The natural setting and surroundings of Coleridge in “Frost
at Midnight” seem to reflect his ideas about imagination, memory, and the
workings of the mind. The placement of the poem at midnight seems to suggest a
change or transitory period; the quiet shifting from one thing to another. This
reflects the ease with which Coleridge’s mind, the one unquiet thing in the
house of his sleeping family, can move from memory of the past to imagination
of the future. Coleridge, in “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” as well, is
fascinated with the cerebral act of imagination in his poetry, and the
construction of experience based on memory. Much like the frost that “performs
its secret ministry,” (1) coming mysteriously in the cover of night,
Coleridge’s imagination permeates the poem. It comes full circle at the
conclusion of the poem, with the frost forming into icicles that hang quietly
on his home, reflecting how nature and experiences work silently on the mind,
and compile into these memories.
I agree with Carly about how Coleridge uses imagination in both poems in conjunction with memory. As we discussed in class, there are some memoires, he argues, that are too painful to be remembered; however, this is an ever present danger. Perhaps this is why imagination is favored among many of these writers…it provides an escape from reality and the realities that are made apparent through memory. The imagination provides an escape for the authors, similar to Tintern Abbey, where the mind can wander free in nature.
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