The literary craft of Samuel Taylor Coleridge is matchless. The world usually identifies him for his vast literary association. But the English poet’s identity can’t get restricted to creative writings only. Coleridge is a known figure with a deep liking for revolutionary ardor.
Like Wordsworth, Coleridge also witnessed the famous revolutionary era that first got shaped in France. The nation emerged as the genesis of revolutionary ardor in the world. And this gave birth in him a profound sympathy for this European country.
The main reason behind the English poet’s profound admiration for French Revolution was its ideology. Its baseline consisted of three prime ideals, liberty, equality, and fraternity. Coleridge always dreamed of a society where all humans could live in an equal social setting. In a word, he all the time desired for “Pantisocracy.” He thought of having a utopian social arrangement in which all humans are members of equal social positions. That means a community with zero disparity.
His deep desire for a liberal social setting is visible in his various writings. Many of his words to date evidently indicate his centuries-ago belief in revolutionary ardor. And this urge became acute after the downfall of the Bastille.
Undoubtedly, the seizure of the political prison, Bastille, appeared as the end of inhuman anarchy. And Samuel Taylor Coleridge saw it as a great scope to build a developed human world devoid of social discrepancy or inequality.
The poet welcomed the toppling with a dream. He even started believing the rise of a new life springing or leaping before his eyes. For him, French Revolution was not a mere uprising. To him, it was the medium to bring an era of emancipation.
From a poetic point of view, Coleridge perceived it as the birth of enormous enthusiasm. And the fire of this enthusiasm collected its energy from another fire of the world. He took French Revolution as the birth of immense hope filled with robust faith and intense aspiration.
His famous writing “Ode to the Departing Year” ignited his strong reaction against those unwanted forces that reacted against France. His words unveiled a robust poetic mindset that conjured several vivid pictures of a new world. He started portraying A cosmos of humanity boosted with the blessings of liberation, equality, and brotherhood in his mind.
