The poem
From a letter from STC to Wordsworth after writing The Nightingale:
In stale blank verse a subject stale I send per post my Nightingale; And like an honest bard, dear Wordsworth, You'll tell me what you think, my Bird's worth. My own opinion's briefly this-- His bill he opens not amiss; And when he has sung a stave or so, His breast, & some small space below, So throbs & swells, that you might swear No vulgar music's working there. So far, so good; but then, 'od rot him! There's something falls off at his bottom. Yet, sure, no wonder it should breed, That my Bird's Tail's a tail indeed And makes it's own inglorious harmony Æolio crepitû, non carmine.
In “The Nightingale”, Coleridge “asserts his oneness of man and the rest of creation” by realising and appreciating the Nightingale (and all nature) for what it is, and to not force human characteristics on the bird. Coleridge considers a favourite poetical image for sadness and sorrow, and attempts to deconstruct preconceptions anyone may have for the bird (Milton’s quote is a prime example) by using his own…
Read the whole commentIn “The Nightingale”, Coleridge “asserts his oneness of man and the rest of creation” by realising and appreciating the Nightingale (and all nature) for what it is, and to not force human characteristics on the bird. Coleridge considers a favourite poetical image for sadness and sorrow, and attempts to deconstruct preconceptions anyone may have for the bird (Milton’s quote is a prime example) by using his own philosophy of nature, “Most musical, most melancholy bird! A melancholy bird? Oh! idle thought!” The poem is a conversation piece, and the immediacy of the scene is reflected in the language, “And hark! The Nightingale begins its song.” The spontaneity of the poet’s musings reinforce M.H Abrams’ belief that Romantic poetry should be “an effortless expression” rather than an “arduous exercise” and coincide with Coleridge’s overall message (in this poem) that one should surrender to nature and not to poetic conventions. He also uses the innocent of his child’s knowledge of poetry to demonstrate how the Nightingale can be joyous.