Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Born in 1772 in Ottery St Mary, Devon, Samuel Taylor Coleridge became one of the central figures of English Romanticism. He is especially remembered for his friendship and collaboration with William Wordsworth, including Lyrical Ballads (1798), a landmark book in the movement, and for poems whose strange, musical power still feels fresh today.

Coleridge's best-known works include The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan, and Christabel. Alongside his poetry, he was an influential critic and thinker; Biographia Literaria helped define later discussions of imagination, symbolism, and how poetry works.

His life was often troubled by ill health, money problems, and addiction, but his influence was lasting. Coleridge died in 1834, leaving behind writing that is both haunting and deeply thoughtful, with a reach far beyond the Romantic age.