Samuel Taylor Coleridge As a Literary Theorist

Introduction: Samuel Taylor Coleridge As a Literary Theorist

Table of Contents

Samuel Taylor Coleridge as a literary theorist occupies a central position in Romantic philosophy and criticism. Born on October 21, 1772, in Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, and educated first at Christ’s Hospital, London, and later at Jesus College, Cambridge, Coleridge displayed early brilliance and a restless intellectual curiosity (Ashton 11–14). His poetic career began with political idealism and radical enthusiasm, as seen in The Fall of Robespierre (1794) and Poems on Various Subjects (1796), but his later turn toward German metaphysics profoundly shaped his critical philosophy. His main theoretical works—Biographia Literaria (1817), Aids to Reflection (1825), and On the Constitution of Church and State (1830)—illustrate his synthesis of imagination, reason, and theology. In Biographia Literaria, he defined imagination as “the living power and prime agent of all human perception” and distinguished it from fancy, which he described as “a mode of memory emancipated from the order of time and space” (Coleridge 167). Deeply influenced by Kant and Schelling, he viewed poetry as a mediation between mind and nature, asserting that “the poet brings the whole soul of man into activity” (Coleridge 168). Despite personal struggles with illness and opium addiction, Coleridge’s life at Highgate (1818–1834) became a period of intellectual mentorship, earning him the title “the Sage of Highgate.” He died on July 25, 1834, leaving behind a legacy that shaped English Romantic theory and Victorian idealism. As Matthew Arnold later observed, “Coleridge is not merely a poet but one of the three great critics of the world—Aristotle, Longinus, and Coleridge” (qtd. in Jackson 3).

Major Works and Ideas of Samuel Taylor Coleridge As a Literary Theorist

🔵 1. Biographia Literaria (1817): The Foundation of Romantic Literary Theory

Context & Purpose:
Written partly as an autobiographical and philosophical reflection on poetry, Biographia Literaria aimed to “explain the principles of poetic genius and criticism” (Coleridge 2).

Primary Idea — Imagination vs. Fancy:
- Imagination is “the living power and prime agent of all human perception.”
- Fancy is “a mode of memory emancipated from the order of time and space.”
  → Coleridge’s distinction influenced later critics like Wordsworth, Arnold, and Eliot.
  (Coleridge 167–68).

Organic Unity:
Literature, especially poetry, should have “organic form,” where every part contributes to the living whole, unlike mechanical arrangement.

“The form is inherent in the idea, as the flower to its seed.” (Coleridge 178)

Role of the Poet:
The poet is a “synthetic and magical power” who reconciles opposites—reason and emotion, subject and object—through imagination.

🟢 2. Aids to Reflection (1825): Religious Philosophy and Moral Imagination

Core Theme:
A synthesis of theology and philosophy—Coleridge encourages self-knowledge and reflection as means of moral elevation.
Reason vs. Understanding:
- Understanding is the faculty of logical reasoning and empirical thought.
- Reason is “the faculty of the Spirit,” capable of perceiving divine truths.

“The Reason is the eye of the soul; the Understanding is its hand.” (Coleridge 45)

Ethical Imagination:
Imagination becomes a spiritual tool that unites intellect and faith—“the mirror of the divine mind in man” (Coleridge 47).
Influence:
Shaped Victorian moral theology (e.g., Dr. Thomas Arnold, F. D. Maurice) and laid the foundation for Christian idealism in English thought.

🟣 3. On the Constitution of Church and State (1830): The Cultural Role of the Intellect

Coleridge’s Concept of the ‘Clerisy’:
Proposed an intellectual class—the clerisy—responsible for preserving culture, education, and moral knowledge.

“The clerisy is the learned estate… maintaining the cultivation of the national mind.” (Coleridge 102)

Unity of Knowledge and Faith:
Advocated that Church and State should function together harmoniously, ensuring both spiritual and civic well-being.

Philosophical Idealism:
Human reason is part of divine reason; thus, education and religion must nurture that spiritual participation.
Legacy:
Anticipated Matthew Arnold’s “Culture and Anarchy” and John Stuart Mill’s social philosophy.

🔴 4. Lectures on Shakespeare and Poetry (Delivered 1811–1818): Foundations of Modern Criticism

Poetic Genius:
Defined Shakespeare as the supreme example of the “universal poet” who “balances the faculties of man in harmonious activity.”

“Shakespeare, the myriad-minded man, mirrors all human nature in his own.” (Coleridge, qtd. in Ashton 289)

Critique of Classicism:
Opposed neoclassical “rules” of decorum, arguing that imagination and organic unity transcend formal restriction.

Influence:
His lectures introduced Romantic aesthetics into English criticism, inspiring later theorists like Hazlitt, Arnold, and Coleridge’s own nephew, Henry Nelson Coleridge.

🟡 5. Core Philosophical Ideas Across His Critical Thought

🎭 The Reconciliation of Opposites:
Coleridge viewed artistic creation as a synthesis of reason and passion, imagination and intellect—what he termed “the reconciliation of the opposites in the unity of the spirit” (Coleridge 172).
🌌 The Symbol and the Infinite:
Poetry expresses truth symbolically:

“A symbol is characterized by a translucence of the eternal through and in the temporal.” (Coleridge 181)

💫 The Poet as Prophet:
The poet participates in divine creativity, acting as an intermediary between God and humanity.
(Ashton 322–23)
📘 Romantic Idealism:
His blending of Kantian epistemology and Christian faith formed the foundation of English Romantic Idealism—seeing nature as “a living garment of God.”

⚫ 6. Enduring Influence

Critical Legacy:
Coleridge’s theories became the bedrock of Romantic and Victorian criticism, influencing T. S. Eliot, I. A. Richards, and Cleanth Brooks.

Modern Relevance:
His ideas on imagination prefigure 20th-century phenomenology and existential hermeneutics.

Theoretical Terms/Concepts of Samuel Taylor Coleridge As a Literary Theorist

Term / Concept	Definition / Core Idea	Example	Explanation / Significance
1. Imagination (Primary & Secondary)	The Primary Imagination is “the living power and prime agent of all human perception,” while the Secondary Imagination “dissolves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to recreate” (Coleridge 167).	Kubla Khan — creative re-vision of dream imagery into poetic form.	The imagination unites reason and emotion, mirroring divine creation; a central Romantic innovation distinguishing Coleridge from empiricist thought.
2. Fancy	A lesser creative faculty, “a mode of memory emancipated from the order of time and space.”	Conventional poetic imagery (e.g., neoclassical metaphors).	Fancy rearranges pre-existing materials but lacks the transformative power of imagination; it is mechanical, not organic.
3. Organic Unity	A poem’s form grows naturally from its content; “The form is inherent in the idea, as the flower to its seed.”	The Rime of the Ancient Mariner — each episode reflects moral and imaginative wholeness.	Rejects mechanical structure; a work of art must evolve naturally from the creative idea rather than adhere to external rules.
4. Reconciliation of Opposites	The poet’s role is to harmonize contrary forces—reason and passion, self and world, spirit and matter.	Dejection: An Ode — uniting despair and insight through imagination.	Reflects Coleridge’s Romantic Idealism: art mediates between the finite and infinite.
5. Symbol	“A symbol is characterized by a translucence of the eternal through and in the temporal.”	The albatross in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.	A symbol reveals higher truth; unlike allegory, it participates in what it represents, embodying Coleridge’s metaphysical poetics.
6. Suspension of Disbelief	The reader’s voluntary acceptance of imaginative truth in poetry and drama.	The Rime of the Ancient Mariner — supernatural elements accepted as real.	Central to Romantic aesthetics: belief in poetic truth surpasses literal truth.
7. Poetic Faith	The fusion of imagination and belief that allows art to evoke truth.	The Gothic world of Christabel.	“Willing suspension of disbelief” transforms mere fantasy into emotional and moral insight.
8. Reason vs. Understanding	Understanding analyzes and classifies; Reason apprehends divine and moral truth.	Rational vs. visionary perception in Aids to Reflection.	Reason is “the eye of the soul”; Understanding is “its hand.” He elevates intuitive insight over empirical logic.
9. The Clerisy	An educated class dedicated to moral and cultural preservation.	Scholars, poets, and teachers as moral guardians of society.	Proposed in On the Constitution of Church and State; anticipates later cultural critics like Matthew Arnold.
10. Unity of the Spirit	True art expresses harmony between mind, nature, and God.	Nature imagery in Frost at Midnight.	Reflects his belief that the poet mirrors divine creation through synthesis of intellect and emotion.
11. Philosophical Idealism	Reality is spiritual and mental, not material.	Visionary descriptions in Kubla Khan.	Influenced by Kant and Schelling, Coleridge saw imagination as a participation in divine creativity.
12. The Poet as Prophet	The poet acts as a mediator between the divine and human.	“The Eolian Harp” — nature as divine voice.	Poetry becomes revelation, the poet a seer communicating moral insight through imagination.
13. Esemplastic Power	The unifying power of imagination to shape disparate elements into one harmonious whole.	The Ancient Mariner — combining moral, supernatural, and symbolic dimensions.	Derived from Greek esemplassein (“to shape into one”); imagination’s creative synthesis.
14. Primary vs. Secondary Creation	The poet’s imaginative act repeats, in miniature, God’s creative act.	The dreamlike construction of Kubla Khan.	The poet becomes a “finite echo” of the infinite Creator.
15. The Idea of the Whole (Totality)	Each work of art should reflect the totality of human experience.	Christabel — spiritual, emotional, and moral unity.	Anticipates modern holistic aesthetics and the Romantic concept of “organic totality.”

Contribution to Literary Criticism and Literary Theory of Samuel Taylor Coleridge As a Literary Theorist

🔵 1. Contribution to the Theory of Imagination

Key Idea: Coleridge’s theory of imagination revolutionized Romantic aesthetics by linking creativity to divine creation.
Major Contribution: Distinguished between Primary and Secondary Imagination:

“The primary imagination I hold to be the living power and prime agent of all human perception… the repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 13)

Significance:
- Elevated imagination from mere fancy to a spiritual and cognitive faculty.
- Connected aesthetics with epistemology — how humans know truth through imagination.
- Inspired later critics (Wordsworth, Shelley, Eliot, Richards).

Example: The visionary synthesis of dream and reality in Kubla Khan demonstrates imagination’s divine creative process.
(Coleridge, Biographia Literaria, ch. 13)

🟢 2. Contribution to Romanticism as a Critical Movement

Key Idea: Coleridge redefined poetry as an organic unity of feeling and intellect rather than mechanical adherence to form.
Quotations:

“The poet brings the whole soul of man into activity.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 14)
“The form is inherent in the idea, as the flower to its seed.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 22)

Significance:
- Established the concept of organic form—that structure and content must grow naturally together.
- Rejected neoclassical “rules” and mechanical imitation of nature.
- Advocated poetry as a self-sustaining creation of the human spirit, uniting intellect, emotion, and moral insight.

Example: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner exemplifies the organic wholeness of imagination, emotion, and symbolism.

🟣 3. Contribution to Reader-Response and Aesthetic Experience

Key Idea: Introduced the concept of “willing suspension of disbelief”—a psychological contract between poet and reader.
Quotation:

“That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 14)

Significance:
- Established the foundation for later reader-response theory by recognizing the reader’s imaginative participation.
- Distinguished artistic illusion from deception; truth arises through emotional conviction.
- Positioned poetry as a moral and emotional experience rather than mere entertainment.
Example: Readers accept the supernatural world of The Ancient Mariner because poetic faith transforms the impossible into the credible.

🔴 4. Contribution to Symbolism and Semiotics

Key Idea: Coleridge conceived the symbol as a living entity embodying divine truth.

Quotation:

“A symbol is characterized by a translucence of the eternal through and in the temporal.” (The Statesman’s Manual, 1816)

Significance:
- Distinguished symbol (living revelation of truth) from allegory (mechanical representation).
- Founded the metaphysical basis of Romantic symbolism and modern semiotics.
- Influenced literary philosophers such as Emerson, Carlyle, and later phenomenologists.
Example: The albatross in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a symbol of both sin and redemption—an emblem of the spiritual journey of humankind.

🟡 5. Contribution to Poetic Theory and Function of the Poet

Key Idea: The poet is a creative unifier and moral philosopher.
Quotations:

“The poet diffuses a tone and spirit of unity, that blends, and (as it were) fuses each into each.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 15)

Significance:
- Defined the poet not merely as an artist but as a prophet-philosopher mediating between divine reason and human emotion.
- Elevated the moral responsibility of art and its educative role in shaping national consciousness.
- Prepared the ground for the Victorian concept of the poet as moral teacher (e.g., Tennyson, Arnold).
Example: In Dejection: An Ode, Coleridge’s poetic self becomes both moral seer and suffering human soul.

⚫ 6. Contribution to Philosophical Criticism

Key Idea: Integrated German Idealism (Kant, Schelling) into English literary thought.

Quotation:

“A great poet must be implicite if not explicite, a profound metaphysician.” (Coleridge, qtd. in Ashton 214)

Significance:
- Linked aesthetics to metaphysics—art as a means to comprehend divine order.
- Shifted literary criticism from empirical description to philosophical speculation.
- Became the father of English Idealist criticism, influencing Mill, Arnold, and Eliot.
Example: Aids to Reflection presents reason as a spiritual faculty, merging philosophy, theology, and moral psychology.

🟤 7. Contribution to Cultural and Educational Theory

Key Idea: Advocated the formation of a national “clerisy”—an intellectual class preserving moral and cultural values.

Quotation:

“The clerisy is the learned estate, maintaining the cultivation of the national mind.” (On the Constitution of Church and State, 1830)

Significance:
- Connected literature, education, and religion as moral forces.
- Anticipated Matthew Arnold’s idea of culture as “the best that has been thought and said.”
- Linked literary theory to public ethics and spiritual development.

🟠 8. Contribution to Shakespearean and Comparative Criticism

Key Idea: Applied philosophical principles to practical criticism, particularly of Shakespeare.
Quotations:

“Shakespeare’s judgment is not less admirable than his imagination.” (Lectures on Shakespeare, 1811–1818)

Significance:
- Founded modern character criticism—analysis of motive and psychology in drama.
- Rejected the classical unities, emphasizing psychological realism and moral complexity.
- Anticipated later psychoanalytic and archetypal readings of literature.
Example: In his lecture on Hamlet, Coleridge interprets the prince as a reflective, imaginative soul paralyzed by over-intellectualization.

🟣 9. Contribution to the Theory of Organic Form

Key Idea: Literature is a living organism, not a mechanical artifact.
Quotation:

“The form is organic, not superinduced; it grows from within.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 22)

Significance:
- Laid groundwork for New Criticism’s focus on the text as an organic whole.
- Influenced twentieth-century structural and aesthetic unity theories.
- Provided Romantic justification for artistic freedom and integrity.

⚪ 10. Overall Influence on Modern Literary Theory

Legacy:
- Coleridge’s synthesis of poetic imagination, philosophy, and theology formed the foundation of Romantic and post-Romantic literary theory.
- Inspired Victorian moral criticism (Arnold), Symbolism, New Criticism, and even Phenomenological and Reader-Response schools.
- His belief that art mediates between human and divine reason remains a cornerstone of modern aesthetics.

“Coleridge is not merely a poet but one of the three great critics of the world—Aristotle, Longinus, and Coleridge.” (Arnold, qtd. in Jackson 3)

Application of Ideas of Samuel Taylor Coleridge As a Literary Theorist to Literary Works

Coleridgean Idea / Concept	Application in Modern / Recent Literary Work	Explanation / Analytical Insight
1. Imagination & Poetic Faith (Biographia Literaria, ch. 13–14)	Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019)	Vuong’s narrative blends reality and dreamlike lyricism, demanding the reader’s “willing suspension of disbelief.” His use of poetic imagination transforms trauma into beauty, echoing Coleridge’s belief that the poet “repeats in the finite mind the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM.”
2. Symbolism & Translucence of the Eternal (The Statesman’s Manual, 1816)	Richard Powers’ The Overstory (2018)	Powers’s trees function as Coleridgean symbols—“translucent” embodiments of divine and ecological truth. Like Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the novel’s nature-symbols represent moral revelation and human redemption through harmony with creation.
3. Organic Unity (Biographia Literaria, ch. 22)	Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other (2019)	The novel’s twelve interwoven female voices create a living, organic whole—each part reflecting and sustaining the unity of the collective narrative. This fulfills Coleridge’s dictum that “the form is inherent in the idea, as the flower to its seed,” making form and content inseparable.
4. Reconciliation of Opposites & Moral Imagination (Aids to Reflection, 1825)	Salman Rushdie’s Victory City (2023)	Rushdie’s imaginative retelling of empire and myth unites faith and skepticism, East and West—embodying Coleridge’s vision of poetry as “a reconciliation of the opposites.” His mythopoetic storytelling turns historical chaos into a moral and aesthetic order through imagination.

Representative Quotations of Samuel Taylor Coleridge As a Literary Theorist

No.	Quotation	Explanation / Theoretical Significance
1	“The primary imagination I hold to be the living power and prime agent of all human perception, and a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 13)	Defines imagination as divine and creative. It mirrors God’s creative act within human consciousness, marking Coleridge’s central contribution to Romantic idealism.
2	“The secondary imagination dissolves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to recreate.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 13)	Distinguishes poetic imagination (creative transformation) from ordinary perception. The poet reshapes experience, uniting intellect and emotion.
3	“The form is inherent in the idea, as the flower to its seed.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 22)	Introduces the principle of organic form—true art grows naturally from its inner idea rather than external rules, influencing modern aesthetic criticism.
4	“That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 14)	Establishes the basis of reader-response theory—the reader’s emotional engagement makes art believable and meaningful.
5	“The poet brings the whole soul of man into activity.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 14)	Defines poetry as the full expression of human faculties—imagination, feeling, reason, and moral consciousness acting together.
6	“A symbol is characterized by a translucence of the eternal through and in the temporal.” (The Statesman’s Manual, 1816)	Differentiates symbol from allegory; a true symbol embodies divine truth within material reality—key to Romantic symbolism and later semiotics.
7	“The imagination then I consider either as primary, or secondary… but both are essentially vital.” (Biographia Literaria, ch. 13)	Reinforces imagination as a vital, living power, contrasting it with mechanical fancy; this vitalism defined Romantic creativity.
8	“A great poet must be, implicitly if not explicitly, a profound metaphysician.” (qtd. in Ashton 214)	Asserts that true poetry requires philosophical depth; integrates poetic art with metaphysical reflection, anticipating modern intellectual criticism.
9	“The clerisy is the learned estate, maintaining the cultivation of the national mind.” (On the Constitution of Church and State, 1830)	Envisions a cultural elite responsible for moral and intellectual education—linking literary criticism with social ethics and national consciousness.
10	“No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher.” (Table Talk, 1835)	Reaffirms the fusion of poetry and philosophy; art and intellect are interdependent, shaping the Romantic concept of the poet as seer and thinker.

Criticism of Samuel Taylor Coleridge As a Literary Theorist

🔵 1. 🌩️ Accusations of Obscurity and Abstractness

Coleridge’s prose in Biographia Literaria and Aids to Reflection is often criticized for its philosophical obscurity and dense abstraction.
Critics argue that his thought, though profound, is “clouded by self-reflexive digressions and theological jargon.”
❖ Example: Thomas De Quincey described Coleridge’s style as “a mist of words illuminated by lightning flashes of genius.”

✳️ Modern scholars like George Whalley note that his speculative depth sometimes “sacrifices clarity to complexity.”

🟢 2. 📚 Charges of Plagiarism and Intellectual Borrowing

Coleridge faced criticism for borrowing heavily from German philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Schelling, and Schlegel without adequate acknowledgment.
❖ Example: Norman Fruman’s Coleridge: The Damaged Archangel (1972) accuses him of intellectual dishonesty, particularly in Biographia Literaria.

✳️ However, defenders like Owen Barfield and M.H. Abrams argue that Coleridge’s “borrowings” were creative assimilations, not thefts, transforming abstract philosophy into poetic criticism.
💡 Balanced View: Rosemary Ashton observes that Coleridge’s engagement with German Idealism was “less imitation than integration”.

🟣 3. ⚖️ Inconsistency and Incompleteness of Theoretical System

Critics contend that Coleridge never developed a coherent or complete critical theory.

His concepts—imagination, organic unity, and symbolism—are insightful but fragmentary.
❖ Example: T. S. Eliot remarked that Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria “ends without ending—an unfinished cathedral of ideas.”
✳️ Coleridge’s tendency to digress made his criticism philosophically suggestive but systematically weak.

🔴 4. 🌀 Excessive Metaphysical Idealism

Coleridge’s insistence on spiritualized imagination and divine creativity has been criticized as overly mystical and detached from practical art.

❖ Example: Matthew Arnold admired him but warned that Coleridge “soars in clouds of metaphysic where poetry can scarcely breathe.”
✳️ His metaphysical approach alienated empirical critics who sought a more grounded, artistic method of analysis.
💭 Still, his influence on idealist aesthetics remains profound and undeniable.

🟡 5. 🔍 Ambiguity between Philosophy and Criticism

Coleridge blurred the boundary between literary theory and metaphysical speculation, making his criticism both rich and confusing.
❖ Example: Some critics argue that his Biographia Literaria reads more like a spiritual autobiography than a treatise on criticism.
✳️ John Stuart Mill acknowledged his brilliance but found his method “more reflective than analytical.”

💡 Interpretation: Coleridge’s hybridity foreshadows modern interdisciplinary criticism, blending art, philosophy, and theology.

⚫ 6. 🌗 Elitism and Idealization of the ‘Clerisy’

His notion of a “clerisy”—an intellectual elite guiding national culture—has been viewed as elitist and undemocratic.
❖ Critics like Raymond Williams and Terry Eagleton read Coleridge’s Church and State as an attempt to reinforce social hierarchy through education and religion.

✳️ Yet others see it as a progressive vision for the moral reformation of society, grounded in cultural responsibility.

🟠 7. 💭 Limited Engagement with Social and Political Realities

Unlike Wordsworth or Shelley, Coleridge retreated from early political radicalism into conservative theology.

❖ Critics view this shift as intellectual withdrawal—his theory lacks engagement with social injustice or material realities.
✳️ Raymond Williams calls him “a poet who fled the political to the metaphysical.”
💡 However, his later ethical idealism in Aids to Reflection attempts to reconcile faith, morality, and reason within a social framework.

🔵 8. 🔮 Over-Idealization of the Poet

Coleridge’s depiction of the poet as a quasi-divine creator is seen as romantic exaggeration.
❖ Example: Modern critics like I. A. Richards and T. E. Hulme find his concept of imagination too transcendental for realistic art.
✳️ Yet his exaltation of the poet as “prophet and seer” deeply influenced later movements such as Symbolism and Modernism.

🟤 9. 🕰️ Influence Overshadowed by Fragmentation

His brilliance inspired generations of critics, but his unfinished system left followers struggling to unify his ideas.
❖ Example: M.H. Abrams observed that Biographia Literaria “contains the seed of nearly every modern literary theory, yet none fully matured.”
✳️ Despite this, his intellectual legacy formed the bridge between Romanticism and modern aesthetics.

⚪ 10. 🌈 Enduring Reappraisal and Modern Rehabilitation

In the 20th and 21st centuries, scholars reassessed Coleridge not as a failed philosopher, but as a visionary theorist of creativity and consciousness.
❖ Example: Critics like Harold Bloom and Abrams celebrate him as the father of imaginative criticism, influencing psychoanalytic and reader-response theories.
💫 His ideas on imagination anticipate modern cognitive and phenomenological theories of art.

✳️ Today, Coleridge is praised for uniting emotion, intellect, and faith into a timeless vision of poetic creation.