The Frost
Frost shows up in the beginning, and then… it shows up in the end. But, by the time we see it again, we understand what it really means (or, we're supposed to). Coleridge's poem is centered aroun...
The Film of Soot on the Fireplace's Grate (The "Stranger")
In the England of Coleridge's time, people used to use fireplaces a lot (this was the late eighteenth century after all). Sometimes a film made of soot would form on the grate of the fireplace and...
The Church Bells
The church bells only appear once in the poem, but they manage to rock Coleridge's world with their prophecy about some glorious future, be it a life in heaven or a spiritual life on earth. They're...
The Eternal Language of Nature
Coleridge briefly includes certain images from nature: frost and a crying owl at the beginning, and later the sky, stars, lakes, mountains, a robin in spring… and, yes, more frost. He explains th...