Coleridge’s Excursion into His Past in “Frost at Midnight”: Writing as Consolation for Memory

Abstract

Samuel Coleridge Coleridge wrote several principal conversation poems such as “The Eolian Harp,” “This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison,” “Frost at Midnight,” and “The Nightingale.” “Frost at Midnight” is the linguistic product of his creative mind using memory to interact with the surrounding world. In the poem, his imaginative mind is never static but moves through memories to shape his identity and pursue his ideal self. The poem begins with the speaker in a state of meditation, having constant interaction with nature. To write a poem becomes an act of consolation, a communicative tool through which the poet manages to express his feelings toward the internal and external landscape. This essay aims to show how Coleridge’s writing—this conversation poem—plays an important role in consoling his childhood memory and creating his idealized self through self-reflection.