Who is Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Plato from The Botany of Desire and what is their importance?

Both men indicated are examples within the text of notoriously creative individuals thought to have routinely used psychoactive drugs. The text suggests that much of their creativity stemmed from such drug use—an unfortunate supposition that minimizes both men's astounding achievements. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834) was an English poet and philosopher, who was one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England. His literary work is considered canonical. The text provides virtually no biographic data for Coleridge but, in Chapter 3, argues that his inspiration was undoubtedly due to psychoactive drug use.