Filial Fears

In Coleridge’s “Fears of Solitude” the narrator takes a unique position on the revolution from that of his contemporaries, Burke and More. As the other posters have indicated, the narrator in “Fears” chooses to chastise not the French, but his fellow countrymen about the wrongs which make them deserving of violence and destruction. He recognizes the corruption of his British homeland, and, with the chaos of the revolution on the horizon, the narrator has a “filial fear” for the fate of his country (1n. 199). In reflection of this brotherly concern, Coleridge’s narrator develops a “tough-love” attitude toward the citizens of Britain. He says they have been “drinking with a riotous thirst the pollutions from the brimming cup of wealth” (1n. 55-6) and they have become insensitive to the killing of innocents in war, calling it “the best amusement of our morning meal” (ln. 105).  In this criticism he does not address a specific class, but he blames all people of all socio-economic classes (lns. 70-75), uniting them in fault and in duty to each other, as well as to their “brother” narrator. As a brother, the narrator recognizes the faults of his family, or his country, and therefore recognizes the potential of Britain to correct their wrongdoings. With the cyclic motion of the poem, the narrator concludes with the image of the “green and silent dell”: an uplifting reminder of what Britain once was and what it has the potential to become again with the recognition and support of its citizens.