The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 143

[412:1] First published with a prefatory note:--'The fact that in Greek Psyche is the common name for the soul, and the b.u.t.terfly, is thus alluded to in the following stanzas from an unpublished poem of the Author', in the _Biographia Literaria_, 1817, i. 82, n.: included (as No. II of 'Three Sc.r.a.ps') in _Amulet_, 1833: _Lit. Rem._, 1836, i. 53.

First collected in 1844. In _Lit. Rem._ and 1844 the poem is dated 1808.

[412:2] Psyche means both b.u.t.terfly and Soul. _Amulet_, 1833.

In some instances the Symbolic and Onomastic are united as in Psyche = Anima et papilio. _MS. S. T. C._ (Hence the word 'name' was italicised in the MS.)

LINENOTES:

t.i.tle] The b.u.t.terfly Amulet, 1833, 1877-81, 1893.

[4] Of earthly life. For in this fleshly frame MS. S. T. C.: Of earthly life! For, in this mortal frame Amulet, 1833, 1893.

A TOMBLESS EPITAPH[413:1]

'Tis true, Idoloclastes Satyrane!

(So call him, for so mingling blame with praise, And smiles with anxious looks, his earliest friends, Masking his birth-name, wont to character His wild-wood fancy and impetuous zeal,) 5 'Tis true that, pa.s.sionate for ancient truths, And honouring with religious love the Great Of elder times, he hated to excess, With an unquiet and intolerant scorn, The hollow Puppets of a hollow Age, 10 Ever idolatrous, and changing ever Its worthless Idols! Learning, Power, and Time, (Too much of all) thus wasting in vain war Of fervid colloquy. Sickness, 'tis true, Whole years of weary days, besieged him close, 15 Even to the gates and inlets of his life!

But it is true, no less, that strenuous, firm, And with a natural gladness, he maintained The citadel unconquered, and in joy Was strong to follow the delightful Muse. 20 For not a hidden path, that to the shades Of the beloved Parna.s.sian forest leads, Lurked undiscovered by him; not a rill There issues from the fount of Hippocrene, But he had traced it upward to its source, 25 Through open glade, dark glen, and secret dell, Knew the gay wild flowers on its banks, and culled Its med'cinable herbs. Yea, oft alone, Piercing the long-neglected holy cave, The haunt obscure of old Philosophy, 30 He bade with lifted torch its starry walls Sparkle, as erst they sparkled to the flame Of odorous lamps tended by Saint and Sage.

O framed for calmer times and n.o.bler hearts!

O studious Poet, eloquent for truth! 35 Philosopher! contemning wealth and death, Yet docile, childlike, full of Life and Love!

Here, rather than on monumental stone, This record of thy worth thy Friend inscribes, Thoughtful, with quiet tears upon his cheek. 40

? 1809.

FOOTNOTES:

[413:1] First published in _The Friend_, No. XIV, November 23, 1809.

There is no t.i.tle or heading to the poem, which occupies the first page of the number, but a footnote is appended:--'Imitated, though in the movements rather than the thoughts, from the vii{th}, of _Gli Epitafi_ of Chiabrera:

Fu ver, che Ambrosio Salinero a torto Si pose in pena d'odiose liti,' &c.

Included in _Sibylline Leaves_, 1817, 1828, 1829, 1834. Sir Satyrane, 'A Satyres son yborne in forrest wylde' (Spenser's _Faery Queene_, Bk. I, C. vi, l. 21) rescues Una from the violence of Sarazin. Coleridge may have regarded Satyrane as the anonymn of Luther. Idoloclast, as he explains in the preface to 'Satyrane's Letters', is a 'breaker of idols'.

LINENOTES:

[10] a] an Friend, 1809, S. L. 1828, 1829.

[16] inlets] outlets Friend, 1809.

[37] Life] light The Friend, 1809.

FOR A MARKET-CLOCK[414:1]

(IMPROMPTU)

What now, O Man! thou dost or mean'st to do Will help to give thee peace, or make thee rue, When hovering o'er the Dot this hand shall tell The moment that secures thee Heaven or h.e.l.l!

1809.

FOOTNOTES:

[414:1] Sent in a letter to T. Poole, October 9, 1809, and transferred to one of Coleridge's Notebooks with the heading 'Inscription proposed on a Clock in a market place': included in 'Omniana' of 1809-16 (_Literary Remains_, 1836, i. 347) with the erroneous t.i.tle 'Inscription on a Clock in Cheapside'. First collected in 1893.

What now thou do'st, or art about to do, Will help to give thee peace, or make thee rue; When hov'ring o'er the line this hand will tell The last dread moment--'twill be heaven or h.e.l.l.

Read for the last two lines:--

When wav'ring o'er the dot this hand shall tell The moment that secures thee Heaven or h.e.l.l.

_MS. Lit. Rem._

THE MADMAN AND THE LETHARGIST[414:2]

AN EXAMPLE

Quoth d.i.c.k to me, as once at College We argued on the use of knowledge;-- 'In old King Olim's reign, I've read, There lay two patients in one bed.

The one in fat lethargic trance, 5 Lay wan and motionless as lead: The other, (like the Folks in France), Possess'd a different disposition-- In short, the plain truth to confess, The man was madder than Mad Bess! 10 But both diseases, none disputed, Were unmedicinably rooted; Yet, so it chanc'd, by Heaven's permission, Each prov'd the other's true physician.

'Fighting with a ghostly stare 15 Troops of Despots in the air, Obstreperously Jacobinical, The madman froth'd, and foam'd, and roar'd: The other, snoring octaves cynical, Like good John Bull, in posture clinical, 20 Seem'd living only when he snor'd.

The _Citizen_ enraged to see This fat Insensibility, Or, tir'd with solitary labour, Determin'd to convert his neighbour; 25 So up he sprang and to 't he fell, Like devil piping hot from h.e.l.l, With indefatigable fist Belabr'ing the poor Lethargist; Till his own limbs were stiff and sore, 30 And sweat-drops roll'd from every pore:-- Yet, still, with flying fingers fleet, Duly accompanied by feet, With some short intervals of biting, He executes the self-same strain, 35 Till the Slumberer woke for pain, And half-prepared himself for fighting-- That moment that his mad Colleague Sunk down and slept thro' pure fatigue.

So both were cur'd--and this example 40 Gives demonstration full and ample-- That _Chance_ may bring a thing to bear, Where _Art_ sits down in blank despair.'

'That's true enough, d.i.c.k,' answer'd I, 'But as for the _Example_, 'tis a lie.' 45

? 1809

FOOTNOTES:

[414:2] Now published for the first time from one of Coleridge's Notebooks. The use of the party catchword 'Citizen' and the allusion to 'Folks in France' would suggest 1796-7 as a probable date, but the point or interpretation of the 'Example' was certainly in Coleridge's mind when he put together the first number of _The Friend_, published June 1, 1809:--'Though all men are in error, they are not all in the same error, nor at the same time . . . each therefore may possibly heal the other . . . even as two or more physicians, all diseased in their general health, yet under the immediate action of the disease on different days, may remove or alleviate the complaints of each other.'