Biography details of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Born in 1772 the son of a Devonshire clergyman, Coleridge attended Christ's Hospital school before going to Cambridge in 1791. He attended Cambridge for four years before leaving without receiving a degree. In 1797 he become friends with William Wordsworth. In 1798 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, one of the most famous of all poems, was first published in a joint book of poems with William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, their intention was to illustrate Wordsworth's ideas of how poems should be written in the simple language of the people. The words 'Water, water, everywhere' from the Ancient Mariner are now known by most people. This famous book 'Lyrical Ballads' was published by Cottles a Bristol bookseller who patronised Coleridge and Southey when no one else would pay them for their early work.

Cottle sold all his copyrights to Longmans and the copyrights to 'Lyrical Ballads' was given back to Wordsworth as valueless...
After a brief interlude Coleridge and his friend William Wordsworth travelled to Germany where he studied philosophy at Gottingen University and learnt the German language. After their return to England in 1799 he became addicted to opium which he had started to take as a medication. In 1816 in an attempt to end his opium addiction Coleridge took lodgings with a Doctor. In 1817 he republished his early poems and "Biographia Literaria" which is still revered as a useful source of information on the English romantic movement.