Coleridge, wordplay, and dream

Journal/Book: Dreaming. 1997; 7: 233 Spring St, New York, NY 10013-1578. Human Sci Press Inc. 99-117.

Abstract: Wordplay is creative sign-making: it deploys patterns of identity or resemblance among signifiers, allowing linguistic form to create fresh, unique meanings. In broad agreement with a definition that includes but also exceeds punning, wordplay occupies a central position in Freudian dream theory, participating in the dream-work as a form of condensation Coleridge, interested like Freud in both dreams and wordplay, directs his interest towards poetry and poetics. Analysis of two canonical poems of 1797-8, ''Kubla Khan'' and ''Frost at Midnight,'' shows that in both wordplay flourishes within a context of reverie and dream. The evidence suggests that Coleridge, aware like Freud of the hermeneutic tradition that linked wordplay and dream, made use of the connection to produce highly-condensed works that satisfy his own poetic ideal of ''untranslatableness.'' For Coleridge, dream-states legitimate wordplay because, for him as for Freud, wordplay is the language of dream.

Note: Article Kennard LR, Univ Calgary, Dept English, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, CANADA

Keyword(s): poetics; wordplay; dream poetry; condensation

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