1772 born (Oct. 21) at Ottery St. Mary's, Devonshire.

1781 father dies.

1782-91 at Christ's Hospital (school). [See Lamb, "Christ's Hospital Five- and-Thirty years Ago."]

1789 reads Bowles's Sonnets.

1790-91 brother Luke and sister Ann die.

1791-94 at Cambridge.

1793 in love with Mary Evans; enlists in the 15th Dragoons.

1794 returns to Cambridge; meets Southey. Engaged to Sara Fricker. Meets Godwin. STC and Southey plan a "Pantisocracy."

1795 meets Wordsworth. Marries Sara Fricker.

1796 Poems on Various Subjects. Son Hartley born. Coleridge moves to Nether Stowey. First takes opium.

1796-97 preaching at various Unitarian chapels.

1797 with Wordsworth at Nether Stowey. Begins The Ancient Mariner.

1798 Lyrical Ballads, with Wordsworth. Wedgewoods give Coleridge £150 annuity. Visits Germany with Wordsworth. Writes "Kubla Khan."

1799 meets Sara Hutchinson. Tours the Lake district.

1799-1802 writes political leaders for Morning Post.

1801 health breaks down; opium again.

1802 "Dejection, an Ode." Daughter Sara born.

1803 tours Scotland with W. & Dorothy Wordsworth.

1804 in Malta and Sicily. Private secretary to Alex. Ball, High Commissioner at

Malta.

1805 appointed Acting Public Secretary in Malta.

1806 returns to England; D. Wordsworth "shocked" at his condition.

1808 separates from wife.

1809-10 The Friend.

1810 quarrel with Wordsworth. Heavily addicted to opium.

1811 Josiah Wedgewood withdraws half STC's annuity.

1811-12 Lectures on Shakespeare.

1812 reconciled to Wordsworth.

1812-13 lectures on Belles Lettres.

1814 in the care of Dr. Daniel for opium addiction. Lectures in Bristol. Turns from Unitarianism to Anglicanism.

1814-16 financial difficulties.

1816 settles at Highgate with Dr. James Gilman. Christabel and Kubla Khan.

1817 Biographia Literaria and Lay Sermons.

1819 more Lectures on Shakespeare.

1825 Aids to Reflection. Appointed Associate of the Royal Society of Literature, begins receiving £125 annuity.

1826-34 "Highgate Thursdays."

1828 continental tour with Wordsworth.

1830 Constitution of Church and State.

1834 dies July 25.


Incorporated in the Victorian Web July 2000