Memory and the gothic: a study of romanticism in selected works of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Abstract

Memory and the Gothic play an integral role in determining the philosophy and aesthetics of Romanticism. These elements reveal the emotional and psychological dimensions of human life. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge analyse human nature in distinctly different ways. Wordsworth’s approach views human nature through the healing and shaping power of memory, while Coleridge explores its darker, hidden depths through the use of Gothic elements and the supernatural. This research analyses memory and the gothic elements of romanticism in selected poems of Wordsworth and Coleridge. Lyrical Ballads (1798) and Biographia Literaria (1817) provide the primary framework of this study. Lyrical Ballads, foundational work of Romanticism, describes the effects of memory, as well as Gothic aesthetics, on the human mind and being. Biographia Literaria, Coleridge's autobiographical book, discusses memory as an intellectual and supernatural process, and not mere recollection. Wordsworth's theory of “recollection in tranquility” and Coleridge's notion of “primary and secondary imagination”, are the theoretical lenses of this study. Selected poems are examined to demonstrate how memory and the gothic are not only important to the poets’ works but are also vital for explaining the philosophical heart of Romanticism. This research questions the rigid boundaries between recollection and supernatural imagination by examining the interplay of memory and Gothic elements and provides a perspective on how these themes shape Romantic aesthetics and philosophy through the contrasting approaches of Wordsworth and Coleridge.