Coleridge, Isherwood and Hindu Light

What is it about?

This essay compares the idea of light, as theorised in Hindu philosophy, in works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Christopher Isherwood. Following his reading of the Hindu epic Bhagavad Gita, Coleridge explores Hindu theories of an all-pervasive light in his poem 'Dejection: An Ode'. Isherwood devoted himself to these theories physically in residence at a Hindu meditation centre. While both Coleridge and Isherwood suffered damage to their reputations for their interests in esoteric philosophy, commentators such as W.H. Auden remarked that Western literature could be enriched by Hindu influences.

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