The Eolian Harp
In Coleridge's piece entitled "The Eolian Harp", the Eolian harp, or music, is seen as an influence on one's interpretation and affection with a situation. Coleridge's affinity with nature and the mystical relations of music and himself develop from his descriptive language of the real and tangible to subjects more imaginative, and his ability to express and relate the beauty of the soul and its expression found in light and music, which are relative to nature. The Eolian harp is a simple harp tuned in unison that sits in the window and makes sound when moved by the breeze. Being played by nature's wind, it is easy to see how the Eolian harp could capture a poets' imagination, especially the poets of this romantic age who were often inspired by nature and music. Music and nature, are both naturally occurring and timeless phenomena, but often can't be easily explained in rational ways. Coleridge as we see is captivated with this quality and seeks to pursue exemplifying its beauty in words. Some of which go on to describe make-believe worlds because to him they are the only things relatable to the sophisticated yet uncontrollable environments each creates. We see how nature's random influence can be converted into the unli
mited sonic possibilities produced from the simplest of instruments, and with Coleridge's words are tied together with a captivating and impressionistic hint at the mystical and ominous effect they play on each other. Later in the poem he recollects as though he had been swept away and now must come back, like all things in life beauty is fleeting, and he thanks God for giving him peace, and his wife. The use of one life "within" us and "abroad" perhaps is an attempt to explain the harmony within the person and around them in their surroundings. The following lines then reinforce this idea when he writes, "It pours such sweet upbraiding, as must needs/Tempt to repeat the wrong!"(16-17). The rhythm and verse here are in a free form as we see no consistent patterns betweens the lines, but the development of the tease brings the reader in with a flowery crescendo using words like "sequacious" and "delicious". This could also be seen as a display of Coleridge's philosophy/attitude towards art and music, or perhaps an opium induced state of contemplative delirium. Further through the poem Coleridge again diverges his current topic much like the random patterns and oscillations that would occur in a completely spontaneous instrument like the Eolian harp. In the next section of lines we see Coleridge's direction divert, furthering the spacial unpredictability occurring in the music and wind. Much like how we saw Coleridge take his environment around him and dissolve it into more mystical and then philosophical ideas all brilliantly stated in a loose form very close to that of nature's. He starts by saying, "Such a soft floating witchery of sound"(20), this is the first hint at drawing parallels between the un-explainable sound that is music with the mystical magic which produces it and he relates this to "witchery". Thus Coleridge's piece, "The Eolian Harp", is a great romantic poem about love of nature and music. To furthur this, the idea of "Rhythm in all thought, and joyance everywhere" seems to convey his absorption into his environment and the beauty he finds there being in harmony and rhythm with it. Starting on the 15th line of Coleridge's piece, where he writes, "Like some coy maid half yielding to her lover,"(Coler 419. He shows how through absorbing natures tendencies for exotic and random performances of beauty, the capacity to understand and relate gets magnified. 15), Coleridge is comparing the harp to a maid who is toying, with her lover.
Common topics in this essay:
Harp Eolian,
Paradise21-24 Elfins,
Throughout Coleridge,
Eolian Harp,
Fairy-Land Melodies,
eolian harp,
,
coleridge's piece,
nature music,
drawing listener,
meets motion,
gentle gales,
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