Coleridge

The biography traces the poet's life from formative years and idealistic pursuits through productive periods in the Lake country and abroad, to prolonged struggles with addiction and financial and personal difficulties. It examines his roles as observer of nature, poet, critic and conversationalist, showing how lectures and informal Table Talk revealed his thought. The narrative follows creative bursts alongside failing health and dependence, and describes a late turn toward religious conviction and reflective prose collected in Aids to Reflection. Episodes of intellectual brilliance, influence on contemporaries, and recurring lapses in self-discipline are presented without moralizing.