Coleridge and opium

Coleridge and Opium

Opium is a drug made from the opium poppy. This is the same source as the drug heroin and the effects of opium are similar. When it was first introduced to Britain from Turkey, opium was used as a painkiller and its dangers were not known until later. It was widely available and used both medicinally and for its hallucinogenic qualities. In Coleridge's time opium was normally taken in liquid form, known as laudanum, which was made by mixing it with alcohol, usually brandy or red wine.

When Coleridge wrote Kubla Khan he had not been taking opium for long and was using it as a medicine, although he was fascinated by the effect it had on his mind. To begin with, the drug would have filled him with a sense of well-being. It was not long, however, before he became increasingly dependant on the drug and opium became the problem rather than the cure.

As Coleride's addiction progressed, his dreams lost their enchantment and became terrible nightmares. Only two years later the Wordsworths were having to cope with his nightmares when he stayed at Dove Cottage. Coleridge wrote:

Friday night, Nov. 28, 1800, or rather Sunday morning - a most frightful Dream of a Woman whose features were blended with darkness catching hold of my right eye & attempting to pull it out - I caught hold of her arms fast - a horrid feel - Wordsworth cried out aloud at hearing my scream - heard his cry & thought it cruel that he did not come ... - the Woman's name was Ebon Ebon Thalud - When I awoke my right eyelid swelled -.

To comment that Coleridge thought it 'cruel' that Wordsworth did not respond to his scream was typical of his attitude once he was in the grip of addiction. His relationship with almost all his friends and family suffered as a result of his self-pitying and unpredictable behaviour made worse by opium addiction.

Eventually Coleridge became painfully aware of his own addiction. In April 1816 he placed himself in the care of Dr James Gilman of Highgate and lived with the doctor and his family for the rest of his life.

Read Kubla Khan