Poetry Analysis

THE DESERTED HOUSE

By Mary Coleridge (1861-1907)

ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY

The deserted house

Group Ayu Fitriani Ida Nurhayati Dian Febrianti Mei Ambarwati (2211410004) (2211410007) (2211410008) (2211410016)

Analyzing Autobiography or Authorship

Mary Coleridge (1861-1907): A Brief Biography

Karen Devlin, University of Hull

[Victorian Web Home > Authors > Mary Coleridge]

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge was born in London, England on 23 September 1861. Her great-great uncle was the Romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), and her great aunt was Sara Coleridge (1802-1852), author of Phantasmion (1837). Mary's father, Arthur Duke Coleridge was one of the prime movers behind the formation of the London Bach Choir in 1875. Arthur was a talented tenor, and had considered a career as an opera singer. However, he rejected it as a full-time profession on moral grounds and instead became a Clerk to the Assizes, working on the Midlands Circuit for fifty-four years. Nevertheless, there was much of the performer in Arthur Coleridge, and in her collection of Mary Coleridge's poems (1954), Theresa Whistler paints a vivid picture of the head of the Coleridge household. Arthur was, 'a genial, magnificent figure with a face that would look well on a Roman coin, his shock of wavy grey hair poked forward over his open brow [ . . . ]' (26).

Royal College of Music. Click on thumbnail for larger image.

Mary's mother, Mary Anne Jameson, was a member of the famous Jameson Whiskey family, and a cousin of Gugliemo Marconi, the inventor of the oscillating aerial, which enabled the first transatlantic wireless broadcast to take place between England and Canada in 1901. Mary Anne's marriage to Arthur took place in Galway in August 1860. Soon after, they moved to London and Mary was born in the following year and their younger daughter, Florence, on 29th June 1865. Florence was musical, inheriting her talents from her parents. For a short while she attended the Royal Academy of Music which was close to the Coleridge home in Kensington. Mary and Florence were extremely disparate in terms of their personalities, but they remained devoted to each other until Mary's early death. The Coleridge family was impressively well connected and several evenings a week the door would be opened perhaps to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, or the artists, Holman Hunt and Sir John Everett Millais. Likewise, it may have been the actress, Fanny Kemble paying a visit, or the singer Jenny Lind, with her husband, the conductor, Otto Goldschmidt. In Mary's collection of essays, Non Sequitur (1900), she describes her feelings when she first saw Robert Browning step through her front door: 'I should like to think of another girl as gay, as full of bold ambition and not so shy [ . . . ] I hope she will see the greatest man in the world come in, as I saw Robert Browning come through the door one evening, his hat under his arm' (201).

Mary was a shy child, scared of the dark and its shadows, but she had a naturally enquiring mind. At the age of twelve she became fascinated with the shape of Hebrew lettering and asked her father to teach her the language. She quickly became fluent in Hebrew as well as in French, German and Italian. In her mid twenties, she would read Greek nude the tutelage of William Cory, who had been Master at Eton when her father was a student there. Nonetheless, it was literature, and Browning in particular, which took possession of Mary Coleridge from a very early age. After reading 'On A Balcony,' she wrote, 'I think it passed into my blood' (Coleridge, Collected Poems, 31). In the late 1880's, Mary and a group of friends began to meet weekly at her home in Cromwell Place, London. They would discuss literature and read each other's poems and compositions. They became known as 'The Settee'. Joining Mary every Thursday would be, Ella Coltman, Margaret Newbolt and her husband, Henry Newbolt, later author of the poemsDrake's Drum and Vitae Lampada. It was at one of these gatherings that Mary gave the first public reading of seven of her own poems. After hearing them, Newbolt remarked: 'I had no inkling of such a gift as this, and these poor verses f mine have lived in complete retirement ever since' (Newbolt, My World as in My Time, 179). Mary Coleridge had been a published writer since the early 1880s when she began to write drama reviews and essays under a nom de plume for a publication called The Theatre. One of her earliest published works for this magazine was an essay called 'Her Grace, the Duchess, in 1884. She also produced items for the Times Literary Supplement and short stories and essays for magazines such as The Cornhill. However, Mary's first major literary publications came in the mid to late 1890s. In 1893, her first novel, The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus was published by Chatto and Windus. Set in Germany, it is a dark tale of secret societies, literary rebellion, romance, disguise and brotherhood. The Seven Sleeperslaid the foundations for Mary's future novels, with its secret and interchangeable identities. It was well received on publication and was praised by Robert Louis Stevenson. The publication of Mary's poems came about when a friend plotted to have them read by a wider audience. Violet Hodgkin's cousin was married to the poet Robert Bridges. Violet arranged for the small white book of poems that Mary had copied out for her to be left where Bridges would see them, knowing that he would be unable to resist giving an opinion. He did so and insisted upon meeting Mary to give her advice prior to publishing the small collection. Mary, initially reluctant, eventually agreed to publication, but only if she could use a pseudonym. She chose 'Anodos', meaning 'Wanderer', the name of the hero in George MacDonald's 1858 novel, Phantastes. Bridges advised her to make alterations to most of her poems, but diffident though she was, Mary only accepted those changes which she thought would improve her work. Fancy's Following was published privately by the Daniel Press in 1896. In 1897, several of the poems were then re-printed along with some unseen works in Fancy's Guerdon. Mary's second novel, The King with Two Faces was also published in 1897. It was an immediate success and earned its author 900 in royalties. It focussed upon the life and death of the controversial King Gustav of Sweden, who reigned between 1792 and 1809. It is a story replete with masks and theatrical imagery. There is also the hint of a homoerotic subtext running through the story. Coleridge was influenced by the work of Sir Walter Scott and her first three novels are very much in his style of historical adventure stories. The Fiery Dawn was the last of this type of story. Yet again, it had a real-life historical figure as its main protagonist, focussing upon the rebellion in France in 1832, led by Caroline, Duchess of Berry (1798 - 1890). Coleridge's fourth novel, The Shadow on the Wall, was published in 1904, and pastiches Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Murder, mystery, art and homoerotic pursuit are all brought together in this occasionally mischievous retort to Wilde. In 1900, Coleridge produced her collection of essays, Non Sequitur, a fascinating collection of personal reminiscences and views on art and literature. Even today, these essays resonate with wit and humour. In 1906, The Lady on the Drawing Room Floor became Coleridge's last published novel. It is a gentle tale of two lovers who swear to meet again after being separated for many years. In 1907, Coleridge continued to write poetry and was working upon a medieval romance, which she titled Becq. She was also writing a short biography of the artist Holman Hunt, at the personal request of

Hunt himself. In the summer of 1907, the Coleridges travelled to Harrogate in the north of England, a place Mary disliked, for their annual holiday. During their stay there, Mary was taken ill with appendicitis. An operation to remove her appendix took place, but Mary contracted blood poisoning and died on 25th August 1907. Unusually for the time, she was cremated and her ashes buried in the cemetery just around the corner from where she died. Her grave is still there, inscribed with her dates and a short quotation from St. Paul, which reads simply, 'Pure love'.

Selected Bibliography
Coleridge, Mary. The Collected Poems of Mary Coleridge. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1954. Coleridge, Mary. Non Sequitur. London: J. Nisbet & Co, 1900. Newbolt, Henry. My World as in My Time. London: Faber and Faber, 1932.

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907): A Chronology of Her Life and Works

Karen Devlin, University of Hull

[Victorian Web Home > Authors > Mary Coleridge]

1861

Born September 23rd in London. Eldest daughter of Arthur Duke Coleridge (1830-1913), great-nephew of Romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Mary Anne Jameson (1832-1898), a member of the Jameson Whiskey family and cousin to Gugliemo Marconi, inventor of the oscillating aerial. 29th June. Mary's younger sister, Florence Lind Coleridge is born. While Mary and Florence are having their portrait painted by a student of the artist, John Everett Millais, a friend and neighbour of the Coleridges, the student suddenly and without reason drops his brush and picks up a knife. Before any harm can come to the sisters, Millais enters the room. Travels to Switzerland with mother, sister and aunt for an extended holiday. Begins to learn Hebrew after expressing a fascination with the shape of the Hebrew alphabet. Is already fluent in French and German. Meets William Cory aka William Johnson, a former Master at Eton School. Begins writing poetry. "A Ballade of Autumn" is the only surviving piece from this very early period of her life.

1865 1867 or 1868

1869 1873

1875

1876

Mary's father, Arthur, along with the singer, Jenny Lind and her husband, Otto Goldschmitt, forms the London Bach Choir. Mary begins to write reviews under a nom de plume for The Theatre. She also writes for theTimes Literary Supplement, The Cornhill and The Monthly Packet. The death of Mary's Aunt Elizabeth (her mother's sister), who lived with the Coleridges. Mary's cousin, Mildred Coleridge, becomes engaged to the freelance writer Charles Warren Adams. Her family do not approve and when Mildred's brother expresses his dislike of Warren in a letter, Mildred urges her fianc to sue for libel. Mildred's father is Lord John Duke Coleridge, the presiding Lord Chancellor and the case attracts a great deal of attention, much to the mortification of the Coleridge family. Warren Adams wins the case and extracts a public apology from Mildred's brother. Mary, who was very close to her cousin, is forbidden to have any contact with her. Mildred and Warren Adams marry soon after the court case and Mildred remains permanently estranged from the Coleridges. Mary begins to learn Greek. She is taught by William Cory at his house in Hampstead. April. Mary, her family and her friend, Ella Coltman visit Freshwater in the Isle of Man. They visitAlfred, Lord Tennyson, a friend of Arthur Coleridge. On April 16th and 18th, Mary and Ella take part in two sances with Tennyson. None of the participants take it entirely seriously. Mary and a group of friends form "The Settee," a group of intellectuals who meet weekly to discuss literature and read their own compositions. June. William Cory dies. Mary's relationship with him was often difficult and she has mixed feelings about his death, telling a friend: "When Mr Cory died [ . . . ] there came [ . . . ] another sense that I was free that I should never fear anyone again in just that way." (Coleridge, 64, 1954). Mary's first novel, The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus is published. It is not a great commercial success, but is praised by Robert Louis Stevenson. November. Mary meets Robert Bridges who will assist her in the first publication of her poetry.

1880

1883

1885

1886

1887

1890

1891

1893

1894

1895 1896

Mary begins teaching English at the London Working Women's College.

Fancy's Following, a collection of Mary's poetry, is published privately by the

Daniel Press. 1897

Fancy's Guerdon, a second collection of poetry is published. Mary's second novel, The King with Two Faces earns her royalties of 900.

1898 1899 1900 1901 1904

The death of Mary's mother, Mary Anne ("Aunt Minnie").

Non Sequitur, a collection of Mary's essays is published.

The publication of Mary's third novel, The Fiery Dawn. Mary begins to write reviews for The Guardian.
The Shadow on the Wall, a novel begun and abandoned some years before, is revived

and published. 1906 The publication of The Lady on the Drawing Room Floor, Mary's last completed novel. Mary begins Becq, a medieval romance, and also completes a short book about William Holman Hunt at the request of the artist himself. In August, Mary, Florence and their father travel to Harrogate in the north of England for their annual holiday. Mary is taken ill with appendicitis, undergoes an appendectomy, contracts blood poisoning, and dies on August 25th 1907 aged forty five

1907

OUR OPPINION ABOUT THE POET THE DESRTED HOUSE FROM THE BOIGRAPHY