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Towards the end of the third stanza, Coleridge’s thoughts return to Charles. Now having realised the beauty in his surroundings, Coleridge imagines a bird flying over Charles, symbolic of the bond between them both. Coleridge imagines “the mighty Orb’s dilated glory” and is assured of the Divine design in nature.
As in most of Coleridge’s poetry written during his time with the Wordsworths, “Frost at Midnight” is cyclical. The structure is defined and the themes linked by the imagination, as Coleridge travels through time. Composed entirely in a sophisticated stream of consciousness, Coleridge travels from the present back to an imaginary past, then back again to view the future through his child.
The wintry mystery of nature is captured through his imagination. The imagery in the first stanza is tactile and very visual.
“the thin blue flame
Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not;
Only that film, which fluttered on the grate,
Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing.”
Coleridge’s thoughts are freed by his imagination, his mediation is now in motion and his mind begins impulsive thoughts. We are taken back to his schooldays where Coleridge explores the innocence of childhood.
“Awed by the stern preceptor’s face, mine eye
Fixed with mock study on my swimming book:”
Coleridge imagines his past in the school house, he cannot focus and would rather be somewhere else. As with the ‘Lime-Tree Bower,’ such an environment cannot match the power of the human imagination.
Coleridge returns to the present where he comforts himself, promising that his child will not have the same experiences. He espouses Pantheism, hoping his teachings will keep his son optimistic in life. Now settled, Coleridge imagines an image of tranquillity and again expressing the unity of Man, nature and God, he returns to the beginning.
“Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang about them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.”
In “The Eolian Harp” Coleridge’s imagination is the key. Coleridge allows his imagination to journey through the physical plane, his thoughts expand from the immediate and go out to explore the landscape. Coleridge combines rich visuals and scents to evoke an overwhelming sense of place and establish a sensual mood. In exploring his ‘love’ for his wife Sara, Coleridge imagines himself as a harp, played by the wind. The world takes on this persona, played by the hands of God himself. Coleridge is exploring the incomprehensibility of God.
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Jarra McGrath
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