Fears in Solitude: A Return to Nature

            In his poem “Fears in Solitude,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge glorifies and praises the natural beauty of English countryside to demonstrate his growing dissatisfaction with both the French Revolutionaries and the British people, demonstrating that the correct path would be one to nature rather than Revolution. He believes that mankind has failed in its revolutionary efforts and, therefore, it is necessary, now, to love and one’s homeland. This poem reflects Coleridge’s own change of beliefs; he was once an ardent supporter of the French revolution, a Jacobin, but has now lost his faith in the power of revolution. However, he doesn’t necessarily love the British people. He writes, “We have offended very grievously/ And have been tyrannous” (43-44). Coleridge rejects the tyranny and the slavery the British have condemned upon the African people; he rejects their destruction of freedom. This is likewise reflected in his use of nature. Nature represents the freedom and peacefulness that Coleridge strongly desires. What man has forgotten, intellect, religious devotion, and promise, nature has upheld, according to Coleridge. He opens and the ends the poem with nature because that is his dream- his goal. The comments on war in the middle of the poem are his reasons for returning to nature. He supports Britain in the hypothetical battle with the French because it is his homeland, but it is rather the British isle, “dear Britain…my mother Isle!” that he supports (135). This is a very good example of a Romantic poem because of its central focus on nature and the need to love and appreciate one’s roots.