In the Romantic Period, poets like Wordsworth, Blake, and Coleridge countered the accepted reality of order and logistics. Romantics believed in a world beyond what the five senses could comprehend. They utilized and expanded on the definition of imagination to encompass the human faculty that enables us to see a full reality and escape self-consciousness. Imagination surpasses reality, and invites a spirit, or God to influence perspective. Thus, it can change how a person views a moment. In “This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison” Coleridge presents isolation and its progression in the mind, as his friends leave him behind on a nature walk. According to the poem, the mind creates isolation; it does not just exist. Because of slanted perspectives
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At first, these visions are filled with jealousy and contempt, as shown by the color imagery of the “dark green file” (16). Green, symbolic of envy, reveals his attitude toward his friends’ adventure. Additionally, the sunlight acts as a motif throughout the poem, symbolizing Coleridge’s mood. As he imagines the dell as “only speckled by the mid-day sun,” it shows that little light or happiness are in Coleridge’s mind (11). He is deprived of his desire to see the “roaring dell of which [he] told” with his friends, so his emotions taint his image of nature (9). His feeling of isolation darkens his imagination and view of the world. Everything he thinks about has a dark tint like the “unsunn’d and damp” ash, representing his negative state of mind (14). Yet, as he further imagines his friends’ paths, the mood shifts to …show more content…
Through his imagination, he recognizes a spirit within the earth that makes it “seem less gross than bodily” (41). The earth has a soul, like a person does, and God is the power of the soul. With this realization, he experiences an unrestrained moment of connection to God, a sensation “silent with swimming sense” (39). The experience was more than his physical being could perceive, and he felt a flood of joy and appreciation for nature. Coleridge’s imagination takes his mind from a state of isolation to basking in Godliness. Although he could not maintain that powerful connection, he returns enlightened as “a delight comes sudden on [his] heart” (44-45). After this transcendence, his mind becomes more open, and he realizes the beauty of the lime-tree bower that he did “not mark” earlier (47). As he describes his new perception of the bower, light imagery shows the impact of his imagination. The “sunny leaf,” “sunshine,” and “lighter hue” demonstrate his brightened mood toward his situation. Through an imaginative connection with God, Coleridge experiences a transformation into a more positive state of mind that enables him to view the world
At first, these visions are filled with jealousy and contempt, as shown by the color imagery of the “dark green file” (16). Green, symbolic of envy, reveals his attitude toward his friends’ adventure. Additionally, the sunlight acts as a motif throughout the poem, symbolizing Coleridge’s mood. As he imagines the dell as “only speckled by the mid-day sun,” it shows that little light or happiness are in Coleridge’s mind (11). He is deprived of his desire to see the “roaring dell of which [he] told” with his friends, so his emotions taint his image of nature (9). His feeling of isolation darkens his imagination and view of the world. Everything he thinks about has a dark tint like the “unsunn’d and damp” ash, representing his negative state of mind (14). Yet, as he further imagines his friends’ paths, the mood shifts to …show more content…
Through his imagination, he recognizes a spirit within the earth that makes it “seem less gross than bodily” (41). The earth has a soul, like a person does, and God is the power of the soul. With this realization, he experiences an unrestrained moment of connection to God, a sensation “silent with swimming sense” (39). The experience was more than his physical being could perceive, and he felt a flood of joy and appreciation for nature. Coleridge’s imagination takes his mind from a state of isolation to basking in Godliness. Although he could not maintain that powerful connection, he returns enlightened as “a delight comes sudden on [his] heart” (44-45). After this transcendence, his mind becomes more open, and he realizes the beauty of the lime-tree bower that he did “not mark” earlier (47). As he describes his new perception of the bower, light imagery shows the impact of his imagination. The “sunny leaf,” “sunshine,” and “lighter hue” demonstrate his brightened mood toward his situation. Through an imaginative connection with God, Coleridge experiences a transformation into a more positive state of mind that enables him to view the world