‘Could a rule be given from without, poetry would cease to be poetry, and sink into a mechanical art. It would be μóρφωσις, not ποίησις. The rules of the IMAGINATION are themselves the very powers of growth and production. The words to which they are reducible, present only the outlines and external appearance of the fruit. A deceptive counterfeit of the superficial form and colours may be elaborated; but the marble peach feels cold and heavy, and children only put it to their mouths.’ [Coleridge, Biographia ch. 18]

‘ποίησις’ (poiēsis) means ‘a making, a creation, a production’ and is used of poetry in Aristotle and Plato. ‘μóρφωσις’ (morphōsis) in essence means the same thing: ‘a shaping, a bringing into shape.’ But Coleridge has in mind the New Testament use of the word as ‘semblance’ or ‘outward appearance’, which the KJV translates as ‘form’: ‘An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form [μóρφωσις] of knowledge and of the truth in the law’ [Romans 2:20]; ‘Having a form [μóρφωσις] of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away’ [2 Timothy 3:5]. I trust that's clear.

There is much more on Coleridge at my other, Coleridgean blog.

Tuesday 28 July 2020

Author Photo (1970s)


5 comments:

  1. Where was this? The view out the window suggests that you're waiting for someone to finish putting up (or taking down) the circus.

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    1. Campsite, I think. Cornwall maybe? My family wasn't well-off, so holidays were usually either in a tent or a VW camper van (this, I think, the latter).

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  2. The cover of the book you're reading looked familiar. I checked my bookshelves and realized that I have the same edition of The Naked Sun.

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  3. Is this the author of "The Compelled"? :)

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    1. It is! And I do look pretty compelled here, don't I.

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