All entries for Friday 27 November 2009

Two Hundred and Ten Years Ago To The Day Samuel Taylor Coleridge Observes Starlings

From Coleridge's Notebooks:

"November 27th - a most interesting morning. 1799. Awoke from one of my painful Coach-Sleeps, in the Coach to London. It was a rich Orange Sky like that of a winter Evening save that the fleecy dark blue Clouds that rippled above it, shewed it to be morning - these soon became a glowing Brass Colour, brassy Fleeces, wool packs in shape / rising high up into the Sky. The Sun at length rose upon the flat Plain, like a Hill of Fire in the distance, rose wholly, & in the water that flooded part of the Flat a deep column of Light. - But as the coach went on, a Hill rose, and intercepted the Sun - and the Sun in a few minutes rose over it, a compleat 2nd rising, thro' other clouds and with a different Glory. Soon after this I saw Starlings in vast Flights, borne along like smoke, mist - like a body unindued with voluntary Power / - now it shaped itself into a circular area, inclined - now they formed a Square - now a Globe - now from complete orb into an Ellipse - then oblongated into a Balloon with the Car suspended, now a concave Semicircle; still expanding, or contracting, thinning or condensing, now glimmering and shivering, now thickening, deepening, blackening!"

David Morley : 27 Nov 2009 12:03 |  Tags: Poetry The Practice Of Poetry |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem