First Advisor

Alastair Hunt

Date of Award

5-21-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English and University Honors

Department

English

Language

English

Subjects

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Eolian harp, Women in literature, Femininity in literature

DOI

10.15760/honors.909

Abstract

Focusing on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Eolian Harp," this essay centers on the erasure and replacement of women's voices through descriptions of the environment and the common themes between the two. In many works of poetry and writing, women are compared to the natural world and vice versa. Though Coleridge's "The Eolian Harp" is categorized as a conversation poem, the dialogue of his wife, Sara Fricker, and any other feminized figures are omitted. Within this poem, one can see the environment and women's cohabitation being used to flatten their character, remove agency, and to place the male figures in the poem as inherently dominant. Through interlinking the feminine descriptions of the environment along with the roles assigned to women in the poem, I argue that Coleridge, while interested in the thoughts of women, does not allow them the same creative and representative force as other male intellectuals.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/33164

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