Biographia Literaria‘ was begun by Coleridge as a literary autobiography but ended up in discussions about
Kant, and Schelling and Coleridge’s perceptive criticism of Wordsworth’s poetry and a comprehensive
statement on creative imagination which constitutes his most signal contribution to literary criticism and
theory. Arthur Symons justly described the work as ‗the greatest book of English criticism’. Coleridge’s
whole aesthetic – his definition of poetry, his idea of the poet, and his poetical criticism – revolve around his
theory of creative imagination.
Coleridge builds his theory on the basic distinction between Fancy and Imagination – terms which were used
before him more-or-less indistinguishably to express the same import. Central to the narrative is concern
about the reconciliation between head and the heart, concern with this reconciliation, in general, moves
everything towards a discussion of the imagination; and in spite of its disappointing brevity, Chapter – XIII
offers central insights into imagination, which is principle of growth and creativity.
The Chapter XIII of ‗Biographia Literaria‘ deals with the distinction between the primary and secondary
imagination, and it has been described by the critic George Watson as ―the Waterloo of English Aesthetics‖.
The charge is obvious. The two concepts ―Fancy‖ and ―Imagination‖ have been developed in an incomplete
or sketchy manner. This is because those concepts cover the area of philosophy and metaphysics.
Imagination in its real sense denotes the working of poetic minds upon external objects or objects visible to
the eyes. Imaginative process sometimes adds additional properties to an object or sometimes abstracts from
it some of its properties. Therefore, imagination thus transforms the object into something new. It modifies
and even creates new objects. According to Coleridge, imagination has two types: Primary and Secondary
According to him the primary imagination is ―the living power and prime agent of all human perception‖.
Primary is perceiving the impressions of the outer world through the senses. It is a spontaneous act of the
human mind, the image so formed of the outside world unconsciously and involuntarily. It is universal and
is possessed by all. According to him the secondary imagination is the poetic vision, the faculty that a poet
has ―to idealize and unify‖. It is an echo of the former, co-existing with the conscious will. It works upon the
raw materials that are sensations and impressions supplied the primary imagination. It is the secondary
imagination which makes any artistic creation possible and root of all poetic activity. It is considered as
shaping and modifying power.
Coleridge regards fancy to be the inferior to imagination. It is according to him a creative power. It only
combines different things into different shapes, not like imagination to fuse them into one. According to
him, it is the process of ―bringing together images dissimilar in the main, by source‖. It has no other
counters to play with, but fixities and definites. Fancy, in Coleridge‘s eyes was employed for tasks that were
―passive‖ and ―mechanical‖.
Coleridge owned his interest in study of theory of imagination. He is the first critic to study the nature of
imagination and examine its role in creative activity. While most of the critics use Fancy and imagination
almost as synonyms, Coleridge is the first critic to distinguish between them and define their respective
roles. He distinguishes between primary and secondary imagination. Coleridge‘s treatment of the subject is
characterized by greater depth, penetration and philosophical subtlety. The critics W. K. Wimsatt and
Cleanth Brooks summarize up this argument in a very logical order: ―Imagination, according to this writer,
for Coleridge reconciled sameness with difference, the general with concrete, idea with image, the
representative with individual order with emotion. The purpose of Imagination is to bring about a synthesis
between art and nature‖.
- Aristotle‟s concept of Plot