Biographia Literaria

It’s frustrating that the book description on Goodreads of this edition of Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria should perpetuate the traditional account of its genesis, an account that the editor, George Watson, takes pains to refute.

Watson describes the origins of the book, dating back to more than fifteen years before its eventual publication. From the outset, Coleridge intended a work that would reflect his dual interest in philosophy and poetry. Watson concedes that the formal design of the book cannot be defended, but argues that Coleridge succeeded “for the first and (so far) for the last time in English criticism” in “discovering a causal link between the two” in the poet’s imagination, set out by Coleridge in chapters show more 12 and 13, the heart of the book. Hitherto, “imagination” and “fancy” had been used interchangeably, but Coleridge differentiates the two, assigning to imagination, especially the poetic imagination, the power to dissolve sense perceptions to recreate, idealize, or unify them. In contrast, fancy, a lesser power, can only recall, with its creativity limited to association. At least that’s what I make of it, though I had a hard time following his discussion. He even coined a term to describe this faculty, “esemplastic” (the power to form into one), but this hasn’t caught on.

This achievement has been clouded not only by the ever-perpetuated tale that the Biographia is nothing more than an overgrown preface to a collection of poems, but also because a printer’s miscalculation forced Coleridge to hurriedly pad the manuscript at the last minute. This edition omits the padding and thus, Watson claims, is “the first to present the Biographia as nearly as possible according to the author’s intention.”

I can understand the widespread currency of the “garrulous preface” legend, however. Like a magpie, Coleridge seems to hop about, collecting shiny objects. The result: a fascinating record of a lively mind. He read widely and thought deeply, but the fecundity of his mind seems to have sabotaged his production. The footnotes of this book teem with announcements of forthcoming projects that never saw the light of day, mirroring the fifteen-year gap between plan and execution of this book.

One of the pleasures of reading Biographia was to follow a great literary critic at work as he shows by precept and example what makes great poetry. I noted several passages, including this: “The ultimate end of criticism is much more to establish the principles of writing than to furnish rules how to pass judgement on what has been written by others; if indeed it were possible that the two could be separated.” Coleridge’s work as a great critic is supported by his acute psychological insight.

One of Coleridge’s notable services rendered was to transmit the best of contemporary German philosophy to the English-speaking world. This book includes lengthy passages translated from Schelling and Lessing. He names both, but should have been clearer about where their words (in his translation) begin and end. His carelessness left him open to charges of plagiarism. He, in turn, felt misunderstood, one of many things that rankled him when others criticized his work. No doubt much of the criticism was unjustified, but his counterattacks are some of the least enjoyable passages in this book.

Still, overall, I enjoyed the book and learned a great deal from it. show less

discussion of literature

First included in Everyman's Library, 1906