Coleridge & Imagination

Large amount amount of reading particularly in imaginative literature gave Samuel Taylor the potential to write in imaginative way. Although he might not read it on purpose to write in this way, he must had subconscientiously immersed in this unrealistic world. His troubles during mid-life by the violence about idealism of the Revolution added on to this condition that he might think of himself as special as a living in a half-imaginative society when many new ideas were held and revolution was taking place. Living during French Revolution, he must have experienced day when things were constantly changing, including politics, economics, and daily life. His pains and suffering during late life might also play a role in his imaginative writing. Because a person sick may not do much things but lying on bed resting, he might have more time thinking and contracting things. Coleridge, in the same case, had more time thinking. Also the drug, opium, he took to relieve pain had effect on neurons and his brain, therefore cause him to have hallucination. In his work, Kubla Khan, he claimed that he had an envision of the Mongol conquerer in an opium-induced reverie. He wrote "ice caves" that made him "drunk in the mild of Paradise." Overall, Coleridge's experiences, especially illness in his late life, have strengthened his imagination.