"Frost at Midnight": The Beauty and Power of Nature and the Natural World

“Frost at Midnight” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a poem that details Coleridge’s thinking late at night while he is by himself.  I will state immediately that I enjoyed this poem very much, as it not only explores Coleridge’s mind but it also describes the beauty and peacefulness of nature.  Take for example the opening lines of the poem.  It states, “The frost performs its secret ministry, unhelped by any wind. The owlet’s cry came loud- and hark, again! Loud as before,” (1-3). He describes the frost at night as if it is performing a ritual or some other tradition to set the calm peace of the night.  Also, beside Coleridge is his child, which he describes as too calm perhaps.  It states, “My cradled infant slumbers peacefully. ‘Tis calm indeed! So calm, that it disturbs and vexes meditation with its strange and extreme silentness,” (7-10).  Coleridge continues to talk about his surroundings and the outside but in the second stanza he thinks upon his own past and then by the third stanza he thinks about the future for his child.

            This stanza, when Coleridge is speaking to his child and the last stanza are my favorite stanzas of this poem.  The reason why is because basically what the last two stanzas are saying are let nature and the Earth be your teacher.  Coleridge tells to his child, “But thou, my babe! Shalt wander like a breeze by lakes and sandy shores, benath the crags of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds…so shalt thou see and hear the lovely shapes and sounds intelligible of that eternal language, which thy God utters,” (54-61).  This and the next few lines illustrate the fact that God is in everything in Coleridge’s mind, which makes him the “universal teacher”.  He also states that God will help mold and guild his child’s spirit if the child allows God to be a part of his life.  The last stanza of the poem has Coleridge talking to child but also directly to the reader.  He states, “Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,” (65).  He is saying that all seasons, whether it be summer, winter, spring or autumn are meant to happen, and are all natural.  None of these seasons are meant to harm anyone, they are just part of the natural processes of Earth and according to Coleridge, what God intended.  Basically he is saying let nature run its course, all things happen for a reason and that we as people are not meant to control nature, we are better left to learning from it.  Seasons and all of the different features of nature were placed here by God so that we could learn and have new life experiences from it.  

All of this writing about nature made me think of a beautiful piece of art I found online and I would like to share it with you all, enjoy! (It makes a wonderful desktop background)