Samuel Coleridge

Through his poetry, philosophy, and criticism, Samuel Coleridge helped birth the Romantic Movement in English literature. He collaborated with William Wordsworth and their Lyrical Ballads became a manifesto for Romantic poetry. It was in this volume that Coleridge's most famous work, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner appeared.

Coleridge was born in 1772, the son of a vicar who would die when Coleridge was 9. He spent most of his childhood in boarding schools, eventually attending Cambridge for several years before leaving without a degree.

Coleridge frequently took opium as a pain reliever and it was under its influence that he composed many poems, most notably Kubla Khan. He eventually moved to Malta, hoping that the drier climate would help improve his health and let him depend less on opium.

He eventually returned to England and his lectures in London helped revive interest in William Shakespeare's work. He died in Highgate in 1834.

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