ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a specific philosophical tension that is found in both Coleridge and Emerson, between a Neoplatonic immanentism bordering on monism, and a subject-centered, romantic, idealist dualism. On one hand, spirit infuses nature, and humanity and nature are fundamentally akin; on the other, an essential distinction exists between humanity and nature, and spirit and nature are split. Both views inform Coleridge's and Emerson's writings to differing degrees, and their co-presence creates a certain dissonance. Equally interesting is the differing degree to which each author found this tension problematic. Indeed, although Emerson was a great admirer and reader of Coleridge, he did not appear to appreciate the importance of this philosophical tension for the elder poet. Emerson seemed not to realize that Coleridge's adoption of Kantian idealism and trinitarian Christianity partially constituted a flight from the moral dangers of monism, which he had come close to espousing in his youth.
