessler *1++/ on

07he Piture,0 91-9?.



=d. ohn Beer *1++/, 3phorism TTT4#, 11?-1+. See also Eessler *1++/, 9,

!ho 5uotes the passage and notes its narissisti impliations for 07he Piture.0? #s the religious dilemma atually a metaphor for the psyhologial, personal

one'or the personal for the religious& #n other !ords: is Iod the sign or

displaed image of the earthly parent *or amnioti %liss/'or "ie-"ersa& For the present purposes, # shall assume the immediate referene of the term Iod to %e

Iod, and the muse to represent Iods earthly dou%le *the soul/.+ Compare !ith the 0Si8ness0 and 0misera%le feeling0 of the 0lo"e-stri8en

"isionary0 in thrall to 07he 4isionary Kope0*6$, 1-9; C# 1, 19/.> #n 07he Piture,0 ean-Pierre (ileur points out, 0refletion indiates the

unertain relationship %et!een nature and desire0 *1+?, ?9/. (ileur reser"es for

refletion in 0Eu%la Ehan,0 ho!e"er, a resonane # !ould e$tend to 07he

Piture0 as !ell:

#n Eu%la Ehan, it @refletionA indiates the unertain relationship %et!een desire'espeially desire for self-image or onfirmation'

and poetry. 7he permanent loss of the refletion and the irre"ersi%le

distur%ane of the alm surfae of the poem represent the

transmutation of the intense, mutual gae of the self and lyri poetry

into a series of displaed pro%lematis of unertain relation:

inlusion-e$lusion, order-ontingeny, poeti-natural, figurati"e-

literal, onsious-unonsious, !ill-"ision.1 3 feminist interpretation of the figure !ould emphasie the !ays in !hih the

female muse *historially/ has %een made into a fetish, to ser"e the ends of

masuline eroti and reati"e desire. See, for e$ample, Earen S!ann *1+??/ andDiane Koe"eler *1++>, >?-1>/. But the reati"e pro%lemati suggested %y 07he

Piture0 e$eeds, e"en as it in"ol"es, the fitions of gender. 3 omplete

psyhology or phenomenology of inspiration !ould ha"e to reognie that the

male figure may also %e su%jeted to *sometimes harmful/ muse-ifiation; the

dynami of eroti athe$is !or8s %oth !ays. Nor is it onfined to opposite-se$

o%jets. 1++ *1+?9/, 1. 7here an %e no 5ualitati"e omparison %et!een a fiti"e,

on"entional romane poem and a play that dramaties a real and %rutal murder,

suh as the performane "ersion of the Kola Camp, Eenya massare presented %ythe <oyal Court 7heatre, London, 1+? that Soyin8a disusses. Ne"ertheless,

Soyin8as 5uestions o%tain e"en for !hat may %e regarded as the most 0tri"ial0

forms of art: !ho or !hat is %eing ser"ed& 3nd ser"ed up& Suh 5uestions are at

the heart of Coleridges te$tual am%i"alenes.



Compare !ith the 0unalarming tur%ulene G f transient joys,0 imaged in 07he

Kappy Kus%and0 as melody *it follo!s 07he 4isionary Kope0 in 6iylline

$ea%es, 1-?; see C# 1, ??/. 6$, 11? *0#pse mihi ollatus enim non ille "ide%or: G Frons alia est, mores5ue

alii, no"a mentis imago, G 4o$5ue aliud sonat'0/. Coleridge 5uotes lines fromPetrarhs 03d Bar%atum Sulmonensem,0 /pistolae Metricae #, 1. See CN 1?

. and n. Eathleen Co%urn translates: 0For if # am ompared !ith myself #

shall not seem the same. (y fae is hanged, my !ays are hanged, # ha"e a ne!

8ind of understanding, my "oie sounds other!ise.0 <uoff *1+?+/ notes that the 0 fine s8in of the %irh has an eerily

anthropomorphi 5uality0 *1+>/. Not long %efore, the narrator has desri%ed it as

0*most %eautiful G f forest-trees, the Lady of the !oods/0 *ll. 1-9, 6$, 1/.

(ight #sa%el %e the Dryad of the 2ood&9 See, respeti"ely, C$ , Letter ?, +>-+?: +-+; C# 1, ?-?9, ?9-?. 03

Day-Dream0 %egins:

(y eyes ma8e pitures, !hen they are shut:

# see a fountain, large and fair,

3 !illo! and a ruined hut,

3nd thee, and me and (ary there,

(aryJ ma8e thy gentle lap our pillo!J

Bend oer us, li8e a %o!er, my %eautiful green !illo!J

See also Parrish *1+??/ for te$ts of the 04erse Letter0 and 07he Day-Dream,0 and

3dair *1+9?, 1+/ !ho also lin8s the Iallo! Kill entry !ith 07he Piture0 and

07he Day-Dream.0 For a thoughtful and sensiti"e disussion of the pro%lem as it relates to

Coleridges lo"e for Sara Kuthinson and his oneption of an ideal, 0original

Self,0 see 3nthony ohn Karding *1+/, ?>-+. See also -. Suther *1+9>/,-99, interprets Coleridges lo"e-poems in the onte$t of his religious 5uest; and

3dair *1+9?/, 1-19, plaes them, inluding 07he Piture,0 in a Platoni

onte$t.? Coleridge re"ised and e$panded the poems "ision of lo"es reunions

after 6iylline $ea%es !as already in press: the =rrata present eight lines to %e

read in plae of 0lines 1, 1, and 190 on page 1. 7he ne! lines emphasie



plaelessness and spiritual presene. But the rift that must %e opened in the more

erotially pleasure-full first "ersion of the lines, in order to aommodate the

greater idealiation, is literally realied %y a rupture in the at of reading: !hen

one must, if one !ishes to read the poem as its author intended, turn from the

!hole te$t %a8 to the sheet of =rrata *$i/ that inlude the re"ision.

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Dreaming Coleridge

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