From an Orientalist viewpoint, Coleridge and his poems were
shaped by the discursive web of the 18th century culture, and he was not
free from the worldliness of historical forces. However, it is not difficult
to see resistance towards dominant ideologies in his poems. One
example is Coleridge?s sentiment towards the systematicallymisrepresented
Islam and its prophet. Coleridge?s radical interpretation
of Islam in the 1790s made him feel the need, with Southey, for a model
of moral regeneration after observing European corruption and having
lost his radical interest in the millennial politics of the French
Revolution. The radical act of composing ?Mahomet? signifies
Coleridge?s endeavor to change the distorted image of Mahomet and
Islam that to him was the beginning of the Unitarian revolution and the
symbol of the revolutionary France. However, he perpetuates the
prejudice of Christianity?s superiority over Islam as a deviation of the
true religion introduced by Christ. Coleridge?s approach is imaginative
reconciliation of Christo-Islamic inspirations to offer his political
thoughts and avoid identification with English Unitarianism.