As discussed in class, effusion was said to mean an outpouring of emotion. I became very curious as to why Coleridge regarded his poem as an outpouring of emotion to the nightingale. At the time Coleridge was writing the nightingale was thought of as a melancholy bird. Coleridge disputed this idea as he felt the nightingale was his connection to nature per Wikipedia. After further consideration of this idea I do believe Coleridge is defending the nightingale. In addition to the title of this poem being “To The Nightingale” within the poem Coleridge addresses the nightingale as the “Minstrel of the Moon!(Coleridge343)”. The exclamation point makes me feel that Coleridge is almost yelling as if to rename the nightingale in opposition to its being referred to as the melancholy bird. He also appears to explain that he can see and truly hear the nightingale and when he does he becomes connected to nature. Coleridge included the nightingale in another poem we looked at. In “The Nightingale, a Conversational Poem” Coleridge wrote, “In nature there is nothing melancholy(Wordswoth48).” in defense of the nightingale. It seems to me, he explained in this poem that someone labeled the nightingale as melancholy because its melody reminded them of their own sorrow. In this same poem Coleridge referred to the nightingale as merry as opposed to melancholy.
Work cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightingale_(Coleridge)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightingale_(Coleridge)
No comments:
Post a Comment