Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Biography

Born on 21 October 1772 in Devonshire, England, Coleridge was the tenth child born to his parents, Ann Bowdon Coleridge and John Coleridge. His father was the vicar of Ottery Saint Mary and a schoolteacher who died in 1782. Following the early death of his father, Coleridge was sent to the grammar school Christ’s Hospital for further schooling in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and English composition. It was here, under the tutelage of Reverend James Bowyer, that Coleridge began to form the basis of his unique approach to poetry.

As his father had wanted him to become a member of the clergy, when Coleridge entered the University of Cambridge in 1791, he initially planned on a future in the Church of England. This focus soon shifted as he discovered the work of William Frend, a controversial Unitarian. While he wrote some poetry during this time, it is the merging of the political with the poetic that had a longer-lasting impact on his work. Despite developing a philosophy of communitarianism named Pantisocracy, he left Cambridge without a degree in 1794.

Moving to Bristol after marrying Sara Fricker in 1795, Coleridge published his first volume of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects (1796). Having befriended William Wordsworth in 1795, Coleridge’s work began to show the ‘conversational tone’ that would become a defining aspect of his work. The development of this style can be seen in poems like ‘The Eolian Harp’ (1795). During this time, he also published a Liberal political periodical, The Watchmen (1976). With only ten editions from 1 March to 13 May 1796, the publication was not a success despite Coleridge’s efforts.

A collaboration with his friend Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads, with a few other poems, was published in 1798. Despite only achieving modest critical success, this volume marked the beginning of the Romantic Movement. Although Coleridge contributed only four poems to the volume, these included Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798), which is now regarded as a classic of the Western Canon. Coleridge and Wordsworth aimed to change what constituted poetry by using more everyday language. The now-famous prologue sums up their approach.

Coleridge and Wordsworth briefly moved to Hamburg, where Coleridge learned German and studied the philosophical works of Immanuel Kant, Jakob Boehme, and G. E. Lessing. After returning to England, they continued to work on the publication of the second volume of Lyrical Ballads, which was published in 1800. This volume contains a preface, which describes poetry as ‘the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’ and states that it should be written in ‘the language really used by men’.²

Having established himself as a poet, Coleridge spent the next two decades lecturing and writing extensively on subjects from philosophy to religion and political theory. Like some of the other Romantic writers, Coleridge became addicted to opium, which led him to struggle financially and with his health throughout his life. Despite these drawbacks, he managed to publish Biographia Literaria (1817), which contained his most famous and far-reaching work in the field of literary criticism. He also published both prose and poetry. Works from this era include Sibylline Leaves (1817), Aids to Reflection (1825), and Church and State (1830).

Having achieved fame in his own time, and endured addiction and disease, Coleridge died in London on 25 July 1834. His legacy is considered to be one of the most important influences on modern poetry.

Fig. 1 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, aged 42.