WHY COLERIDGE WAS NOT A FREUDIAN

The history of oneirology may be divided into explanations of the caus es of dreaming and interpretations of the content of dreams. Because t hese schools of thought are opposed to each other, the distinction bet ween them can be used to falsify Kathleen Coburn's claim that Coleridg e was a forerunner of Freud. Although both sought to bring the unconsc ious under the control of the conscious, rational mind, their oneirolo gical approaches nonetheless differed fundamentally. Freud did not rej ect the etiological explanation of dreams, but his emphasis on unconsc ious rather than somatic and other external causes placed him at odds with earlier psychologists and imposed on him a hermeneutic burden of proof; consisting in establishing that dreams are wish-fulfillments ev en when they do not appear to be. Furthermore, his theory of symbolism had strong affinities with both ancient and Romantic oneirocriticism. Coleridge for his part found the traditional causal explanations of d reams inadequate, but habitually resorted to them anyway because he co uld not bring himself to interpret oneiric imagery-perhaps out of fear of what he might discover about himself.