In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s, “Frost of Midnight”, he breaks away from his typical sullen and some what depressing tone, but keeps in line with the themes of the Romantic period. In“Frost of Midnight” Coleridge presents imagery and focuseson nature, but the most obvious theme is his focus onhimself and his feelings towards his son.Coleridge writes his poem as if he is telling a story.He goes into a dream like state. In the first paragraph hepresents the setting of the poem. The reader finds out thatthe title of the poem represents Coleridge’s cottage atNether Stowey. In line 4 he says,” The inmates of mycottage, all at rest”, through this line one assumes thatthey are trapped in the cottage because he describes hisfamily as inmates. Through that one thinks of a prisonsetting and in prison there is so no escaping. Further downin line 7 he addresses his infant son, and how he is lyingnext to him, he says” My cradled infant slumberspeacefully.” Later on in the poem he focuses more of hisattention on his son, but it is after this point that hispoem starts to take a dream like form. His use of imagery is heightened in lines 12-22, whenhe is describing the fire that is burning in his fire place.Through his description of the fire one knows that it is atthe point of burning out, he says,” Inaudible dreams! thethin blue flame, Lies on my low burnt fire, and quiversnot”(line 12-13). He then goes on to describe how gazinginto the flames lures him into a dream like state, hedescribes it has “ Making a toy of thought”(line 22).His dream takes him back to his childhood, which takesthe reader out the present tense, and into the past tense.In is dream he also is gazing into the fire, and thinksabout his boyhood and his school days. He then goes intothinking about a strangers face, which appears in the fire.Thorough lines 41-43 the reader later comes to theconclusion...
