Hymn Before Sunrise is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1802. Originally published in The Morning Post, it describes feelings that Coleridge claimed to have experienced on his own. However, it was later revealed that parts of the poem were heavily influenced by a poem by Friederike Brun, which led to criticism against Coleridge for not acknowledging his sources. Aspects of the poem did have direct origin in Coleridge's own life and experiences, and the work represents one of the last times a poem captured his feelings of joy during that period of his life.
Background
During 1802, Coleridge wrote the poem Hymn Before Sunrise, which he based on his translation of a poem by Brun. However, Coleridge told William Southeby another story about what inspired him to write the poem in a 10 September 1802 letter: "I involuntarily poured forth a Hymn in the manner of the Psalms, tho' afterwards I thought the Ideas &c disproportionate to our humble mountains—& accidentally lighting on a short Note in some swiss Poems, concerning the Vale of Chamouny, & it's Mountain, I transferred myself thither, in the Spirit, & adapted my former feelings to these grander external objects". The poem was first published in the 11 September 1802 Morning Post as part of a series of poems by Coleridge during September through October 1802. The poem was printed six other times, with a few changes to the poem including two passages that were changed and one added by an edition printed in Coleridge's The Friend. Coleridge's use of an unacknowledged source was described by Thomas de Quincey, a contemporary of Coleridge, as plagiarism. This claim has since been brought up many times by scholars trying to determine Coleridge's actual sources for the poem. The original poem, "Chamonix beym Sonnenaufgange", dated May 1791, was published in Brun's collection Gedichte. Although Brun is a source, she is one among others, and the poem is similar to many of Coleridge's poems before he read Brun's poetry.
Poem
The poem begins with a joyful discovery: In part of the poem, Coleridge merges his own experience with the language borrowed from Brun:
Themes
In a manner similar Coleridge's Kubla Khan, Hymn Before Sunrise describes a type of miraculous event in which singing rings out while mountain ice is melted by the sun. This draws a relationship between art and nature. In describing the sublime, Coleridge offers a contrast to the view held by Edmund Burke and William Wordsworth, which Coleridge described as a masculine presentation of the material in a matter-of-fact manner. Instead, Coleridge suggests a sublime through identifying with the matter. The joy that Coleridge experienced within the poem was not to last as the poems that followed over the next few years contained contrary feelings.
Critical response
Richard Holmes points out that the lines from Brun cause problems for Coleridge. In particular, "Even in the best passages, closest to his own observations, this foreign rhetoric weakens the borrowed verse by comparison with his own prose." However, he continues, "The rhythms are powerful, but one looks in vain for the manic white bears, the prayer-wheels, or the falling angels. All have been suppressed." On the relationship of the hymn to Brun's poem, Adam Sisman claims, "it was ominous that both the poem itself and the introductory note he added to the published version should falsely suggest first-hand experience. He was not being truthful to the public, and he was not being true to himself. Chamonix was a place that Wordsworth had seen, but Coleridge had not. He had lost his independent vision".
