'Lovely shapes and sounds intelligible': Kristevan semiotic and Coleridge's language of the unconscious

Romantic literature's preoccupation with subjectivity, and the nature of the self, is recognised as influential on modern conceptions of consciousness, and in particular as a precursor of psychoanalysis. This thesis examines Coleridge's understanding of consciousness, as expressed in his prose, to demonstrate that he theorised a language of the unconscious; a non-arbitrary, authentic language that remains inaccessible. By comparing this idea with Julia Kristeva's theory of Semiotic language, the thesis will show that this language is indeed recognised in her psychoanalytic theory as a product of the unconscious. Most importantly, it will show that while Coleridge's supernatural poetry laments the inaccessibility of unconscious language, Kristevan theory demonstrates it to be present in that very poetry.