Is there a schwa in the middle of Coleridge?

Solution 1:

From Coleridge himself, we have

Parry seeks the Polar Ridge, Rhymes seek S.T. Coleridge,

and

Could you stand upon Skiddaw, you would not from its whole ridge
See a man who so loves you as your fond S. T. Coleridge.

so either put the schwa in, or leave it out, depending on which way fits the meter.

UPDATE: Coleridge seems to have settled the matter decisively himself in this note where he says his name is a "trisyllabic amphimacer," so [ˈkoʊləˌɹɪdʒ]. But maybe not. From Google Books, I found

"A gentleman, who was perhaps more intimate with S. T. Coleridge than any one now living, informs me that, in ordinary conversation, the poet would certainly have called himself Cole-ridge, and would so have pronounced the word, if he had been officially asked to give his name. My informant never heard the word pronounced as a trisyllable, either by Coleridge himself or by his friends.

Solution 2:

It appears there are several schools: cōl-ridge, cō-lĕ-ridge, and cŏ-lĕ-ridge. It seems his name was pronounced cōl-ridge in his own time; there is no schwa after the r, and it has only two syllables: "coal-ridge" (in IPA: /'kəʊlɹɪdʒ/ or /'koʊlɹɪdʒ/).

Dictionary.com has [kohl-rij]. Wikipedia has /ˈkoʊlrɪdʒ/.

Dictionary.com also has a link to pronunciation (American) in sound, as do Howjsay (British) and Forvo (British and American).

The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide for the Careful Speaker by Ch. H. Elster (2006) explains that his name is often mispronounced: