Biographia Literaria by Samuel T. Coleridge

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.