Biographia Literaria

Coleridge compares Wordsworth’s poetry to Shakespeare and gives examples of the discernibly Wordsworthian voice. Coleridge claims that were Wordsworth to adhere to his literary theory, “two thirds at least of the marked beauties of his poetry must be erased” (147). However, Coleridge claims that Wordsworth is more distinctive than any other contemporary writer and more capable of eliciting a “meditative mood” in his readers (148).

Having asserted in Chapter 18 that poetry is inexplicable in its totality, Coleridge now discusses critical journals. The Edinburgh Review is a good example, Coleridge claims. The critic must not mix literary criticism with “personal injury” (150), and The Edinburgh Review, though worthy, is guilty of substituting “assertion for argument” (151). Coleridge surmises that the reviewer wrote his critique before reading Wordsworth’s poems. Burlesque and travesty have a place in criticism. Coleridge jokes about two Frenchmen imagining that Michelangelo’s Moses was a cuckold. Finally, Coleridge defends the poem “The Excursion” against its critics.

Coleridge examines the defects of Wordsworth poetry. The first major defect of Wordsworth’s poetry is “the inconsistency of the style,” which Coleridge finds distracting (156). The second defect is pragmatism, since Coleridge prefers that poetry “mend the intrigues of fortune by more delightful conveyancers of probable fictions” (159).