The Collected Writing of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. II

In this volume De Quincey resumes his autobiographical chronicle, taking listeners through the restless five years he spent at Oxford. He paints a lively picture of university life, his solitary wanderings through its cloistered halls, and the way his curiosity was seized by German philosophy. His essays on Kant, both scholarly and humorously self‑critical, reveal how the dense ideas of the continent sparked a lingering intellectual headache that would shape his later thoughts.

The second half shifts to vivid literary reminiscences, drawing us into the convivial world of the Lake Poets. De Quincey recalls intimate encounters with Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey, as well as the broader circle of artists, scholars, and society figures who gathered by the lakeside. Through his keen eye, the reader hears the echo of poetry, debates, and the occasional scandal that animated that remarkable community.