Hence that fantastic wantonness of woe,
O Youth to partial Fortune vainly dear!
To plunder'd Want's half-shelter'd hovel go,
Go, and some hunger-bitten infant hear
Moan haply in a dying mother's ear:
Or when the cold and dismal fog-damps brood
O'er the rank church-yard with sear elm-leaves strew'd,
Pace round some widow's grave, whose dearer part
Was slaughter'd, where o'er his uncoffin'd limbs
The flocking flesh-birds scream'd! Then, while thy heart
Groans, and thine eye a fiercer sorrow dims,
Know (and the truth shall kindle thy young mind)
What Nature makes thee mourn, she bids thee heal!
O abject! if, to sickly dreams resign'd,
All effortless thou leave Life's commonweal
A prey to Tyrants, Murderers of Mankind.
O Youth to partial Fortune vainly dear!
To plunder'd Want's half-shelter'd hovel go,
Go, and some hunger-bitten infant hear
Moan haply in a dying mother's ear:
Or when the cold and dismal fog-damps brood
O'er the rank church-yard with sear elm-leaves strew'd,
Pace round some widow's grave, whose dearer part
Was slaughter'd, where o'er his uncoffin'd limbs
The flocking flesh-birds scream'd! Then, while thy heart
Groans, and thine eye a fiercer sorrow dims,
Know (and the truth shall kindle thy young mind)
What Nature makes thee mourn, she bids thee heal!
O abject! if, to sickly dreams resign'd,
All effortless thou leave Life's commonweal
A prey to Tyrants, Murderers of Mankind.
This poem by Coleridge has an interesting difference from the normal poems. It doesn't follow the appreciation of nature that most of his do, nor does it contain the want to pass the appreciation to someone else. At first glance this seems to just be Coleridge shouting insults at someone who seems to not appreciate the wealth that he has gained, nor the way that he lives. He decides that this person is basically running around shouting insults to those who are far less fortunate than he is. However we can see Coleridge's character shows a bit of loss for the young man, and the ideas that we had looked at in many others of his poems. the longing in nature, particularly in wanting more notice from it. as well as the attempts to past it on to another person in this case with the young man. this links it all back into a single idea, which is played through in all of Coleridge poems. The lost beauty of Nature, the longing it leaves, and the want to pass it to the next generation. all easily in place in this poem.
I agree with you on the part that Coleridge does not bring in actual nature, but it seems to me that it is more of human nature. Sorrow seems to be a part of the entire poem, but to me I get the sense that the speaker wants the reader to feel sorrowful for the speaker. It is the "I feel sorry for myself and I must make everyone else feel the same way". Then at the last two lines it threw me off because it sounds like he is mourning for that young man that could possibly be a soldier. Since as a soldier they can make their best efforts to help or stop the war, but all the get in return is killed. They are the prey of the higher powers to use them as chess pieces. It is those people in power that are the murderers of mankind because they just want more power and use others to gather that power for them.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.... I would have sworn I left a comment last week, but maybe I forgot to post it. In any case, I like your idea of the speaker seems to be shouting insults in this poem. And there's no real resolution or much hope at the end.
ReplyDeleteBased on other works that I have read by Coleridge such as the Rime of the Ancient Mariner that have a similar dark and foreboding tone, I would have to agree that while this piece is not explicitly about nature, its subject could be considered natural in the sense that Coleridge is commenting on the human condition. I see how you could argue that this "young man" is a dead soldier, however I'm more inclined to believe that the speaker is addressing someone who is still alive, warning him about the dangers that lie ahead of him in this life that he's chosen to pursue.
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