Question

Coleridge’s disagreement with Wordsworth centered on:

• A. The choice of subject matter
• B. The role of imagination in poetry
• C. The use of everyday language in poetry
• D. All of the above

Answer 1

Answer:

D. All of the above

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth disagreed on the nature of poetry, the role of imagination, and the purpose of poetry. Coleridge criticized Wordsworth's theories in his work Biographia Literaria. 

Nature of poetry

• Wordsworth

  Believed that poetry should use common language from everyday life and that nature was the source of poetry 

• Coleridge

  Believed that poetry should be ideal and avoid accident, and that the best language comes from educated reflection 

Role of imagination

• Wordsworth

  Believed that poets should project themselves into the lives of their characters to show genuine emotion 

• Coleridge

  Believed that poetry should focus on the ordinary in the extraordinary, exploring how the mind functions in exceptional circumstances 

Purpose of poetry 

• Wordsworth: Believed that poetry should have an ennobling moral purpose

• Coleridge: Believed that poetry should provide immediate pleasure

Coleridge and Wordsworth's partnership was influential for English Romantic poetry. Their work Lyrical Ballads (1798) embodies the intellectual impulses of the Romantic period.