by Coleridge · Cluster: Satire of Society · Epigram · Satire
Abstract
A parodic sonnet satirising the cult of affected ‘simplicity’ and self-pitying melancholy in contemporary poetry; a satire of poetic fashion in sonnet form.
Connections
Themes & Concepts: Satire of Society, Artist and Society, Melancholy Forms & Genres: Sonnet, Parody
Testo integrale / Full text
O! I do
love
thee, meek
Simplicity!
For of thy lays the lulling simpleness
Goes to my heart and soothes each small distress,
Distress though small, yet haply great to me!
‘Tis true on Lady Fortune’s gentlest pad 5
I amble on; yet, though I know not why,
So sad I am! — but should a friend and I
Grow cool and miff, O! I am very sad!
And then with sonnets and with sympathy
My dreamy bosom’s mystic woes I pall; 10
Now of my false friend plaining plaintively,
Now raving at mankind in general;
But, whether sad or fierce, ‘tis simple all,
All very simple, meek Simplicity!
III