ABSTRACT
Coleridge's claim that there were principles involved in poetic composition was orthodox enough. Critical theory usually lags behind philosophy. He devotes a large part of his literary criticism to describing the mental processes involved and to distinguishing them on the one hand from those based on the relation of Law, and on the other from those based on the relation of Theory. Method based on relations of Theory is, by contrast, a progression unified by an initiative drawn from the observation of nature. In the mind of God, according to Coleridge, the two are reconciled; similarly, if to a lesser degree, the two are reconciled in the activity of the poet. The reconciliation is a ticklish point, for although the poet's Method partakes of both the relation of Law and the relation of Theory, the role played by each determines the kind and validity of the poetry.
