This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
/This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison - Samuel Taylor Coleridge/
Finding Communion with Nature in Enforced Solitude
Original Poem (English), line by line (selected excerpt due to length):
Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,
This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost
Beauties and feelings, such as would have been
Most sweet to my remembrance even when age
Had dimm'd mine eyes to blindness! They, meanwhile,
Friends, whom I never more may meet again,
On springy heath, along the hill-top edge,
Wander in gladness, and wind down, perchance,
To that still roaring dell, of which I told;
The roaring dell, o’erwooded, narrow, deep,
And only speckled by the midday sun;
Where its slim trunk the ash from rock to rock
Flings arching like a bridge;—that branchless ash,
Unsunn'd and damp, whose few poor yellow leaves
Ne'er tremble in the gale, yet tremble still,
Fann'd by the waterfall! and there my friends
Behold the dark green file of long lank weeds,
That all at once (a most fantastic sight!)
Still nod and drip beneath the dripping edge
Of the blue clay-stone.
Now, my friends emerge
Beneath the wide wide Heaven—and view again
The many-steepled tract magnificent
Of hilly fields and meadows, and the sea,
With some fair bark, perhaps, whose sails light up
The slip of smooth clear blue betwixt two Isles
Of purple shadow! Yes! they wander on
In gladness all; but thou, methinks, most glad,
My gentle-hearted Charles! for thou hast pined
And hunger'd after Nature, many a year,
In the great City pent, winning thy way
With sad yet patient soul, through evil and pain
And strange calamity! Ah! slowly sink
Behind the western ridge, thou glorious Sun!
Shine in the slant beams of the sinking orb,
Ye purple heath-flowers! richlier burn, ye clouds!
Live in the yellow light, ye distant groves!
And kindle, thou blue Ocean! So my Friend
Struck with deep joy may stand, as I have stood,
Silent with swimming sense; yea, gazing round
On the wide landscape, gaze till all doth seem
Less gross than bodily; and of such hues
As veil the Almighty Spirit, when yet he makes
Spirits perceive his presence.
A delight
Comes sudden on my heart, and I am glad
As I myself were there! Nor in this bower,
This little lime-tree bower, have I not mark'd
Much that has soothed me. Pale beneath the blaze
Hung the transparent foliage; and I watch'd
Some broad and sunny leaf, and loved to see
The shadow of the leaf and stem above
Dappling its sunshine! And that walnut-tree
Was richly tinged, and a deep radiance lay
Full on the ancient ivy, which usurps
Those fronting elms, and now with blackest mass
Makes their dark branches gleam a lighter hue
Through the late twilight: and though now the bat
Wheels silent by, and not a swallow twitters,
Yet still the solitary humble-bee
Sings in the bean-flower! Henceforth I shall know
That Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure;
No plot so narrow, be but Nature there,
No waste so vacant, but may well employ
Each faculty of sense, and keep the heart
Awake to Love and Beauty! and sometimes
’Tis well to be bereft of promised good,
That we may lift the soul, and contemplate
With lively joy the joys we cannot share.
My gentle-hearted Charles, when the last rook
Beat its straight path along the dusky air
Homewards, I blest it! deeming its black wing
(Now a dim speck, now vanishing in light)
Had cross'd the mighty Orb's dilated glory,
While thou stood'st gazing; or, when all was still,
Flew creaking o’er thy head, and had a charm
For thee, my gentle-hearted Charles, to whom
No sound is dissonant which tells of Life.
Note: These excerpts highlight key passages of the poem. For the complete text, please consult a full literary source.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” is essentially an epistolary meditation that the poet composed after a minor mishap left him unable to join his friends on a nature walk. Initially seeing the lime-tree bower as a ‘prison,’ Coleridge laments missing out on the scenic expedition. However, as he sits beneath the lime-tree, the poet’s gaze shifts from self-pity to an almost mystical, empathetic connection with the very friends he envisions roaming the grand vistas.
Through vibrant, detailed imagery—woodland dells, roiling water, sunbeams dancing on foliage—Coleridge conjures a vivid sense of the countryside he cannot personally explore. In the poem’s middle section, he addresses his gentle-hearted friend Charles Lamb, who has been cooped up in the city for years. By imagining Lamb’s awe in experiencing nature anew, Coleridge effectively partakes in his friend’s joy. This vicarious celebration reveals a key Romantic theme: human beings can unite in spirit through shared appreciation of natural beauty.
As the poem concludes, the speaker recognizes that even the small space of the lime-tree bower itself brims with life and significance. Shadows, leaves, the setting sun, and the humble-bee remind him that ‘Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure.’ Paradoxically, the forced confinement becomes a lens for discovering how imagination and empathy overcome physical limitations. By reconnecting with nature’s ever-present wonders—and by delighting in another’s happiness—the poet transcends his loneliness. (Approx. 220 words)
Key points
1. Physical confinement can inspire deeper insight into nature’s omnipresent beauty.
2. Empathy allows us to share in others’ experiences, bridging isolation.
3. Romantic ideals emphasize imagination’s power to transform limitation into revelation.
4. Coleridge highlights the uplifting bond between friendship and the natural world.
5. Small wonders, like a dancing leaf or a humble-bee, awaken profound awareness and gratitude.
