Biographia Literaria

Part memoir, part philosophy, part the best literary criticism ever written by a poet, Biographia Literaria is Coleridge's sprawling account of how his mind was made. He recalls his schooldays and his intoxication with early Wordsworth, settles scores with reviewers, wrestles German philosophy into English, and along the way drops ideas that criticism still lives on, the famous 'willing suspension of disbelief,' and the celebrated distinction between fancy and imagination.

The heart of the book is its final movement, where Coleridge turns to his friend and collaborator Wordsworth and does something almost unheard of: he explains, with precision and love, exactly where the greatest poet of the age succeeds and exactly where he fails. Nobody would call this an easy book, but as a listen it has a peculiar charm. Coleridge was legendary as a talker, and this is the closest thing we have to a transcript of that dazzling, digressive voice going wherever it pleases.

At roughly 143,300 words, Biographia Literaria runs about 16 hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

Biographia Literaria is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “Biographia Literaria” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.