Of Matter and Meter: Environmental Form in Coleridge's 'Effusion 35' and 'The Eolian Harp'

ABSTRACT

In this essay, Timothy Morton explores ecological ways of reading Coleridge's poem 'Effusion 35', which he revised as 'The Eolian Harp'. Previous criticism (such as M. H. Abrams's) has suggested that the Aeolian harp is a way of thinking about relationships between humans and nature, but how precisely should we define these? And do these definitions have anything to do with artistic form (as well as content)? Morton demonstrates that Coleridge conducts an experiment in environmental form, for which the Aeolian harp (or wind harp) provides a key. This popular household gadget was common in the eighteenth century, and several poets had written about it, notably James Thomson. Coleridge innovated in poetic form by making the Aeolian harp a figure for automation, and for the monitoring and recording of environmental processes. The poem thus anticipates, in an imaginary way, contemporary cultures of sound recording and reproduction. Using Marx, Morton demonstrates how the poem organizes meaning in a radically democratic way. 'Effusion 35' and 'The Eolian Harp' ultimately open our minds to the possibility of 'ecology without nature'– a deconstructive, open-minded idea of ecology.