Coleridge's Experimental Poetics

"Coleridge has been perceived as the youthful author of a few brilliant poems and the rest of his career as a downward spiral of unfinished verses, philosophical meanderings, and opium addiction. While the perception contains just enough truth to render it indestructible, it is neither the whole truth nor the only one. The present study argues that the poetry is a continuous process of experimentation, especially with metre, rhythm and sound patterns. It provides a new perspective on both familiar and unfamiliar poems, and of the relation between Coleridge's poetry and philosophical thinking, and suggests connections with several modern writers."--Publisher's website.