Samuel Coleridge’s Four Types of Readers

Have you ever heard the last two lines of this poem? “Water water everywhere And all the boards did shrink, Water water everywhere Nor any drop to drink” Join Kate and Sheila as they discuss Samuel Coleridge’s Four Types of Readers: Sand-glasses / Hourglasses- like sand that runs in and out and leaves not a ‘vestige’ behind, in other words, these readers retain nothing. They are simply passing time as one might do when they are waiting at the dentist office perusing a magazine. Sponges-absorb all they read and return it nearly in the same state only a little dirtied. They don't think much for themselves so they may miss the point. Strain bag / Jelly bag - squeeze out valuable information and hold onto the unimportant or in Coleridge’s words, “retain merely the dregs of what they read.” The violent, shameful, or sullied parts stick and the main points get tossed out. Can happen when one is reading above his/her level. Mogul / Golconda - profit by what they read and enable others to profit by it too. These readers are able to cast aside all that is worthless and retain the pure gems. Picture the miner with a sieve working away searching for nuggets of gold. Annotating and making connections can help us glean from what we read and be more enlightened readers : ) Reading can be a rollercoaster ride, the highs would be the Mogul moments and the lows would be hourglasses and the others. It is interesting to note that we do not always bring our A game to our reading endeavors but maybe Coleridge can help us figure out when we don’t and possibly help us back up the train (of thought : ) to refocus and go for the GOLD! One last Colerige quote, “Little is taught by contest or dispute, everything by sympathy and love.” Clever wording that connects with an old favorite that I just read in The Persian Pickle Club, “... you can get more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Aren’t connections cool? Check out The Read Well Podcast episode #43 to hear where we discovered these four types of readers. We hope you have a blessed week. Thanks so much for lending us an ear, may your day be filled with cheer. Happy reading!