Reflection and Legacy

William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” in many ways are companion poems. In both of them, the authors write about the importance of reflection on nature. Wordsworth writes about how this reflection can be soothing in times of turmoil. Coleridge’s poem actually shows this to be true. Coleridge is separated from nature while his friends go on a trek through the country and has only his memory of a previous excursion. This separation from nature, according to Coleridge, can be just as potent as the physical experience. He sees in his mind the wonders that his friends must be experiencing and finds solace in the fact that they will now also have these memories to reflect on. For both Wordsworth and Coleridge, not only the act of reflecting on nature, but also assuring that there will be more people to appreciate it is essential. It is in this way that nature’s legacy endures.