SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
1772-1834
Coleridge was born in Ottery St. Mary, in Devonshire England, and spent
his early years in the midst of a large family. His father, who was
vicar of the town and master of the grammar school, died when the son
was only nine years old. His character must, however, have impressed
Coleridge deeply, for he said, in after years: "The memory of my
father--my reverend, kind, learned, simple-hearted father--is a
religion to me." Soon after his father's death he left his happy home
in the country to enter a school it=n London, known as Christ's
Hospital. Charles Lamb, who was a schoolmate of his, has sketched the
life there in two well-known essays. In one of them, _Christ's
Hospital Fifty Years Ago_, he describes the summer holidays, so
delightful for himself with his family near, and so dreary for the
country boy with no friends in the city; and he pictures Coleridge as
forlorn and half-starved, declaring that in those days the food of the
"Blue-coat boys" was cruelly insufficient. From early childhood the
future poet had been passionately fond of reading, and an occurrence
which took place during his early years in London enabled him for a
time to gratify his taste.
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