This Lime Tree Bower My Prison Analysis

Any journey includes both realities and possibilities

The imagination stands in some essential relation to truth and reality. An imaginative journey employing possibilities will see things to which the intelligence is blind and therefore reveal realities. Through my study of Coleridge’s This Lime Tree Bower my Prison, Kubla Khan, Frost at Midnight and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as well as Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, Margaret Atwood’s Journey to the interior, E. Harburg’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Susan Hickman’s Sacred Journey and Jules Verne’s A Journey to The Center of the Earth I have come to understand this. The boundlessness of the imagination and thus it’s journeys is reflected by the infinite possibilities realized
In Coleridge’s This Lime Tree bower my Prison the protagonist escapes from his reality imagining others possible experiences. He is unable to accompany his friends “Well, they are gone, and here must I remain, This lime-tree bower, my prison!”. The disparate image of nature being ones prison conveys the punishment the separation from his friends is having upon him, creating a bitter tone from the onset of the poem. He starts to dream of what they may be up to “Wander in Gladness, and wind down, perchance, to that roaring dell” the speculative language “perchance” establishes that what he is saying is only a possibility. His imagination allows him an extensive journey into his friends experiences “the slip of smooth clear blue betwixt two isles” this visual image is evocative of a beautiful place. He believes his friend “My gentle hearted Charles” would benefit most from this experience as he has “pined and hungered after nature, many a year, in the great city pent” The change to direct address draws sympathy from the responder as they imagine Charles experiencing this wonderful sight after living in such a terrible unbeautiful place. The strong emotive verbs “pined” make this longing extreme and thus feeling of sympathy for Charles more intense. He hopes that Charles will have the full experience of nature where god is revealed “gaze till doth seem Less gross than bodily and of such
Through the creation of a foreign world where animals act as represtations of human personalities their resolutions to act can bring a further understanding to the way that we react to similar opportunities. The character of toad is exuberant and speculates on the journey “ travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you and a horizon that’s always changing!” This excitable nature is depicted by the flowing structure of his dialogue that is punctuated by exclamations. He exclaims that their can be potential in any journey. The mole is enthusiastic but is more following toads lead not initiating the journey himself. After saying he is “tremendously interested and excited” his lack of dialogue suggests he is impressionable as he goes along with whatever toad says, a relevant personality to many. The rat does not wish to engage with the wants to journey like the others. As he “thrust his hands deep into his pockets” the visual image of the action bring feeling of motionlessness, being idle and not moving. His high modality statement “ I am going to stick to my old river, and live in a whole, and boat, as I’ve always done” conveys his final resolve to not journey and experience something different. The juxtaposition of these three different characters and there respective responses to journey show us how different personalities react to journeys. By prompting an imaginative journey from the