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47-483: Others involved included the poet Robert Lovell and three of the Fricker sisters, Sara , Edith and Mary, who married the three poets, and George Burnett (who proposed unsuccessfully to another Fricker sister, Martha). The Pantisocrats believed that contemporary society and politics were responsible for cultures of servitude and oppression. Having abandoned these corrupting influences along with personal property for

94-607: A commune in Kentucky made up of some two dozen of their friends and relations, though the scene was later shifted first to the Susquehanna River and then to Wales. Poole sympathized with the political idealism of this scheme, though he was too practical a man to have much faith in its chances of succeeding. He was deeply impressed by Coleridge's personality and "splendid abilities", and thought Southey "a mere Boy" by comparison. On another visit by Coleridge in 1795 Poole

141-473: A difficult and laborious existence. In a review of Thomas Cooper's Some Information Respecting America, (one of the positive accounts of the New World that Coleridge consulted) a reviewer describes Cooper and those like him as "rival auctioneers, or rather show-men, stationed for the allurement of incautious passengers. 'Pray, ladies and gentlemen, walk in and admire the wonders of Kentucky—Pray, stop and see

188-511: A fresh start in the wilderness, the Pantisocrats hoped that men might be governed by the "dictates of rational benevolence". As spelled out by Southey, the utopian community he and Coleridge planned was to be built on two principles: "Pantisocracy" (meaning government by all) and "Aspheterism" (meaning general ownership of property). The scheme called for a small group of educated individuals to give up their possessions and labor together for

235-517: A girl of much beauty and some talent, who had gone on the stage. He made Robert Southey 's acquaintance, and Southey became engaged to his sister-in-law, Edith; this was before Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's visit to Bristol in August 1794. Lovell introduced the two poets to their patron Joseph Cottle , and shortly Coleridge was betrothed to a third sister, Sara Fricker, whom he married on 4 October 1795. The three young men were at that time occupied with

282-424: A keen and stimulating intellect, and a robust sense of humour with great delicacy of feeling". This last characteristic was not invariable for he could be sententious and overbearing, so that his long-term friend Southey complained that "he was never content to be your friend, but he must be your saviour", nor was his temper to be implicitly relied on. He owes his place in literary history to his profound respect for

329-631: A larger citizenship. Coleridge also hoped that through a more active, natural lifestyle he would live a healthier and more wholesome existence with his family. Like many utopian societies, the Pantisocracy envisioned by the members owed its origins to Plato's ideal commonwealth, envisioned in the later books of The Republic and in Critias . More modern examples for the Pantisocrats included Sir Thomas More 's Utopia , Francis Bacon 's New Atlantis , Tommaso Campanella 's Civitas Solis , and

376-485: A petty farming trade." By the winter of 1795, the dream of Pantisocracy had all but died out. There are two of Coleridge's poems that directly address the plans he and Southey were envisioning. "Pantisocracy", a sonnet sent to Southey in a letter of September 18, 1794, was not published during Coleridge's lifetime. A second sonnet, "On the Prospect of Establishing a Pantisocracy", has also been attributed to Coleridge, and

423-512: A rustic life with his wife Sara and baby son Hartley . A gate was built to connect Coleridge's new garden with Poole's, and Coleridge became a frequent visitor, sometimes studying in Poole's book parlour and sometimes writing, as with his poem " This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison ", which was composed in Poole's garden. Much local suspicion of Poole was roused by his housing such a notorious radical as Coleridge, and this only increased when in 1797 he

470-415: A spring departure in 1795. The young men hoped that other, wealthier immigrants who would join in the endeavor would be willing to fund it. Returning to Cambridge in late September, Coleridge began to spread word of the plan. Coleridge at this time envisioned the community including "twelve men with their families", among whom the costs would be split, with the wealthier members of the community making up for

517-652: A tanners' conference, and in 1791 was chosen by the conference to express their concerns to the Prime Minister, Pitt the Younger . His London experiences did much to radicalize Poole, and he returned to Somerset a confirmed advocate of the cause of democracy, though he hoped to promote it by peaceful means rather than revolution. In 1793 he started a local reading club which spread the teachings of Thomas Paine , Benjamin Franklin and Mary Wollstonecraft , and

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564-599: Is known). Coleridge even went so far as to share his enthusiasm for Pantisocracy with many of the people he and Hucks met along the road, offending several listeners with their radical ideas. During the walking tour Coleridge also encountered an old flame, Mary Evans, and his interaction with her momentarily drove thoughts of Pantisocracy from his mind. On August 3, Coleridge and Hucks rejoined Southey in Bristol. In Bristol, Southey and Coleridge continued to flesh out their plans, and spoke openly of their radical ideas. One listener

611-604: The Lyrical Ballads , but in doing so he also weakened Coleridge's ties to him; realizing this, he found himself for a while in rivalry with Wordsworth for Coleridge's friendship. The two poets departed for Germany together in 1798, leaving Poole to look after Coleridge's wife Sara, and though Coleridge returned the next year he soon went off to join Wordsworth in the Lake District . Poole's friendship with

658-582: The colony . The Pantisocrats viewed their attempt as not only a search for personal domestic peace, but also as an attempt to change the status quo in England. One influence on the plan was disillusionment with the French Revolution and with the current politics of England , from which Coleridge may have sought solace through a utopian escape. Coleridge viewed the utopian scheme as an experiment that, if successful, might be gradually extended to

705-449: The common good . Few regulations would be necessary to govern the colony and decisions would be made so as to avoid one man having more power than another. Coleridge envisioned Pantisocracy as a way to minimize the greed among men. Additionally, Coleridge and Southey hoped to enjoy a more relaxing existence than was possible in England, and expected that each member of the community would have to work just two to three hours per day to sustain

752-515: The Pantisocracy. As the date set for departure arrived and the financial difficulties in undertaking the journey remained unsolved, the would-be emigrants began to lose excitement and resolve. Besides their lack of funds, other concerns challenged the Pantisocrats. Contrary to the glowing travel narratives that Coleridge pored over while researching the prospect of settling in America, other accounts of American life were less encouraging, and described

799-520: The accounts of Cotton Mather . The Pantisocrats were also heavily influenced by contemporary travel accounts of the new world. Many writers who visited the new world (including J. P. Brissot , Thomas Cooper and Joseph Priestley ) described a fresh and inviting country, whose inhabitants were untainted by the evils of society. Coleridge and Southey pored over these and other accounts of the American continent. As early as November 1793, Robert Southey

846-462: The age of 70. De Quincey described Poole as "a stout plain-looking farmer". He was short and prematurely balding; slow and deliberate of speech; and his voice, the quality of which had been spoiled by snuff-taking, had a strong Somerset accent. His character is described by the Coleridge scholar Molly Lefebure as combining "idealism with strong practical common-sense, sound business acumen with

893-519: The autumn of 1794, Coleridge began seriously to investigate the practical problems of setting up a community in America. During this time he encountered George Dyer, a student familiar with Priestley (who at the time was already living in Pennsylvania), and also spoke with a land agent. In a letter to Southey on September 6 he writes: [The land agent] says £2000 will do; that he doubts not we can contract for our passage under £400; that we shall buy

940-544: The commercial atmosphere of Bristol. After Lovell’s death, Southey tried — and failed — to produce a subscription edition of his poems, to raise money for his widow and child. However, Lovell’s writings were included in the Annual Anthology (1799 and 1800) and Specimens of the Later English Poets (1807). Thomas Poole (tanner) Thomas Poole (14 November 1766 – 8 September 1837)

987-564: The demands of Pantisocracy and also because she was being courted by other men), Coleridge married Sara in October 1795. As plans bogged down, Southey and Coleridge eventually reached an impasse. Coleridge, Southey and Burnett shared rooms in Bristol but the meticulous Southey grew worried by Coleridge's lifestyle and feared that finances were being left under his responsibility (he contributed four times more to their common funds than his roommates). Southey at one point advocated taking servants to

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1034-502: The elementary school in 1812–13 (he donated the building for it), and the Co-operative Bank in 1817, and from 1814 until his death he was an active justice of the peace . Thomas De Quincey , who visited him in 1807, wrote that he "had so entirely dedicated himself to the service of his humble fellow countrymen, the hewers of wood and drawers of water in this southern region of Somersetshire, that for many miles round he

1081-434: The event, he never married. In August 1794 Poole was visited by two young men, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey , whose political views bore some similarity to his own. Both were fired up by doctrines of their own devising which they called Pantisocracy and aspheterism, respectively involving government by the whole of society and common ownership of property by society. They planned to realize these ideals in

1128-485: The grounds of her having been an actress, and she and her infant son turned to Southey for support. She lived in his family during his life, and afterwards with his daughter Kate until her death at the age of ninety. The son, Robert Lovell the younger (born 1795), settled in London as a printer in 1824. Some years afterwards he went to Italy and then disappeared. Henry Nelson Coleridge journeyed in quest of him, but no trace

1175-497: The incomparable beauties of the Susquehanna. ' " Coleridge also faced personal challenges in carrying out the scheme. He received a letter from Mary Evans which argued against the plan, and his feelings for her for a time swayed him against Pantisocracy. Learning that she had become engaged, Coleridge turned his attention back to Pantisocracy and Sara Fricker. Under pressure from Southey to act with regard to Sara (both because of

1222-481: The land a great deal cheaper when we arrive in American than we could do in England...That twelve men may easily clear 300 acres in four or five months; and that, for 600 dollars, a thousand acres may be cleared and houses built on them. He recommends the Susquehannah for its excessive beauty and its security from hostile Indians. Neither Coleridge nor Southey possessed the requisite wealth, but plans were laid for

1269-717: The management of his business to an assistant, he travelled widely on the Continent, meeting Thomas Paine in Paris. In London he became acquainted with the civil servant John Rickman , and at his suggestion did a good deal of statistical work in London intended to help implement the Poor Laws . He also continued to put his liberal theories into practice in Stowey, establishing the Female Friendly Society in 1807,

1316-493: The new world, a proposition Coleridge scoffed at. Southey and other would-be Pantisocrats also considered a less ambitious plan: the purchase of a common farm in Wales. Coleridge, still dreaming of the new world, felt that this compromise failed to meet the standards of Pantisocracy. In a letter to Southey he complains that private resources would not be abandoned at the farm in Wales and that, "In short, we were to commence partners in

1363-468: The project for their pantisocratic colony on the banks of the Susquehanna River , to which Lovell was to have brought not only his wife but his brother and two sisters. The plan had largely collapsed before Lovell's death on May 3, 1796 from a fever. Edith Southey, in Southey's absence, nursed him and Coleridge was with him at his death. Lovell's father refused all help to his daughter-in-law Mary on

1410-777: The same year he toured the Midlands dressed as a workman to research the living and working conditions of the poor. Within a few years he had attracted the hostile interest of the Home Office , who thought him a revolutionary agitator and are said to have rated him as the most dangerous person in the county. Even his relatives were thoroughly exasperated with him: "I wish he would cease to torment us with his democratick sentiments", his cousin Charlotte complained after one argument, while another cousin, with whom he had fallen in love, refused to marry him on political grounds. In

1457-406: The shortcomings of the poorer members. Besides money, other practical issues arose. Having little ability in farming or carpentry, the young men planned to acquire these skills over the winter in time for a March departure. Among the families who were planning to make the voyage were children, and Coleridge worried that they might already be deeply prejudiced by society, which could subvert and corrupt

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1504-413: The son of a successful tanner and farmer. He was, against his own wishes, denied much formal education by his father, who instead apprenticed him to the family tanning business. In spite of his dislike for tanning he became a master of the trade, well thought of by his competitors, and in his spare time studied French, Latin and the humanities and social sciences. In 1790, he went to London as delegate to

1551-589: The three Lake Poets but also Charles Lamb , William Hazlitt , John Thelwall , and Humphry Davy . In return he provided Coleridge with much-needed sympathy, practical help and sage advice. "We were well suited for each other", Coleridge later recalled. "[M]y animal Spirits corrected his inclinations to melancholy; and there was some thing both in his understanding & in his affection so healthy & manly, that my mind freshened in his company, and my ideas & habits of thinking acquired day after day more of substance & reality." In 1802, having handed over

1598-681: The time and the possibility of setting up a utopian society in the United States, which Coleridge first dubbed "Pantocracy" then "Pantisocracy". Allen and Southey's friend George Burnett were early allies and when Coleridge and Huck departed for Wales, Southey and Burnett accompanied them part of the way. On their return journey to Oxford, Southey and Burnett discussed the practicalities of the scheme. Throughout July, Coleridge corresponded regularly with Southey about their plans (unfortunately, while many of Coleridge's letters to Southey have survived, only part of one of Southey's letters to Coleridge

1645-432: The time reflect his Pantisocratic thinking on social relations and wealth. He wrote of the scheme years afterward that it was "a plan as harmless as it was extravagant" but it can be argued that much of the fantastic imagery and political thoughts present in his work owe a debt both to Pantisocracy and to the research he conducted in preparation for his voyage. On a literal level, perhaps the greatest impact Pantisocracy had on

1692-649: The title of Poems by Bion and Moschus ; the Bath edition bears the authors' names. Southey later wished none of these poems reprinted; but they were in Thomas Park 's British Poets (1808 sq. vol. xli.), with the addition of the Bristoliad by Lovell which does not seem to have been published before. The Bristoliad was a satire in Charles Churchill 's style, and indicates that Lovell was ill at ease in

1739-548: The two men was thereafter largely conducted through letters and very occasional visits, and though Coleridge was able to be useful to Poole by getting a series of essays by him, called "Monopolists and Farmers", published in the Morning Post , their personal relationship was never again so close. During the Stowey years their association had brought Poole into contact with men in the larger world of literature and ideas, who admired his sterling qualities. These included not only

1786-538: The young Coleridge was the addition of Sara Fricker (and their subsequent family) to his life. Robert Lovell Robert Lovell (1771–1796) was an English poet who was known for his poem, Bristol: A Satire , which criticised the many merchants of Bristol and their involvement in "mortal corruption" which involved the slave trade. He was born in Bristol , the son of a wealthy Quaker. He estranged himself from his original circle by marrying, in 1794, Mary Fricker,

1833-620: Was John Poole, cousin of Tom Poole of Nether Stowey, who writes of his encounter with the two young men: "Each of them was shamefully hot with Democratic rage as regards politics, and both Infidel as to religion. I was extremely indignant...". During this time the young men also became acquainted with the family of Mrs. Fricker, a widow whose daughters seemed willing to join in the scheme (as Mrs. Southey and Coleridge). Southey became interested in Edith and Coleridge began showing interest in Sara. In

1880-472: Was a Somerset tanner , Radical philanthropist, and essayist, who used his wealth to improve the lives of the poor of Nether Stowey , his native village. He was a friend of several writers in the British Romantic movement , a benefactor of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his family, and an influence on the poems of Wordsworth . Poole was born in 1766 in the village of Nether Stowey , Somerset,

1927-456: Was able to tell Wordsworth stories of Somerset life which later re-emerged in "The Somersetshire Tragedy" (an unpublished fragment), " Poor Susan ", " The Idiot Boy ", "The Farmer of Tilbury Vale", and probably "The Last of the Flock", while according to Wordsworth himself he had had Poole in mind when writing his poem " Michael ". Poole may have promoted the literary partnership that produced

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1974-500: Was discovered. In August 1794 Lovell co-operated with Coleridge and Southey in the production of a three-act tragedy on The Fall of Robespierre . Each wrote an act, but Lovell's was then rejected as incompatible with the others, and Southey filled the void. The tragedy was published as Coleridge's at Cambridge in September 1794. Southey and Lovell then combined to publish a joint volume of poetry (Bristol, 1794; Bath, 1795) under

2021-504: Was envisioning a utopia in the US. Coleridge's schoolfriend Robert Allen had become acquainted with Southey while at Oxford and introduced the two men while Coleridge was on a walking tour with another friend, Joseph Hucks. Southey would later write "that meeting fixed the future fortunes of us both". Coleridge extended his stay in Oxford for several weeks while the two men discussed the problems of

2068-533: Was first published in 1826. Many of Coleridge's other works of the time implicitly suggest the New World, and may owe a debt to his musings over the Susquehanna. An early version of the poem "To a Young Ass" also makes mention of Pantisocracy. Pantisocracy presented Coleridge a practical outlet for ideas he had previously only considered theoretically. While the scheme never produced an actual community, it did impact Coleridge's philosophical thinking. His lectures of

2115-497: Was inspired to write a poem of his own in tribute to his friend. In 1796, Poole wrote an article against the slave trade, which Coleridge published in his journal The Watchman , and when that journal failed he organized an annuity to be paid Coleridge by himself and a group of friends. At the end of that year, rather against his better judgement, he found a cottage in Nether Stowey for Coleridge, who now wanted to live

2162-522: Was persuaded to look for a home for Coleridge's new friends William and Dorothy Wordsworth . Poole helped to secure them Alfoxton House a few miles away, which enabled Coleridge and the Wordsworths to visit each other and interchange ideas on an almost daily basis. Poole had, on first meeting Wordsworth, decided that he was the greatest man he had ever known, and Wordsworth in turn grew to hugely admire his probity, charity and genuineness. Poole

2209-721: Was the arbiter of their disputes, the guide and counsellor of their daily lives". In 1817 Poole founded the Quantock Savings Bank . De Quincey later agreed with Coleridge's description of Poole as an ideal model for a useful Member of Parliament . Coleridge himself continued to benefit from the old friendship: Poole helped to finance the poet's newspaper The Friend in 1809, and later young Hartley Coleridge's education at Oxford. In 1834 Coleridge died, leaving in his will four gold mourning rings to his wife and his three closest friends, including Poole. Poole himself died on 8 September 1837 at Nether Stowey, of pleurisy, at

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