"Comforts Cottage" in Clare and Coleridge's Poetry

In the three poems that Dr. Porter assigned, I find it interesting that each speaker affirms the aesthetic value and social significance of the domestic space. Each speaker, however, constructs a very different relationship between himself and that space. In tomorrow’s class, I think it would be beneficial to discuss how the domestic space is constructed in each of the poems.

In Clare's "Recollections after a Ramble," the speaker recalls the joy that he felt while walking through the English countryside. Even though this journey is characterized by the most mundane features of a rural landscape (cottages and trees), the speaker believes this "rout" leads to and enlightening experience (ll. 241-248). The cottage, which represents the domestic space here, is part of that journey, but it is not the end of the journey. The speaker finds enlightenment by standing outside the domestic space as an observer.

In “The Fallen Elm Tree,” the speaker envisions the tree as a domestic space. He refers to the elm as nature’s “domestic tree” (l. 18) and praises it for remaining “stedfast to thy home” (l. 19). The tree, firmly rooted and resistant to change, is important because it offers shelter to travelers on stormy nights. Those who take shelter underneath this tree enjoy “comforts never penned” (l. 14). Because of the tree’s social importance, the speaker considers the act of chopping it down to be an act against the community itself. Later in the poem, he laments the fact that “comforts cottage” has been replaced by “workhouse prisons” (ll. 57-58), a change that has left wild animals, domesticated animals, and human beings with no place to enjoy the comforts of a domestic space. 

The cottage as a domestic space is equally important in Coleridge’s “The Eolian Harp.” Here we find the cottage overgrown with jasmine and myrtle, but interestingly the speaker situates himself outside the cottage so that he and his beloved can observe the same clouds that thrill the speaker in Clare’s “Recollections.” The domestic space, as envisioned by Coleridge’s speaker, seems to link nature with domesticity and to create a space in which the speaker can contemplate that relationship.

Tomorrow, I would appreciate hearing everyone’s thoughts on the relationship between trees and cottages, between nature and domestic space, that are prominent in each of these poems.