Biographia literaria vs Essays: Which Should You Read?

Biographia literaria Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1817 442 pages · ≈ 8 h 11 m · Demanding

“IT has been my lot to have had my name introduced, both in conversation and in print, more frequently than I find it easy to explain, whether I consider the fewness, unimportance, and limited circulation of my writings, or the retirement and distance in which I have lived, both from the literary and political world.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1817 work Biographia Literaria is an autobiography in discourse; loosely structured and non-linear, the work is meditative and contains numerous philosophical essays. Initially criticized as…

Essays Matthew Arnold · 1865 ★★★★☆ 3.9 380 pages · ≈ 7 h 02 m · Demanding

The Victorian English poet and essayist Matthew Arnold was the archetypal sage writer, noted for his classical attacks on the tastes and manners of his time. His poetry is characterised by its classically poised, serene…