Samuel Coleridge Flashcards
This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison (Author, Genre, Meter, Published)
Coleridge, Conversation Poem, iambic pentameter, 1800
Who is Coleridge talking to in “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison”?
Charles Lamb, his friend
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Author, Genre, Meter, Published)
Coleridge, lyrical ballad, alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter, 1798
Kubla Khan (Author, Genre, Meter, Published)
Coleridge, a vision/ lyric fragment, iambic tetrameter, 1816
A Frost at Midnight (Author, Genre, Meter, Published)
Coleridge, Conversation Poem, blank verse, 1798
Who is Coleridge talking to in “Frost at Midnight”? and summarize
his baby /In this conversation poem, Coleridge is the speaker and the silent listener is his infant son, Hartley Coleridge. The setting of the poem is late at night, when Coleridge is the only one awake in the household. Coleridge sits next to his son’s cradle and reflects on the frost falling outside his home. He takes this instance of solitude to allow his reflections to expand to his love of nature.
Coleridge describes to his son how his love of nature dates back to his boyhood. During school, Coleridge would gaze out the schoolhouse windows and admire the frost falling outside and would daydream about leaving the city and returning to his rural birthplace. Coleridge tells his son that he is delighted that his son will have more opportunities to observe the beauty of nature and will not be “reared/ In the great city, pent ‘mid cloisters dim” as Coleridge himself was. Coleridge then wishes that “all seasons shall be sweet” to his son and that his son will learn to appreciate all aspects of nature.
What makes the speaker happy when looking at his baby?
He enjoys the thought that although he himself was raised in the “great city, pent ’mid cloisters dim,” his child will wander in the rural countryside, by lakes and shores and mountains, and his spirit shall be molded by God, who will “by giving make it [the child] ask.”
What Romantic themes does “Frost at Midnight” address?
the effect of nature on the imagination (nature is the Teacher that “by giving” to the child’s spirit also makes it “ask”); the relationship between children and the natural world (“thou, my babe! shall wander like a breeze…”); the contrast between this liberating country setting and city (“I was reared / In the great city, pent ’mid cloisters dim”); and the relationship between adulthood and childhood as they are linked in adult memory.
A Dejection: an Ode (Author, Genre, Meter, Published)
Coleridge, irregular ode, iambic lines ranging in length from trimeter to pentameter, 1802
Who did Coleridge write “A Dejection: an Ode” in response to
Wordsworth and his “Ode: Intimations of immortality”
Summarize “Dejection: an Ode”
The preface to the poem is an excerpt concerning the Moon’s ominous foreshadowing of a deadly storm in the “Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence.” Coleridge remarks that if the Bard is accurate about the weather, then this currently tranquil night will soon turn into a storm; Coleridge sees the new moon holding the old moon in her lap, an identical scene to the moon image in the prologue. He wishes for a storm to occur, because he needs something to stir his emotions and “startle this dull pain.”
Coleridge’s invocation of “Lady” suggests that his pain is the result of a broken heart and signals that this poem is a conversation with this Lady (who represents Sara Hutchinson). In his grief, Coleridge says that he has been endlessly gazing at the skies and the stars. He claims that he is so overwhelmed with sadness that he can only see and can no longer feel or internalize the beauty of nature.
Coleridge doubts that anything can “lift the smothering weight from off my breast.” He admits that gazing at the beauty of the skies is a vain and futile effort to ease his pain. He realizes that “outward forms” will not relieve him of his inner pain and that only he has the power to change his emotional state.
Coleridge once again addresses his Lady, telling her that although some things are inevitable in life and controlled by nature, a person must still be an active agent in creating his or her own happiness.
Coleridge reflects on a time when joy was able to surmount his distress. During that time, he was able to take advantage of the hope (that was not his own internal hope) that surrounded him in nature. However, the distress he feels now is much more dominating. He no longer even cares that all his happiness is gone. However, he does lament how each small “visitation” of sadness robs him of his power of Imagination. Since Coleridge cannot feel any emotion other than sadness, his imagination would have at least allowed him to “steal” the happiness that surrounded him in nature and thus pretend that he possesses joy
.Coleridge now turns his attention to the tumultuous weather. Within this raging storm, he is able to hear the less frightful sounds of a child looking for her mother.
Although it is now midnight, Coleridge has no intention of going to sleep. However, he wishes for “Sleep” to visit his Lady and to use its healing powers to lift the Lady’s spirits and bring her joy. Coleridge concludes the poem by wishing the Lady eternal joy.
To William Wordsworth (Author, Genre, Meter, Published)
Coleridge, conversation poem, trochaic pentameter?, 1817
What was “To William Wordsworth” in response to?
It was a response to William Wordsworth’s reading of The Prelude.
What themes does “To William Wordsworth” address?
To William Wordsworth summarises the themes within The Prelude and deal with Wordsworth’s understanding of his mind and its relationship with nature. As such, Coleridge favours Wordsworth’s own views and contradicts feelings found within his own poetry, especially in Dejection.
The poem serves to contrast Coleridge and Wordsworth. In particular, the poem expresses Coleridge’s feelings about his own mind and poetic career. He discuses how he hoped to become great when younger and then how he believes that his ability to write poetry has vanished. Coleridge would have struggled to write To William Wordsworth while Wordsworth did not have such experiences. The praise of Wordsworth also contradicted many of Coleridge’s personal feelings at the time, which included jealousy. The poem’s emphasis on Wordsworth’s greatness is without any jealousy while attacking Coleridge’s self in a personal and unhealthy manner.
