Shakespeare's Judgment equal to his Genius.

     The essay is a tribute to Shakespeare who possesses all the qualities and conditions of a true poet. Coleridge tries to unveil some misconceptions popular about Shakespeare by formulating some romantic conceptions. He is a genius who well expressed himself in his dramas and poems. The ideas that he was immoral are totally groundless. The organic form he exposes is true to his genius for it is innate that shapes, as it develops, itself from within, and the fullness of its devolvement is one and the some with the perfection of its outward form. Shakespeare himself is nature methodized.

To be agreeable, objects should be
a) Corresponding to our nature.
b) Pleasing to our senses.
c) Satisfying our habit.

Beautiful is agreeable but not all agreeable is beautiful.

On The Principles of Genial Criticism
     The essay displays the influence of Kant's Critique of Judgment in it's attempt to distinguish the “beautiful " from the "agreeable" on the one hand and “good” from “beautiful” on the other hand. The discussion recalls Kant's treatment of the beautiful and his idea of purposiveness without purpose.

     Agreeable refers to match object with sense. Habit, culture, and prenotion condition Agreeabe. It varies from person to person: but beauty is universal. Agreeable is not necessarily pleasurable, it is sometimes determined by compulsion too. The object that pleases our senses is agreeable. Coleridge uses the world “agreeable” in two senses; the first is that we agree with nature that is derived from our primary senses. In the sentence ‘the tree is green’, our primary senses press is on the greenness of the tree which is naturally agreeable to the eye. The word 'green' express the pre-established harmony between the organs and their appointed objects. The second sense regarding agreeable conveys the idea that someone or something which is pleasing, becomes agreeable by recalling it to our mind. In this sense, the particular thing, which is agreeable or not, depends up on the pleasure and advantages. Coleridge says that something that is useful is good. It is determined by utilitarian aspect. So, good is guided by intellect or reason and will. It is associated with certain value. The pleasure provided by the ‘good’ is an intellectual pleasure. Reason is in operation in the Good. In Good there is the desire and an act of will on the side of the perceiver. The ‘Good’ provokes the intellectual power in us. The will leads us to action and action to rationality. The moment we intellectualize we derive abstraction.

     Beauty is multeity in unity. Beauty depends on secondary imagination. Beautiful art is organic not mechanical. Organic art has the relationship between parts and whole. Every part has the relation with another part and all. For example- all the parts of a wheel have relation with center of the wheel that is organic whole. State of beauty is the state of disinterestedness that has no any social purpose but it has aesthetic purpose. To enjoy beautiful, we have to exercise mentally. There is no act of will, no reason, no interest in beauty. Common things become uncommon in “beautiful”. Beautiful does not serve utilitarian purpose, which can be recognized by disinterested contemplation. Beauty can transcend the world of reason value and sense.

Agreeable------ Senscious
Good----------- Intellectual
Beautiful------- Contemplative

The State man’s Manual

     Here, Coleridge makes the distinction between allegory and symbol. Allegory is the literary element, which represents abstract notion with the help of concrete thing. It is nothing in itself; it is rather abstraction of sensuous object. Allegory, on the other side is a kind of phantom. In fact, it does not lead us to divinity. It tries to give form to abstract ideas but can't succeed.

     Symbol is transparent and particular but represents the general. It moves from particular to general. It moves from particular to general and vice- versa. It transcends spatial and temporal boundary to lead us to the world of reality and divinity. Reality is unintelligible but symbols make it comprehensible. It leads us to organic whole and beauty. So, symbol has higher value than allegory. Symbol works as correspondent between abstract idea and concrete world.

Biographia Literaria

     This essay is the adaptation from Shelling's ideas expressed in his 'System of Transcendental Idealism'. It is connected with his famous definition of imagination and fancy. He defines imagination, divides it in to two and creates distinction between fancy and imagination. Fancy is a mechanical process, which receives the elementary images and without altering the parts reassembles them in to a different spatial and temporal order. Fancy creates humorous kind of poetry. It follows the laws and association and is related to memory. But imagination is a creative force that dissolves, diffuses and dissipates the things in order to recreate. Imagination, thus, produces higher, more serious and more passionate poetry.

     Imagination is divided as primary and secondary. Primary imagination enables mind to see unity, it is unconscious act or part of mind. Secondary imagination is more active, more conscious and is a deeper human consciousness. Everybody possesses primary imagination. It brings infinite things to finite and order in chaos. Primary imagination also has organic power that provides raw materials to secondary imagination. However, it does not produce completely new thing. It is like physical change like that of changing of water in to ice. But secondary imagination is like chemical change that creates completely new things. Such imagination is only with poets and creative artists. It is poetic faculty that harmonizes jumbled experience or raw materials provided by primary imagination. The poetry is the poetic genius, which suspends and modifies images and thoughts and the art is beautiful produced buy secondary imagination. The objects and ideas that are raw in primary imagination get maturity with the functioning of secondary imagination. We see newness in the things; beyond what they appear. All human being posses these two qualities but distinction lies in expression. So, everyone can't be a poet or philosopher.

     Coleridge explains that a poem cannot be a poem by only the proper arrangement of alliteration, rhyme and meter. Poem is distinguished from prose because prose and drama lack organic whole, rhyme and meter. A poem should impart immediate pleasure and moral purpose. Pleasure is the inherent quality of a poem. Poem also differs from poetry. Poem is the physical manifestation, mechanical superficial and externalized form of poetry. But poetry is the psychological process of poet's mind; it is underlying structure and the outcome of poetic genius. To understand poetry is to understand the poet, who has poetic genius, which modifies certain images, thoughts and emotion. The poet can see the universal soul or divinity such process is called poetry. Whatever the secondary imagination does inside the poet's mind, it is a poetic process and is called poetry.