ABSTRACT
S. T. Coleridge, a defining figure of English Romanticism, won his first poetic laurels with an ode on the slave trade that took the Browne Gold Medal for Greek composition at Cambridge in 1792. The son of an Anglican vicar, Coleridge (1772–1834) attended Christ’s Hospital school (with Charles Lamb) before going on to Cambridge. He published The Fall of Robespierre, written with Robert Southey, in 1794, and Poems on Various Subjects (with contributions from Lamb and Southey) in 1796; a second edition followed the next year with poems by Charles Lloyd. Coleridge’s greatest collaboration, however, was Lyrical Ballads with William Wordsworth in 1798, one of the most influential single volumes in the history of British poetry, which included his ballad ‘The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere’, a poem with subtle but indisputable links to global issues of slavery, colonialism, and exploration. Other key works include ‘Christabel’ and ‘Kubla Khan’ (published together in 1816), Sibylline Leaves (1817), his most important collection of poetry, and his major critical work, the Biographia Literaria (1817).
