Coleridge's "The Eolian Harp" displays an incredibly intimate relationship between the poet and nature. In this poem, the poet exhibits synesthetic abilities as he sees and hears the sound of nature playing his lute. In the poem, the lute remains encased, but plays music as nature sweeps across its strings.
Coleridge demonstrates a sort of super-hearing in this poem as he listens to the lute's silent melody. The poet states, "And that simplest Lute, / Placed length-ways in the clasping casement, hark!" Moreover, the sound is given material form as "melodies round honey-dripping flowers. This level of hearing is heightened even more when he compares light and sound stating, "A light in sound, a sound-like power in light, / Rhythm in all thought, and joyance every where—" Thus, while Clare listens to real sounds, this poem presents Coleridge with an ability to become fully immersed in nature.
Even more fascinating is the poet's view of nature. He inquires, “And what if all of animated nature/Be but organic Harps diversely fram'd,/That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps/ Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,/At once the Soul of each, and God of all?” The poet's description of nature sounds extremely close to string theory, the scientific idea that suggests that all of nature is made of tiny vibrating strings. Coleridge's acute listening has actually produced an extremely astute understanding of the universe.
I do find it strange that the poet so quickly repents for his meditations on nature. He seems to enter a sort of religious state as he pictures nature playing the lute's strings, but seems to be afraid to admit it, feeling incredibly guilty at the end of the poem. Through this poem, Coleridge creates interesting chords as he connects sound and light, and as he challenges the superiority of religion over naturalism.
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