Dejection An Ode

Dejection an ode
Dejection: An Ode is a poem profused with many romantic elements from the start till the very end. It was written by
Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1802 in the Romantic Era. The work is not simply a poem, but rather a reflection of the poet,
who was as famous for his rise as for his fall. On the surface, the work can simply be read as the remnant of an
unattainable love. On the other hand, “Dejection” is also read as the record of a creative crisis in Coleridge’s career. In
this poem, Coleridge expresses his personal grief on the loss of his creative imagination, which is thought to be the
product of his depression born of his unhappy marriage and futile love for Sarah Hutchinson. This expression of personal
loss in literature is itself an element of Romanticism.
One of the features of Romanticism in literary and philosophical theory tends to see the individual at the very center of all
life and all experience. Throughout the poem, the author conveys the imagery of grief and sadness, and how this dejection,
affects the experiences of the speaker. The images of night, Darkness, howling storm, crescent moon, viper thoughts, dark
dream etc, all represent and inner state of Coleridge’s mind and his deep agony.
Romantic literature to a great extent involves the expression of one’s unique feelings and particular attitudes, which this
poem represents in its entirety. Coleridge is lacking in inspiration and motivation to create his own reality; the agony of
losing the power of creativity and his driving passion disturbs the poet more so than the depression he experiences.
Throughout the work, the author conveys the imagery of grief and sadness, and how this dejection, as it were, affects the
experiences of the speaker. He repeatedly wishes to be moved by the sights and sounds that are around him, but is unable
to be so. When the fruitlessness of looking outward to find the inspiration to break the sadness, or at least to make it
productive, fail, Coleridge asserts that the inspiration must come from within. This is the conception, the ideal, which
gives rise to the Romantic poets’ emphasis on the imagination and internal realities.
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The poem depicts the creative crises in Coleridge’s life and is ultimately a testament to the importance of imagination in
Romantic thought and ideology. Throughout “Dejection,” Coleridge, while in the depths of despair, tries to stimulate his
imagination and creative powers through outside experiences of nature. The aeolian lute is a common symbol in Romantic
poetry of man and his interaction of nature. Just as the lute needs more powerful breezes to produce music, the poet needs
sufficient inspiration to enlighten the imagination. He wishes the outside storm to stir his inner dull pain so that he can
come out of his lethargic mental state which has deprived him of his creativity. This relationship between outer and inner
nature is also a romantic belief. When the fruitlessness of looking outward to find the inspiration to break the sadness fail,
Coleridge asserts that the joy is most important thing in life and it comes like a fountain from within. For the romantics,
Reality is first created in the mind; feeling and personal attributions are internal creations that give meaning to external
experiences.
Another aspect of romantic poetry deals with the past, exotic places, forgotten events and a sense of having lost
something. It also emphasis on the need for spontaneity in expression of thought and action. This can be very well
observed in this poem. Coleridge remembers that in his earlier days he had joy though the path of his life was rough. In
those days he even used his misfortunes as materials to weave visions of delight. Natural objects seemed to be his own as
if an extension of his own personality. But now his heart has no joy, Coleridge does not lament his depression, but rather
his inability to make it productive with the use of imagination. He seems to be frantic for the joy that he so heartily
desires, which has the power to set him free from the stifled drowsy, unimpassioned grief. The joy he speaks of is the
imagination, which creates something out of despair. It is this “beauty-making power” that had previously pulled him
through his deepest depression.
Although the Romantics place a great emphasis on nature and its relation to man, it is apparent in ‘Dejection’ that nature
for all its beauty and wonder is nothing without internal attribution of meaning. Coleridge asserts that no matter what the
external experiences are, it is the understanding of those experiences that matters. Poet looks at the yellow tinted sky,
scenery of the crescent moon, clouds and stars yet, instead moved by these images, he says,” and still I gaze with how
blank an eye”. In other words, poet says that he has lost the power to feel, but the entire poem is a poem of great anguish,
intense feeling about a troubled mind. He finds that “in our life along does nature live”. Coleridge goes as far to imply that
nature is useless without man’s imagination.
This memory of the lost Paradise is romantic in spirit. The poet believes that as we move away from our paradisal state of
innocence we keep on losing our spirit OF imagination. We try to compensate the loss with our acquisition of knowledge
but there can be no compensation of this vital thing, the creative imagination which enables us to discover the divine in
nature. The significance of the imagination in Romantic thought and experience is constantly depicted in Coleridge’s
struggle to shake off his unproductive and numb dejection. Coleridge also creates a contrast between the external beauty
of nature and his inner disappointment to feel it.

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