A Study On S.T. Coleridge’s Theological View Of Nature And His Art Theory

As an important source of western culture, the doctrine of Christianity has greatly affected westerners’ attitude towards the relationship between man and nature. In scholars’ reflections upon the cultural roots of the contemporary ecological crisis, the human-nature relationship established by the doctrine of creation in Christianity was considered to be one of the roots. However, in the history of Christian theology, there are also lots of theological views which advocate the harmony of man and nature. The borrowing of them will contribute to the improving of the relationship between man and nature. Coleridge’s thought is such a theoretical resource that merits attention.Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a brilliant representative of European Romanticism. He was a great British poet, philosopher, literary critic and theologian. Born in a time when the human society transformed from the agricultural civilization to the industrial civilization, he witnessed the damaging of the environment as well as the separation of man and nature caused by the development of industry and technology. Faced up with the negative influence of the Industrial Revolution, Coleridge always expressed his concern about nature in his works. However, nowadays most scholars tend to pay more attention to his view of nature in his early poetry while ignoring that in his later prose works. As a matter of fact, although Coleridge turned to theological speculation in his later years, nature and its relationship with human beings was still at the center of his speculations. He always sought the unity among the God, man and nature from the perspective of theology and achieved it with the Christian Trinity as the theological framework. Meanwhile, Coleridge pursued the unity of all subjects including literature, philosophy and theology. Art and theology were especially closely-related for Coleridge who was both a poet and theologian. With the disenchantment and secularization of the society after the Industrial Revolution, art could become the coordinator among God, man and nature by imitating God’s creation of nature. It could also save human beings from the trapping of the material and recover their relationship with the unlimited transcendental world as well as the natural world. Consequently, the exploration of Coleridge’s theological view of nature and his art theory based on it and will be advantageous to our reflections on the human-nature relationship and our dealing with the ecological crisis.Therefore, this paper probes into Coleridge’s theological view of nature and his art theory based on it. It will also make a comparison between Coleridge and Wordsworth and explore his influence on Emerson in order to highlight the uniqueness and significance of Coleridge’s art theory based on his theological view of nature. According to this clue, this paper consists of the following chapters:The Introduction briefly introduces the background of this study, the life experience and the major works of Coleridge. After a literature review of the related studies at home and abroad, it also explains the significance of this study. The study of Coleridge’s view of nature and his art theory will not only lead to a reflection on the human-nature relationship, but also contribute to a reevaluation of Coleridge’s status and significance in the new historical context by removing the label of "negative romanticism" on him.Chapter I traces the intellectual background of the formation of Coleridge’s art theory based on his theological view of nature. Firstly, living at the beginning of the industrial age, Coleridge witnessed the breaking of nature brought about by the modern industry and instrumental reason. But his personal experience made him realize the unity of nature and the unity between man and nature, which would explain for his lifelong seeking of organic unity of nature. Secondly, though Coleridge was deeply influenced by the British mechanism philosophy at an early age, he accepted German organic view of nature and found philosophical support for his early perception of nature as an organic unity after his visit to Germany. However, deeply annoyed by the confusion of God and nature in the German organic philosophy, he had to convert to Christian Trinity to develop his organic view of nature. Thirdly, German Romanticism literature also exerted an obvious influence on Coleridge’s art theory. Facing with the breakdown of the unity between man and God, man and nature and man’s spirit, German Early Romantics, such as Shelling, Novalis, Schlegel brothers considered literature as a power to bridge the above-mentioned breakings, which affected Coleridge’s view of art.Chapter II explores Coleridge’s view on Trinity and his organic view of nature. Coleridge experiences a transformation from a Pantheist to Trinitarian. He was a follower of David Hartley’s Unitarianism and accepted his Pantheism at an early age. Under the influence of Pantheism, he reckoned that nature and man co-exist in an undivided unity and there was life and growth in nature. Pantheism offered him the possibility of getting rid of the division of nature in mechanism philosophy, but it also confused nature with God, ignored the relationship between the unity and parts, and the freedom of human’s mind. Coleridge had to convert to Trinity. With the help of German Naturphilosophie, he reinforced the creation of nature and man by God and made "unity in multeity" in Trinity the archetype of all other unity by his reinterpreting of Trinity. Nature, the creation of All-Wise God, is far from a machine, but a dynamic and organic unity whose unity and parts are in perfect harmony. Furthermore, man and nature also co-exist in this unity. Although man enjoys the priority over nature for his reason, nature as the symbol of God can express God’s revelation to man and become companionship in man’s seeking of unity.The Third Chapter dwells on Coleridge’s art theory based on his theological view of nature. Judging from the creating of God, everything including man and nature should exist in a harmonious organic unity. But the development of industry and technology had rendered everything split. In an era of gradual disenchantment and secularization, Coleridge believed art could represent the process of God’s creating by which man could restore his relationship with God and nature. According to him, art, which imitates nature naturans, is the combination human’s mind and nature and thus could become the medium and coordinator between man and nature. He made genius an analogy of God, and imagination a parallel of God’s creating power, thus genius could create the same organic unity as God’s creatures according to the same law of polarity. This organic unity will be expressed in the form of symbols, which can reveal the eternal existence of the spirit with its own material form and unfold the organic unity created by God. God, man and nature would reunite as one in artistic symbols.Chapter IV makes a comparison between Coleridge and Wordsworth’s views of nature and art theory. Coleridge and Wordsworth were called "Lake Poets" owing to their co-authored Lyrical Ballads, so their divergences were often ignored. However, they had radical differences in their religious standpoint, their attitude towards the man-nature relationship and their poetics, which caused their splitting in the end. Wordsworth, a Pantheist, considered God was in nature and made nature a unity. Human mind should always return to nature for nature’s instruction. Consequently, natural languages should be applied and natural feelings should be retained in poetry in order to keep the faithfulness to natural objects. However, Coleridge gave priority to human mind over nature by his interpretation of Trinity, so he criticized Wordsworth for his setting mind inferior to nature. He advocated that poetry should represent the spirit of nature without any reliance on the external forms by artist’s creation. The comparison between them will highlight the uniqueness and significance of each person.Chapter V elaborates on Coleridge’s influence on American Transcendentalism. Coleridge’s thought, which provided Transcendentalists represented by Emerson with the theoretical framework, is an importance resource for the emergence and development of American Transcendentalism. Transcendentalists inherited Coleridge’s view on reason and his symbolic view of nature. They considered reason as a transcendent faculty which can help man perceive God, and nature can lead man to unite with God as the symbol of God. Besides, they borrowed from Coleridge’s art theory and believed in the function of art in mediating among God, man and nature. However, Emerson had a firmer conviction on nature and more emphasize nature’s role as the revelation of God while abandoning Coleridge’s respect for The Bible as the revelation of God. Furthermore, Emerson developed a thought of "self-reliance" from his theology, which has become a unique sign of American culture.In the conclusion of this paper, the significance and limitation of Coleridge’s theological view of nature and his art theory is evaluated from the perspective of contemporary eco-theology and eco-criticism. Coleridge always sought the unity of the universe, and emphasized the interrelationship among all things, which could become an intellectual resource of the modern holistic view of universe for the eco-philosophy. Meanwhile, by advocating the respect and reverence for nature, Coleridge’s thought will contribute to reversing modern people’s unfriendly attitude towards nature. Besides, Coleridge stressed human beings should pursue spiritual convictions instead of material and sensual contentment from beginning to end, which will be of great help for modern people to get out of the spiritual predicament. Last but not the least, he had a firm conviction on the function of art as the coordinator between human and nature, and this will inspire as to think over how to make better use of art in promoting the harmony between man and nature. Of course, we shouldn’t deny that Coleridge always anchored his hope of achieving the unity of man and nature on religion and art, and neglecting it was our human beings and our social production mode that was the real critical factor to accomplish the harmony between man and nature. His theological view of nature stemming from the Christian culture was also incompatible with our eastern culture to some extent. Consequently, we should borrow his thought critically and take this opportunity to explore the ecological thought in our own traditional culture to deal with the ecological crisis in reality.