This book comprises a freshly composed edition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1811–12 Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton and 1818–19 Lectures on Shakespeare. Coleridge is a foundational figure in Shakespeare criticism, and remains to this day one of the most incisive and best. The book provides a background context into Coleridge's lectures on Shakespeare, and looks into Coleridge's life and career, giving special attention to his position as a lecturer as well as the general content of his lectures. The book also explores Coleridge's relationships with August Wilhelm Schegel and William Hazlitt and their own scholarship on Shakespeare's oeuvre.