ABSTRACT
A theory of poetry is likewise a theory of reality, a psychology, and an ethics - and its perspective may even be transferred to an account of historical or economic trends, if the times are such that one asks for the transference. Expertly translating passages from Coleridge into terms that more easily reveal their relevance to the present, he enables people to glimpse the ways in which a poet's myths may be of the utmost importance to mankind in the most pragmatic sense conceivable: by providing the framework through which their minds may be organized and ordered. Coleridge saw that true judgement or Common Sense is poetic. Richards' great linguistic sophistication enables him to show people the bearing of many a statement which they might otherwise tend to reject as too inspirational for critical usage. Coleridge on Imagination is a very important book, fertile in suggestions.
