Analysis Of Samuel Coleridge's 'This Lime Tree Bower My Prison'

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Going place to place, new experiences can be found. These can lead us to learn more about ourselves and the world around us. In the book ‘The happiest refugee’ Anh’s family fled from Vietnam, sailing across the sea until they got to Australia. Anh’s family faced many obstacles along the way but they managed to break through. These obstacles made Anh realise more about himself and how he should live his life. In the poem ‘This Lime-tree Bower my Prison’ Samuel Coleridge is forced to stay under the tree, making him not able to go on the adventure with his friends. His frustration triggers him to go on an inner journey, in his mind he imagines what his friends are going through, exploring the wilderness. This changed his perspective on his situation …show more content…

His use of Romanticism and description of Nature portrays the significance of inner journeys and its possibility to change how an individual thinks about something. Coleridge was disappointed and frustrated that he couldn 't go on the adventure. The poet’s remark, ‘they are gone, and here I must remain/ this lime-tree bower my prison’ shows how he felt confined, not able to go anywhere as if he was stuck in a prison. He highlights his feeling of entrapment and seclusion evoking feelings of pity and sympathy from the readers. His situation triggers Coleridge’s imaginative journey where he begins imagining the adventure that his friends were experiencing. Coleridge’s frequent use of exclamation marks in the second stanza emphasises how amazed he was by the beauty of Nature. Also, the repetition of ‘wide’ emphasizes the vastness of the forest and the endless wonders that lie within. The use of expansion and contraction shows Coleridge’s change in view about him not being able to go on the trek. His admiration for the lime-tree bower contrasts with his original hatred for being stuck under the tree. With the use of romanticism and different language techniques, Coleridge shows how powerful inner journeys can be and its capability to teach individuals more about the world around