those that influenced him in a letter to John Thelwall written on 17 December 1796, "But do not let us introduce an act of Uniformity against Poets — I have room enough in my brain to admire, aye & almost equally, the head and fancy of Akenside, and the heart and fancy of Bowles, the solemn Lordliness of Milton, & the divine chit chat of Cowper." It was also in 1794 when Coleridge began to emphasize nature in his works and transitioned into a Romantic poet. During the summer of that year, he worked closely with Southey and co-wrote the political drama The Fall of Robespierre, but it was not a success and lacked merit. However, his poetry took off after reading Schiller's play, Robbers, and composing a sonnet in response dedicated to Schiller during December near the time that he composed his sonnet to Bowles. The Bowles poem was included in the "Sonnets on Eminent Characters" series along with poems dedicated to Edmund Burke, Thomas Erskine, Godwin, Southey, Kosciusko, Pitt, Joseph Priestley, and Sheridan. Coleridge spent much of his time working on pamphlets and lecturing, especially on topics of political reform. He spoke often on liberal ideas and condemned practices such as slavery and movement within the British Parliament to expand sedition laws. When he spoke on religion, he emphasized Unitarianism and how it was a middle ground between the problems of Anglicanism and the problems of atheism. His religio-political views were influenced by the images found in the works of Spenser, Milton, and Bunyan, and his ideas were similar to those expounded by Priestley and David Harley. He especially disapproved notions of the Trinity and of Christian mysteries early on and instead substituted redemption without need for dogma. By 1805, he would change his views and become more Orthodox. Notes References Ashton, Rosemary. The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. Ed Katharine Lee Bates. Shewell, & Sanborn, 1889. Holmes, Richard. Coleridge. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Morley, Henry. Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christobel, &c. New York: Routledge, 1884. Radley, Virginia L. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1966. Samuel Taylor Coleridge Early lives by writer