After reading the Longman's introduction to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, I wanted to know more about him. The description in the introduction of Coleridge as a Logician, Metaphysician and Bard (Longman 323), as well as Magus (324), caught my attention. This greatly interested me, along with his radical view on politics and enthusiasm for an ideal democracy. His literary accomplishments were progressive, and although accompanied by his addiction to pain medicine (a form of heroin), leading to depression, estrangement from his wife, and accusations of plagiarism, he continued to capture a particular charm, especially among the young generation and maintained a productive public life (323-234, paraphrase).
In researching the web-link provided in our lesson, I found a letter from Dorothy Wordsworth to Mary Hutchinson in June, 1779, which describes Coleridge, then age 25, in endearing terms. There is also a self-portrait description on the same website which he wrote at age 24 that matches some of his features given by Mary Hutchinson; yet her description gives a brief but very good impression of what it would be like for someone meeting him for the first time. Here is the link:
http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Wordsworth/letters/DW_MH_0697.html
After reading this letter, I must agree with her first statement, "You had a great loss in not seeing Coleridge."
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