Introduction of the Poem:
The poem entitled “Frost at Midnight” was written by Coleridge, to celebrate the birth of his son, Hartley, at Stowey in 1798 and it was first published with Fear in Solitude, and France: An Ode. The poem is written in a contemplative mood. The atmosphere as described in the poem, is perfectly peacefully and calm and there is nothing to disturb it. This quietness of the night is maintained throughout the poem, and the poet's thoughts are also mild and gentle in a similar manner. No violence of thought occurs to disturb the harmony of his mind. The poem has also a peculiar autobiographical interest. The poet's thoughts wander back to his own past when he was a student at Christ's Hospital and fondly believed in certain popular superstitions. Not only does the poet think about his past life, he also looks forward and tries to guess the future of his son. Hartley, who, as he hopes, would pass his life in the constant company of nature and would lead a peaceful and happy life. His son would learn from nature the eternal values of life. The poem is written in charming blank verse and contains many very fine descriptive passages. In this poem Coleridge's attitude towards nature shows a distinct impact of Wordsworth. He, like Wordsworth, finds nature sympathetic to man, -as the thin blue film that flutters his dim sympathies with him. He wishes for his son Hartley (as Wordsworth wished for sister Dorothy) to develop intimate and living contact with nature that wields great power over human life. Nature is the greatest teacher to man. He wants nature the universal teacher, to mould and shape the spirit of his son. Coleridge here expresses the Vedantic philosophy that God is present everywhere and in all the objects of this world. The beautiful sights and sounds of nature are representation of God who speaks to us through them and it is for us to pay attention to them and understand their meaning and significance. The poem shows so much Wordsworth's influence on Coleridge that one critic goes to the extent of saying that “its closing lines might have flowed straight from the pen of Wordsworth himself”.
Summary of the Poem:
It was a midnight. The Frost was functioning invisibly. It was performing its act quietly and imperceptibly. There was no wind to aid the frost. Sometimes the cry of an owlet was heard by the poet. All the people in the poet's cottage was fast asleep. The poet was all alone except his little son who was asleep peacefully in his cradle near him. He (the poet) was thus left to philosophise amidst solitude. There was undoubtedly a perfect silence all around. The poet felt that the sea, hill and wood and the village inhabited by many people and with so many activities of life going on there were all quiet. There was no sound. They were as quiet as dreams. Quietness and solitude promoted meditation. But there was such intense calmness, that it was disturbing. It gave a strange feeling of uneasiness. The thin blue flame of the fire was burning without flickering. There was a little hazy thing at the grate that had been flickering. Apart from that film, everything was still and motionless. The movement of the film in the midst of complete silence gave him (the poet) as sense of affinity with that film because there were only two things awake at that time - the poet and the film. In this sense the film seemed to be companion of the poet, whose idle spirit interpreted the fluttering of a the film according to his own mood. His mind looked for everywhere a reflection of itself and played with ideas just as one played with a toy.
The poet was in a thoughtful mood. When he looked at the film, he was reminded of his school days. When the poet was a student at his school (i.e., Christ's Hospital), he used to believe that the fluttering film was a prophetic symbol and foretold the arrival of some relative or friend. Whenever he saw the fluttering film there he became excited and hopeful and dreamt of his sweet birth places and the old church - tower whose bells rang from morning to evening all the hot Fair - day . The sound of the Church - bells appeared to be prophecy of future events. He gazed in this manner at the film and thought of his home which made him fall asleep after sometime. But even in his sleep he dreamt of the same soothing things. Even in the next morning he was so much overtaken by the pleasant dreams of his native village, that he would be quite indifferent to the class - work, awed by the stern teacher's face. As soon as the door half – opened, he would snatch a hasty glance, for he hoped to see some stranger's face or a townsman or his aunt, or some sister with whom he might have played in his childhood.
Thinking of his dull, monotonous school - life, the poet congratulates his son on the fact that his childhood would be spent in far happier surrounding than his. As for the poet he was brought up in the great city, “pent amid cloisters dim " and saw nothing lovely but the sky and stars . He was glad to think that his son would wander like a breeze by lakes and sandy shores , beneath the crays of ancient mountain and beneath the clouds. He would hear the language of God in Nature's sound and melody, “who from eternity doth teach Himself in all, and all things in Himself”. In this way, God — the great Universal Teacher —would teach his child by exciting in him curiosity Re beautiful and lovely objects of Nature.
Therefore, all seasons with their characteristic charms and delights would be dear to his son. Summer with its green foliage would have for his as great an appeal as winter when the red - breast sits and sings between the tufts of snow on the bare branch of the moss - covered apple tree . He would also love the rainy season when the rain - drops fall from the caves and the sound is heard only when the storm stops for short intervals and silence prevails. One if the frost starts forming itself unseen, would also love the icicles (when water - drops are frozen due to coldness) silently shining in the light of the quiet moon.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
The poem entitled “Frost at Midnight” is one of the most popular poems of S.T. Coleridge. It is a conversational poem and is said to have influenced Wordsworth's pivotal work, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey. It was written in Feb. 1798 in honour of the poet's son Hartley Coleridge. This poem relates a father's thoughts about his relationship with an infant son and the possibilities that exist for the son's future. In addition, the poet contrasts his past and an upbringing in the city among urban distractions, with the presence of Nature in his personal situation. In the poem, the poet's mood is contemplative. Memory floats into the poem and colours with its pensive hue the painting of Nature. The world of reality is far off. The poet walks in a dreamland in which everything is seen bathed in a low, soft moonlit night, in a veiled music.
Thought Development:
The poem has been set in a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere. It is the time of midnight and the frost is fulfilling its work secretly and unhelped by the wine. The poet reflects upon the absolute stillness of the night broken only by the owl's cry. It is so quiet that:
“It disturbs
And vexes meditation with its strange
And extreme silentness.”
Her All the inmates of the cottage are sleeping and the poet has been left to that solitude which suits “Abstruser musings.” This silent atmosphere makes the poet reflective and meditative and he is led to discover the affinity between himself and the film fluttering on the grate. There is a feeling of the sympathy between the poet and his film because both are awake and active. The idle spirit of the poet interprets the irregular movements of the film according to his own moods and whims so that the film on the grate becomes an echo of the poet's mind. The peacefulness of the atmosphere and the gentle and subdued thinking of the poet are maintained throughout the poem. Not a single violent thought occurs to disturb the harmony of the poet's mind.
The quiet transition to the last paragraph is one of the most beautiful effective things in the whole poem. It returns to the opening context of seasons, weather and sounds through the imagining of Hartley's future, and comes round fully at the end to the secret ministry of frost, and the quietness of the winter night, with which it began.
Not only the movements of the mind give the poem its design and unity, but the poem as a whole leaves us with a quite extra - ordinary sense of the mind's very being, in suspense, above time and space; the mind with all the power of affection and memory, and its power of reading nature as the language of God. The predominant emotion is the deep, tender affection for the child. That is important not only to this poem's origin and character, but also to Coleridge theory of what the poem ideally is.
Form and Structure of the Poem:
Like many Romantic meditative poems, this poem is written in blank verse, a term used to describe unrhymed lines metered in iambic pentameter. The speaker of the poem is generally held to be Coleridge himself, and the poem is a quiet, very personal restatement of the abiding themes of early English Romanticism: the effect of Nature on imagination; the relationship between children and natural world; the contrast between the liberating country setting and city; and the relationship between adulthood and childhood.
Wonderful Pictures:
The poem also brings out Coleridge wonderful power of painting pictures in words. With what consummate skill does the poet give us the vivid pictures of his own school days, the fluttering film, the loneliness of the seasons, the silent icicles quietly shining to the quiet moon. Coleridge is a great master of the art of description and his descriptive powers are marvellous.
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