The Soundscapes of Childhood in Coleridge’s Lyric Poetry

ABSTRACT This article explores portrayals of childhood in Coleridge’s poetry in the light of the poet’s own objections to Wordsworth’s description of a child as a philosopher in Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood. Coleridge suggests that by forcing adult ideas of rationality upon the child, Wordsworth undermines the uniqueness of childhood as a separate form of consciousness with its own ways of thinking and communicating. I argue that Coleridge avoids this deficiency in his own poetry by using the musical dimension of the lyric to celebrate childhood in its own language. The pre-literate child’s off-page tears, gurgles, and whimpers can be heard in the adult speaker’s infant-directed speech. The speaker’s acoustic choices allow the reader to ‘read’ the moods of the child in the melodic part of the lyric (melos) and anticipate a time when the child will be able to join its opsis.