Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as for his major prose work Biographia Literaria. His critical work, especially on Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. He coined many familiar words and phrases, including the celebrated suspension of disbelief. He was a major influence, via Emerson, on American transcendentalism.
Throughout his adult life, Coleridge suffered from crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated by some that he suffered from bipolar disorder, a condition as yet unidentified during his lifetime. Coleridge suffered from poor health that may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these concerns with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opium addiction.
Read more about Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Early Life, Poetry
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“Henceforth I shall know
That Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure;”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence?”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Samuel 21:15.
A King, said of David who pretends to be mad.
“All thoughts, all passions, all delights,
Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
Are all but ministers of Love,
And feed his sacred flame.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“Until you understand a writer’s ignorance, presume yourself ignorant of his understanding.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)