A Flash of Golden Fire : The Birth, Death, and Rebirth of the Modern Soul in Coleridge's "the Rime of the Ancient Mariner".

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Elsner, Thomas.

Series:

Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology Series

Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology Series ; v.22

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834. Rime of the ancient mariner.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834--Criticism and interpretation.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834--Psychology.

Narrative poetry, English--19th century--History and criticism.

Narrative poetry, English.

Psychoanalysis and literature.

Archetype (Psychology) in literature.

Subconsciousness in literature.

Soul in literature.

Jungian psychology.

Genre:

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (510 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, 2025.

Summary:

"In the early twentieth century C. G. Jung survived an intense encounter with the unconscious. He did this by giving expression to his inner world in the paintings and dialogues found in the Red Book. Yet Jung felt alone in this work, unable to find a precedent or cultural parallel, until he discovered alchemy. This ancient "protoscience" became the bridge Jung had been seeking between the remote past and the present. Yet between the downfall of alchemy in the eighteenth century and Jung's Red Book in the twentieth, it seems that there was a gap in the tradition. According to Jungian analyst and author Thomas Elsner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's great visionary poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is another link in that golden chain. In Elsner's analysis, Coleridge's nineteenth century night-sea journey can today be understood as a symbolic self-portrait of the collective unconscious, a self-portrait that, like the Red Book, finds its historical context and continuity in the alchemical tradition. Continuing the highly esteemed works arising from the Fay Lecture Series, sponsored by the Jung Center, Houston, Elsner's A Flash of Golden Fire: The Birth, Death, and Rebirth of the Modern Soul in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" promises to further extend the understanding and appreciation of Jungian principles for practitioners, analysts, others interested in Jungian theory and practice, the psychological dimensions of Romantic poetry, and the evolution of Western consciousness. "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Series Editor's Foreword / Michael Escamilla

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: An Epic Poem for the Modern World

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE: "Alone on a Wide Wide Sea": Coleridge's Biography

Psycho-analytical: Coleridge as a Proto-Depth Psychologist

DEPARTURE: "It Is an Ancient Mariner": Confrontation with Some Other Consciousness

"Below the Kirk, below the Hill, below the Light-House Top": Setting Off from Shore

"And Now the Storm-Blast Came": The Great Wind Takes Control

"The Land of Mist and Snow": Trauma and Transcendence

"At Length Did Cross an Albatross": Spirit from Above

INITIATION: "I Shot the Albatross": The Birth of the Modern Soul

"Water, Water Every where, nor Any Drop to Drink": From Enlightenment to Wasteland

"The Water, like a Witch's Oils, Burnt Green, and Blue and White": Soul from Below

"Instead of the Cross, the Albatross about My Neck Was Hung": The Transitus of Modern Man

"The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH Was She": The Return of the Feminine and the Death of the Modern Soul

Celebrating a Last Supper with Oneself: A Dream

"And Straight the Sun Was Flecked with Bars": The Eclipse of the Sun

"The Horned Moon with One Bright Star": Into the Belly of the Goddess

"A Spring of Love Gushed from My Heart, and I Blessed Them Unaware": Blessing the Water-Snakes: The Rebirth of the Modern Soul

Turning Lead to Gold: Alchemy, Romanticism, Depth Psychology, and the Contemporary Enigma of Consciousness

"To Mary Queen the Praise Be Given": The Union of Spirit from Above with Soul from Below

"The Upper Air Burst into Life!": Nature and Supernature Come Alive

RETURN: "A Frightful Fiend Doth Close behind Him Tread": The Challenge of Consciously Facing the Unconscious

"Full Plain I See the Devil Knows How to Row": The Agonizing Conflict between Sea and Land

"O Sweeter Than the Marriage-Feast, 'Tis Sweeter Far to Me, to Walk Together to the Church": Individuation and the Regressive Restoration of the Persona

Conclusion: An Epic Poem for the Modern World Revisited: A Fourfold Consciousness in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Afterword: On a Personal Note

Notes.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-64843-229-8

OCLC:

1522767446