“The Imagination of Nature, Through it the Tells of Life”

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Recommended: the analysis of the poem this lime-tree bower my prison by samuel taylor coleridge

In his poem This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison, Samuel Taylor Coleridge explicates how humans can always find beauty near themselves, even in the least futile of places. Coleridge, a man of twenty five years at the time he wrote this poem, added This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison to his collection of The Conversation Poems (Hill). In the summer of 1797, when he wrote this, he addressed the poem to a friend of his, Charles Lamb, the essayist, and while they departed, Coleridge wrote him this poem in the garden, for he had been hindered from walking by a misfortunate accident earlier in the day. This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison contains three stanzas which hold seventy eight lines.

Coleridge uses a simple conversation to start his poem, one without defamiliarization, “Well, they are all gone, and here must I remain, This lime-tree bower my prison!” (Coleridge). The simple introduction to the first stanza produces a perturbed tone towards his poem. He seems frustrated at the fact that he is unable to travel with his cohorts, as if he is literally locked in a prison. His short stab at the setting tells us of the bower, “a shelter (as in garden) made with tree boughs or vines twined together” (Merriam-Webster 3), consisting of lime trees. He reverses the meaning of bower as being easeful to a confinement, using “prison” (Coleridge) as his metaphor to his feeling of restraint. The hyperbole of a beautiful garden becoming a prison, the speaker wants for his audience to have pity towards him. He is feeling sorry for himself, becoming submissive to his feelings throughout the rest of the poem.

In the following lines, Coleridge sees himself as becoming blind as he gets older. He feels that because he did not go on the walk with his friends, he w...

... middle of paper ...

...tryfoundation.org/poem/173248>.

"Merriam-Webster." Bower. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2012. Web. 25 Feb 2012. .

Benzon, Bill. "Rhyme, Reason, and Information in Kubla's Bower." 02/06/2011. ARCADE, Online Posting to Meter in fleet cahoots with subject matter. Web. 25 Feb. 2012. .

New South Wales. Department of Education and Training. Area of Study: The Journey. 2004. Web. .

"Coleridge’s Imaginative Journey: This Lime Tree Bower, My Prison." Book Rags. BookRags, Inc., 2012. Web. 26 Feb 2012. .

"This Lime-tree Bower My Prison." Schmoop. Schmoop University, Inc., 2012. Web. 27 Feb 2012. .

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