Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on October 21, 1772. Coleridge was born in Devonshire, England. As the youngest of ten children, Taylor was adored by both of his parents. After his father's death, Coleridge was sent away to Christ's Hospital School in London. He was only nine years old. Coleridge studied at Jesus College. At seventeen Coleridge learned about opium. It was then that Coleridge found that he was impressed with words. He spent his money very recklessly. Coleridge was an unpractical person. He bought several failing lottery tickets and attempted suicide numerous times. He joined in the reformist movement stimulated by the French Revolution, and left his studies in 1793. Coleridge thought he wanted an in-depth career in military, but after in six short weeks, he changed his mind. At 21, he became a translator. Coleridge often envisioned Utopia. He teamed up with a man named Robert Suffey to write poems about utopia for money. He had a "plan" to get rich off of his poetry. Later on, he met a woman named Sarah who he forced himself to fall in love with. Soon after the two be-wed, Coleridge's plan fell through. He was forced to write for bread to feed his family. His wife became pregnant and he became depressed. Coleridge began taking opium again. Coleridge rented a cottage from Tom Poole. Coleridge had a housekeeper named Dorothy. She was 25years old. Coleridge and Dorothy started talking to each other. They began taking walks around the woods. Coleridge started to fall in love with Dorothy's intellectual side and Dorothy called Coleridge her pivot of life and her beloved. He enjoyed having Dorothy around so he divorced his wife and married her. Dorothy was his encouragement. He started to write everyday because of her. Then crushed by words of criticism, Coleridge stopped writing. The poet inside of him died at twenty-six. Coleridge became a lecturer and a journalist. He never broke his opium habit. He consulted a doctor who began to reduce and monitor his doses of opium. Coleridge writing style was very eccentric. His themes revolved around water, dark and eerie animals. He went on to write infamous poems like "Kubla Khan' and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Samuel Taylor Coleridge died in 1834 of a heart attack.