The British poet states his belief in that philosophy is the basis of criticism.

First published in 1817, Biographia Literaria is a seminal work of literary criticism and autobiography. Written by the influential Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the book includes biographical sketches of Coleridge's contemporaries, as well as extensive discussions of literary theory and criticism. This edition, edited and expanded by Coleridge's nephew Henry Nelson Coleridge, provides valuable insight into the intellectual and cultural milieu of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Coleridge, with his superior philosophical training and profundity of thought, became one of England's greatest critics, despite his digressiveness and verbosity. The Biographia Literaria (1817), a collection of his literary life and opininions, is both autobiographical and critical. Intended as a mere preface to a collected volume of his poems, explaining and justifying his own style and practice in poetry, the work grew under his hands to a literary autobiography, including, together with many facts concerning his education and studies and his early literary adventures, an extended criticism of Wordsworth's theory of poetry as given in the preface to the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ and a statement of Coleridge's philosophical views.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Biographia Literaria, or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions Mr. Coleridge's means, been actually deprived of it, even for an hour. With regard to the first ground of accusation, it is doubt less to be regretted by every friend of the accused, that he should have adopted so important a portion Of the words and thoughts of Schelling without himself making those distinct and accurate references, which he might have known would eventually be re quired as surely as he succeeded in his attempt to recommend the metaphysical doctrines contained in them to the attention Of stu dents in this country. Why did Mr. Coleridge act thus, subjecting himself, as he might well have anticipated, aware as he was of the hostile Spirit against his person and principles, that existed in many quarters, to suspicion from the illiberal, and contumc lious treatment at the hands of the hard and unscrupulous Why he so acted those who best knew him can well understand, without seeing in his conduct evidence Of unconscientiousness: they see the truth Of the matter to be this, that to give those distinct and accurate references, for the neglect of which he is now so severely arraigned, would have caused him much trouble of a kind to him peculiarly irksome, and that he dispensed him self from it in the belief, that the general declaration which he had made upon the subject was sufficient both for Schelling and for himself. This will be the more intelligible when it is borne in mind, that, as all who knew his literary habits will believe, the passages from Schelling, which he wove into his work, were not transcribedfor the occasion, but merely transferred from his note-book into the text, some of them, in all likelihood, not even from his note-book immediately, but from recollection of its con tents. It is most probable that he mistook some of these trans lated passages for compositions Of his own, and quite improbable, as all who know his careless ways will agree, that he should have noted down accurately the particular works and portions Of works from which they came. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.