...influential formulation for Romantic and post-Romantic poetry in Coleridge's paraphrase of Schlegel: The form is mechanic when on any given material we...shapes as it develops itself from within, and the fullness of its development is one and the same with the perfection of its outward form.15 The project...

...unity." In Shakespeare's Judgment Equal to his Genius, Coleridge opposes organic form to the mechanical: the form is mechanic, when on any given material we...necessarily arising out of the properties of the material. The organic form, on the other hand, is innate; it shapes, as it develops, itself from within, and...

...distinction in comments about Shakespeare between mere mimesis and inner vital shaping like that of nature: "The form is mechanic when on any given material we impress a pre-determined form .... The organic form, on the other hand, is innate; it shapes as it develops itself from within, and...

...connection, one need only quote Coleridge's most explicit and frequently cited statement of the principle: The form is mechanic when on any given material we...shapes as it develops itself from within, and the fullness of its development is one & the same with perfection of its outward Form. Such is the Life,...

...on form thoroughly complements the narrative of literary history laid out after him by Saintsbury: The form is mechanic when on any given material we...shapes as it develops itself from within, and the fullness of its development is one and the same with the perfection of its outward form. 22 The point...