ABSTRACT
The Biographia's dual design solved problems peculiar to this text: the logical incompleteness and apparent pantheism of the theory of imagination. The design solved a more general problem as well: it makes the reader think about fundamental philosophic issues in part by relating them to a contemporary controversy. Socinianism seems to fall from view, just as poetic diction disappears as an issue. underlying issues. Unlike more prudent authors, Coleridge refuses to choose between writing a sophisticated but practical analysis of Priestley, and writing a wholly philosophical and theoretical treatise on faith. The aphoristic style of Aids to Reflection meets Coleridge's needs even better than the serial essay, by cueing the reader even more clearly to seek interrelations on his own: it is Coleridge's most successful, most sophisticated use of a dual design.
