The Soundscapes of Childhood in Coleridge’s Lyric Poetry

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores portrayals of childhood in Coleridge’s poetry in the light of the poet’s own objections to Wordsworth’s description of a child as a philosopher in Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood. Coleridge suggests that by forcing adult ideas of rationality upon the child, Wordsworth undermines the uniqueness of childhood as a separate form of consciousness with its own ways of thinking and communicating. I argue that Coleridge avoids this deficiency in his own poetry by using the musical dimension of the lyric to celebrate childhood in its own language. The pre-literate child’s off-page tears, gurgles, and whimpers can be heard in the adult speaker’s infant-directed speech. The speaker’s acoustic choices allow the reader to ‘read’ the moods of the child in the melodic part of the lyric (melos) and anticipate a time when the child will be able to join its opsis.