Most of his poetry, small in volume, though unexcelled in quality, was written before he was thirty, "The Ancient Mariner," his first poem, having been composed at the age of twenty-four. After this he devoted himself for the most part to metaphysical speculation of no permanent value.
He excelled all other writers of his day in dealing with the supernatural. "The Ancient Mariner," his masterpiece, is a successful attempt to revive the metrical ballad of the middle ages. By the use of rubrics the medieval effect is heightened, while the introduction of the wedding guest relieves the credibility of the reader by making of an improbable account simply 'a tale that is told.'
He lived for some time at Keswick in Cumberland near its group of celebrated lakes, where Wordsworth and Southey also resided, and hence the appellation of "Lake Poets," given to the three distinguished friends.
Joining with Wordsworth in 1798 in the publication of a little volume of verse, "Lyrical Ballads," he became one of the first to give voice to the movement known as Romanticism.
THE MAN
1. What influence had Coleridge on the literature of his day?
2. What is said of him as a conversationalist? As a critic? III, 92 ff.
3. Why is he known as one of the "Lake Poets"?
4. Was he more useful to his friends than they to him, or vice versa?