Coleridge

Samuel Coleridge enjoyed making his writes as outlandish and opium induced as humanly possible. If you ignore this fact and attempt to interpret some of his works without it, many people would find themselves confused and disorientated. His poems more closely resemble stories, albeit mostly pointless ones. He wants to get his readers up out of their seats and take them for a ride; he wants them to take a break from reality and just have a little fun. This is why some confuse the obscurely deep and meaningful for opium induced deliriums.
  Coleridge wants to take us on a journey, a journey that probably closely resembles his most recent opium induced hallucination. In order to achieve this effect without the use of drugs of any kind Coleridge used some different tactics. He used vivid imagery to describe where he thought he was. A prime example of this is found in “Kubla Khan”,
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground with walls and towers were girdled round and there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, where blossomed many incense bearing tree; and here were forests ancient as the hills, enfolding sunny spots of greenery. (Kubla Khan, 3-11).
This type of imagery makes the reader feel like they are there right in the middle of this pleasure palace.
This kind of imagery is also used to create feelings of excitement and adventure, probably pre-laudanum dosage. This is seen in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, The entire story is full of gripping action packed lines that leave the reader on the edge of their seat. This is the kind of writing that makes for a good, albeit creepy, bedtime story. It is full of wild adventure and tall tales. This poem, as well as “Kubla Khan”, puts you in the character’s shoes. Coleridge makes you think about what it would be like to be in the situation characterized in his poem. In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, The reader has to...