Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Literary Criticism

Biographia Literaria

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

(Literary Criticism)

“Biographia Literaria” is S.T. Coleridge’s one of the greatest works of literary criticism. Coleridge began his secondary education, especially in classical poetry, under James Boer at ‘Christ's Hospital Grammar School’. From there, he began a discussion of Wordsworth's book of poetry, where he later returned. Coleridge takes Wordsworth at face value, and this applies to Wordsworth's poetry in what he claimed in the 1800's Lyrical Ballad. Coleridge shows that Wordsworth's protests, that his craft was the common language of ordinary people, weren't strictly true, which despite his poetry the pattern was consciously made and not a neutral, unbiased speech. Nevertheless, Coleridge argued that Wordsworth is an example of the simplest contemporary poet and poetic genius.

“Biographia Literaria” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge was published in 1818. It is autobiographical and discusses the stages that the poet spent in his lifetime according to Coleridge's intellectual story. “Biographia Literaria” opens with the impact of contemporary writers on the restoration and development of Coleridge’s education in the ‘Christ's Hospital Grammar School’. Coleridge commented on the mood of talented men and the state of contemporary criticism.

This leads him address the critics made of the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1798), a collection of poems on which he and Wordsworth collaborated. Coleridge presents a decent examination of Wordsworth's lovely ability prior to taking up the subject of segregation in stylish issue and mental relationship overall. In chapter 5 to 7, Coleridge critiques David Hartley’s idea about association (associational) psychology. He argues that rather than merely receiving ideas and impressions from the world, mind has agency in perceiving reality. In chapter 8, Coleridge entertains but interrogates Cartesian Dualism. Influenced by Immanuel Kant, Coleridge developed his own theory of ‘imagination’, which he defines as the ‘esemplastic power’. The human spirit's ability to see a bound together the truth is recognized from Hartleyan mental 'affiliations' which he calls 'fancy'. After a straying during which Coleridge relates the preliminaries and achievement of his initial scholarly vocation, he gets back to examining the idea of the real world. Coleridge submits a balanced assessment of Wordsworth's poetic genius before embracing the subject of inequality in general aesthetic and mental organization.

Coleridge muses on the evolution of authors by using authors 'predictions for compound words as an example of authors' maturity. He noted that as the famous writers like Milton and Shakespeare evolved, they moved away from such discourses.

He remarked that even in his early days as a poet, he leaned more towards a free sentence than any rhetorical person, without compromising on format. Coleridge says that the simplicity of expression in his earlier works was inspired by Greek poets, and that he was proud of his decision to choose the right subject, even after fully realizing the abstract and metaphorical subjects he chose to write.

Coleridge recalls his days at ‘Christ's Hospital Grammar School’. His poem "Frost at Midnight" recalls his experience with formal education, which he believed was detrimental to his normal curiosity. He thinks that real study can be outside the classroom. Coleridge allows children to freely absorb knowledge rather than forcing them to learn it from books in the classroom.

Coleridge then proceeded to discuss how the mind perceives reality. Initially, he chose to agree with David Hartley that new ideas necessarily arise from existing ideas. However, over time he has moved away from this notion and commented that new realities are revealed as people interact with nature. He firmly claims that the human mind does not operate mechanically and does not rely on the input of old thought to express new ideas.

Overall, Coleridge considers the universe as a whole and thinks that man has the ability to perceive it as spiritual unity. He considers the ability to do so to be the pinnacle of realization; this is difficult to achieve, hindered by the synthetic activity of the mind that pulls the senses outward towards the object as "fancy", which ultimately deviates from the true pursuit of greater spiritual knowledge and understanding.

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