Frost At Midnight Flashcards
Connotations of frost
Midnight
Iceicles
Harsh - daggers
Unknown/sinister
Cyclic
Pessimistic - dark
Unwelcoming and discomfort
Quiet
A03 context
Coleridge wrote poem when his son Hartley was around 18 months old - this is an intimate cradling time premature
It is autobiographical and shares his thoughts as a parent. He also reflects on his own childhood and then considers Harley’s possible future
Like the other conversational poems, it is written in blank verse and iambic pentameter.
The content is cyclic, returning to the starting point of the ‘frost’
Albert Gerard - critic of Coleridge - said Conversation poems have the beat of a heart- sytole and diastole - contracting and expanding as the poet wanders to and from his concrete and immediate self and the wider world
In the beginning he feels puny (lacking insignificance)
Stanza 1
Coleridge’s present situation
In the cottage with his son (cradled in his arms) in a sober meditative mood - everyone’s asleep - solitary - completive sober confound state of mind - eery/supernatural
Stanza 2
What does Coleridge remember from the past
Looking at the fire at school, seeing the film and then looking at the door, waiting for a stranger - to take him back home
‘Film which fluttered’
Stanza 3
What does Coleridge imagine will be hartleys future?
Better than his - he will be able to see/experience nature - he will understand his self/life better - no contemplation
My babe shalt wander like a cloud
Stanza 4- what season does poem end with as Coleridge considers how Hartley will appreciate the seasons
Frost - winter - last season of the year cyclic - metaphorical death
A01-
How does Coleridge describe the night.
Look particularly at his his use of soft sibilant sounds and repetition
Sibilance and repetition - seductive and positive
‘All seasons shall be sweet to thee’
‘Secret ministry of frost’
Coleridge next contemplates the ‘film’ of ash fluttering on the fire grace.
How does this symbolise his own situation?
Floating in and out of thought
His place in universe
‘Soul unquiet thing’ - like his soul awake at night
His spirit - stirred by quiet
His spirit - crushed by school and society
Coleridge as a child used to believe that this phenomenon of dust fluttering foretold a visit from an absent friend. How is this repetition of ‘dreams’ significant
Nostalgia
Dreams = irrational
Coleridge = living in imagination
Coleridge compares his own childhood with the future childhood of Hartley?
What contrasting images does he use?
‘Pent’
‘City’
‘Sky and stars’
‘Lakes and sandy stores’
Contrast between city landscape and nature
The poem ends by returning to the ‘secret ministry’ of icicles. Why do you think the frost is personified and what are the religious connotations of its work
Meant to inspire men into appreciation and faith in mystery and wanders of nature.
Following it will lead you to God
How does Coleridge use exclamation sentences throughout
Awe and wonder of baby (natural) and awe and miniciale of frost of nature and optimism for better future of his son
A05
The poem would also be interpreted in terms of its wider political context. What does the lines
‘The Old church tower / whose bells, the poor man’s only music’ signify?
Poor many only solice- his only culture
Church bell - God and religion - form of solice for poor man
Theme
Emotional intensity
‘My babe so beautiful’
Theme
Importance o childhood
How I gazed upon the bars
My babe shalt wonder like a breeze
