Coleridge: Critic of Shakespeare

Coleridge's theories, insights and practical criticism underlie nearly all subsequent criticism in English. It was not only that he turned decisively away from eighteenth century views (clearly and usefully surveyed in the first chapter). His powerfully general theories of the imagination and of poetic language and structure provided permanent insights. He saw the plays as organic structures of poetic effects, the product of conscious artistry. These served Shakespeare's deep human insight, both psychological and moral. Dr Badawi provides a lucid analysis of the elements of Coleridge's criticism of Shakespeare, demonstrating the relationship with his criticism generally, and bringing out its originality, its validity and its influence on our concepts of poetic language, dramatic form and our response to the whole medium.