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Myers Literary Guide:
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The North-East
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SAMUEL COLERIDGE (1772 - 1834) In 1799, Coleridge and Wordsworth stayed at Thomas Hutchinson's farm on the Tees at Sockburn, near Darlington. There both of them fell in love, Coleridge with Sara Hutchinson ('Asra'), and Wordsworth with her sister Mary, whom he married in 1802. It was at Sockburn that Coleridge wrote his ballad-poem 'Love', addressed to Sara. The knight mentioned is the mailed figure on the Conyers tomb in ruined Sockburn church. The figure has a wyvern at his feet, a reference to the Sockburn worm slain by Sir John Conyers (and a possible source for Lewis Carroll's Jabberwock). The worm was supposedly buried under the rock in the nearby pasture; this was the 'greystone' of Coleridge's first draft, later transformed into a 'mount'. The poem was a direct inspiration for John Keats' famous poem 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' The Conyers falchion is traditionally presented to incoming Bishops of Durham, as they ride across the bridge at Croft. While at Sockburn, Coleridge used to visit Durham cathedral library and carry quantities of books on a cart back to the farm. Later, Sara Hutchinson moved to a farm in Bishop Middleham with her brother George, and Coleridge was staying with them when he visited Durham on 25 July 1801, ostensibly to study Leibnitz in the Dean and Chapter library. His request was taken to be 'live nits', according to the poet, and he was referred to a microscope-maker in the city.
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