How did Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s childhood reading influence his imagination?

As a child, Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a prodigious reader who immersed himself in romances and Eastern tales, such as The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, to the point of morbid fascination. This early habit of voracious reading continued throughout his schooling and university years, where he focused heavily on works of imagination and visionary philosophy.1

Coleridge famously characterized his own intellectual appetite as that of a "library-cormorant," a term referencing a bird associated with gluttony and greed, illustrating the intensity with which he consumed literature. This lifelong dedication to reading served as a foundational influence on his creative development, shaping the imaginative depth that would later define his contributions to the English Romantic movement.1