Written In Early Youth. The Time,--An Autumnal Evening by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Poem, Summary, & Analysis)

 

Written In Early Youth. The Time,--An Autumnal Evening

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

(Poem, Summary, & Analysis) 

Written In Early Youth. The Time,--An Autumnal Evening

 

O thou wild fancy, check thy wing! No more

Those thin white flakes, those purple clouds explore!

Nor there with happy spirits speed thy light

Bathed in rich amber-glowing floods of light;

Nor in yon gleam, where slow descends the day,

With western peasants hail the morning ray!

Ah! rather bid the perished pleasures move,

A shadowy train, across the soul of love!

O'er disappointment's wintry desert fling

Each flower that wreathed the dewy locks of Spring,

When blushing, like a bride, from hope's trim bower

She leapt, awakened by the pattering shower.

 

Now sheds the sinking sun a deeper gleam,

Aid, lovely sorceress! aid thy poet's dream!

With fairy wand O bid the maid arise,

Chaste joyance dancing in her bright blue eyes;

As erst when from the Muses' calm abode

I came, with learning's meed not unbestowed:

When, as she twined a laurel round my brow,

And met my kiss, and half returned my vow,

O'er all my frame shot rapid my thrilled heart,

And every nerve confessed the electric dart.

O dear conceit! I see the maiden rise,

Chaste joyance dancing in her bright blue eyes,

When first the lark high-soaring swells his throat

Mocks the tired eye, and scatters the loud note,

I trace her footsteps on the accustomed lawn,

I mark her glancing mid the gleams of dawn.

When the bent flower beneath the night-dew weeps,

And on the lake the silver lustre sleeps,

Amid the paly radiance soft and sad

She meets my lonely path in moon-beams clad.

With her along the streamlet's brink I rove;

With her I list the warblings of the grove;

And seems in each low wind her voice to float

Lone-whispering pity in each soothing note!

 

Spirits of love! ye heard her name! Obey

The powerful spell, and to my haunt repair,

Whither on clust'ring pinions ye are there,

Where rich snows blossom on the myrtle trees,

Or with fond languishment around my fair

Sigh in the loose luxuriance of her hair;

O heed the spell, and hither wing your way,

Like far-off music, voyaging the breeze!

Spirits! to you the infant maid was given,

Formed by the wondrous alchemy of Heaven!

No fairer maid does love's wide empire know,

No fairer maid e'er heaved the bosom's snow.

A thousand loves around her forehead fly;

A thousand loves sit melting in her eye;

Love lights her smile -- in joy's bright nectar dips

The flamy rose, and plants it on her lips!

Tender, serene, and all devoid of guile,

Soft is her soul, as sleeping infant's smile:

She speaks! and hark that passion-warbled song--

Still, fancy! still those mazy notes prolong.

Sweet as th' angelic harps, whose rapturous falls

Awake the softened echoes of heaven's halls!

O (have I sighed) were mine the wizard's rod,

Or mine the power of Proteus, changeful god!

A flower-entangled arbor I would seem

To shield my love from noontide's sultry beam:

Or bloom a myrtle, from whose od'rous boughs

My love might weave gay garlands for her brows.

When twilight stole across the fading vale,

To fan my love I'd be the evening gale;

Mourn in the soft folds of her swelling vest,

And flutter my faint pinions on her breast!

On seraph wing I'd float a dream, by night,

To soothe my love with shadows of delight:--

Or soar aloft to be the spangled skies,

And gaze upon her with a thousand eyes!

 

As when the savage, who his dowsy frame

Had basked beneath the sun's unclouded frame,

Awakes amid the troubles of the air,

The skyey deluge, and white lightning's glare--

Aghast he scours before the tempest's sweep,

And sad recalls the sunny hour of sleep:--

So tost by storms along life's wild'ring way

Mine eye reverted views that cloudless day,

When by my native brook I wont to rove

While hope with kisses nursed the infant love.

 

Dear native brook! like peace, so placidly

Smoothing thro' fertile fields thy current meel!

Dear native brook! where first young poesy

Stared wildly-eager in her noontide dream,

Where blameless pleasures dimple quiet's cheek,

As water-lilies ripple a slow stream!

Dear native haunts! where virtue still is gay:

Where friendship's fixed star sheds a mellowed ray

Where love a crown of thornless roses wears:

Where softened sorrow smiles within her tears;

And mem'ry, with a vestal's chaste employ,

Unceasing feeds the lambent flame of joy!

No more your skylarks melting from the sight

Shall thrill th' attuned heart-string with delight:--

No more shall deck your pensive pleasures sweet

With wreaths of sober hue my evening seat.

Yet dear to fancy's eye your varied scene

Of wood, hill, dale, and sparkling brook between!

Yet sweet to fancy's ear the warbled song,

That soars on morning's wing your vales among.

 

Scenes of my hope! the aching eye ye leave

Like yon bright hues that paint the clouds of eve!

Tearful and sadd'ning with the saddened blaze

Mine eye the gleam pursues with wistful gaze;

Sees shades on shades with deeper tint impend,

Till chill and damp the moonless night descend.

 

Summary

The poem begins with the speaker addressing his "wild fancy," urging it to restrain its flights of imagination. He tells his fancy not to explore the thin white flakes of clouds or the purple clouds of the sky, nor to speed with joyous spirits bathed in golden amber light. The speaker bids it not to greet the morning rays with the western peasants, but rather to summon memories of past joys, those "perished pleasures," to move like a shadowy procession across the soul filled with love.

He then calls for the flowers that once adorned the fresh locks of Spring, symbolizing youthful hope and blossoming delight, to be scattered over the bleak and barren "wintry desert" of disappointment. He imagines Spring as a blushing bride leaping awake from hope’s own garden, stirred by the gentle rain.

The sinking sun now casts a deeper, more intense glow. The speaker calls upon a "lovely sorceress" to help his poetic dream and magically bring to life a maiden whose eyes sparkle with pure joy. He recalls an earlier time when he had just returned from the Muses’ serene realm, gifted with learning. The maiden then placed a laurel wreath on his brow and met his kiss, stirring a thrilling electric sensation through his body.

The poet vividly imagines this maiden rising again, her joyful innocence bright in her blue eyes. He recalls her movements at dawn—her footsteps on familiar lawns and her presence glowing in the early light. She appears in the soft moonlight beside a quiet lake, meeting his lonely path. Together, they wander by the stream, listen to the birdsong in the grove, and her gentle voice seems to echo in the breeze with a soothing, pitying whisper.

The speaker summons the spirits of love, imploring them to respond to the maiden’s name and come to his side. He asks them to fly to his presence, whether among myrtle trees blooming with snow-like flowers or resting in her flowing hair. The spirits are asked to heed the magical call and arrive like distant music carried on the breeze.

The maiden, to the speaker, is a gift from heaven’s mysterious power, unmatched in beauty or grace anywhere in the domain of love. A thousand loves are imagined to circle her head and melt in her eyes; her smile glows like a rose dipped in joyful nectar. Her soul is tender, pure, and guileless, as peaceful as a sleeping infant’s smile. When she speaks, her voice is like a passion-filled song, sweet and winding like angelic harps awakening echoes in heaven’s halls.

The speaker sighs, wishing for magical powers — to transform himself into an arbor covered with flowers to shade his beloved, or into a myrtle tree whose fragrant branches she could weave into garlands. At twilight, he would be the gentle evening breeze to cool her; he would mourn softly in the folds of her garment and flutter his wings on her breast. By night, he would float like a seraphic dream to comfort her with tender shadows or soar above to watch her from the sparkling skies with countless eyes.

The poem shifts to an image of a savage who basks in warm sunshine but awakens frightened amid a violent storm, longing for the calm and warmth of his earlier rest. The speaker compares this to his own life, tossed by storms along a difficult path. His eyes turn back to a clear, cloudless day of youthful hope, spent wandering by his native brook, where his young love was nurtured.

The brook is described as peaceful and smooth, flowing through fertile fields. It was the place where the speaker’s early poetic inspiration ("young poesy") first awoke, where innocent pleasures gently rippled like water-lilies on a slow stream. The speaker cherishes these native places — where virtue is happy, friendship shines like a fixed star, love wears a crown of thornless roses, sorrow smiles through tears, and memory keeps alive a gentle flame of joy.

However, the speaker recognizes that these joys will no longer return. The skylarks that once filled the skies with song will no longer thrill his heart, nor will his quiet evening moments be adorned by the sober wreaths of those pleasures. Still, his imagination holds dear the varied landscape of woods, hills, valleys, and the sparkling brook. The song of the birds soaring on morning wings also remains sweet to his fancy’s ear.

In the final stanza, the speaker reflects on these scenes of hope, which leave a painful yearning in his eyes, like the bright colors painting the evening clouds. Tearfully, he watches the fading light and sees shadows deepening one upon another, until a cold, dark, moonless night descends.

 

Analysis in Detail

 

1. Theme of Nostalgia and Lost Youth

The poem is steeped in nostalgia—a longing for the innocence, joy, and hope of youth that the speaker feels slipping away. The repeated invocation to the "wild fancy" to "check thy wing" reflects a tension between the desire to indulge in imaginative flights and the painful awareness of loss. The "perished pleasures," "disappointment's wintry desert," and "shades on shades" convey a deep sorrow for times past, especially the pure, untainted emotions experienced in early life.

This nostalgia is central, portraying youth as a season of blossoming hopes (symbolized by the flowers of Spring) and a time when love was fresh and unblemished, like a bride from "hope’s trim bower." The transition from the brightness of youthful dreams to the "chill and damp moonless night" illustrates the inevitable decline into melancholy and disillusionment with age and experience.

 

2. Imagination and Fancy

Coleridge’s "wild fancy" represents the imaginative faculty, which both enables the poet to revisit his past and threatens to overwhelm him with sorrow. The poem opens by commanding fancy to restrain itself, yet fancy is also the vehicle through which the poet summons the memories of joy and love. The tension between restraint and imaginative freedom is a classic Romantic preoccupation.

The fancy conjures the image of a "maiden" embodying "chaste joyance," a vision of idealized youthful love and poetic inspiration. This maiden is linked to the Muses and learning, symbolizing the poet’s artistic awakening and the early creative enthusiasm that fades with time.

 

3. Imagery of Light and Nature

Light imagery plays a crucial role in the poem, symbolizing hope, inspiration, and the fleeting beauty of youth. Early on, amber-glowing floods of light and purple clouds evoke a rich, vivid natural scene full of vitality. The sinking sun’s "deeper gleam" suggests the waning of day—an extended metaphor for the decline of youthful vigor.

The natural world—flowers, brooks, birds, dawn, twilight, and moonlight—forms a backdrop that mirrors the poet’s emotional states. The brook is a peaceful, placid presence symbolizing the source of poetic inspiration and youthful joy. The skylark’s song and the grove’s warblings evoke the harmony of nature and the soul's early delight.

 

4. The Maiden as a Symbol

The figure of the maiden in the poem is a central, almost ethereal presence. She symbolizes "chaste joyance," innocence, and poetic muse. She is described with vivid, sensuous detail: bright blue eyes, a smile like a rose dipped in nectar, soft and guileless soul like a sleeping infant. This idealized woman combines elements of pure love, artistic inspiration, and spiritual beauty.

The poet’s longing to transform into nature’s elements (an arbor, myrtle tree, evening gale) to protect or be close to her reveals the intensity of his desire and the intimate bond between love and poetic creativity.

 

5. Use of Mythical and Magical Elements

The poem incorporates supernatural or mythical imagery—fairies, spirits of love, sorceresses, and Proteus (a shape-shifting god from Greek mythology). These references enhance the dreamlike, fantastical atmosphere, emphasizing the mysterious and magical nature of poetic creation and youthful passion.

The "fairy wand," "spirits of love," and "wizard's rod" all symbolize the power of imagination to conjure visions, to protect and idealize the beloved, and to transform reality. The speaker’s wish to possess such magical powers highlights the Romantic ideal of poetry as enchantment.

 

6. Tone: Melancholic and Reflective

The overall tone is reflective and tinged with melancholy. While the poem begins with the vividness of youthful imagination and joy, it gradually shifts toward a somber recognition of loss and the passage of time. The final stanzas evoke a sense of resignation, as the speaker watches the "shades on shades" of twilight deepen into a cold, moonless night, symbolizing the encroachment of sorrow and the end of youthful optimism.

 

7. Structure and Form

The poem is composed in lyrical, flowing lines with a consistent rhythm and rhyme scheme that reflect the natural, musical quality of the speaker’s memories and emotions. The imagery moves from the open skies and light-filled dawn to the intimate scene of the maiden and then to the quiet landscape of the native brook and final twilight.

The cyclical movement—from imagination’s flight to memory’s quiet sorrow—mirrors the poet’s inner journey from youthful hope to mature reflection.

 

8. Symbolism

Flowers and Spring: Symbols of youthful innocence, hope, and blossoming love.

Light and Twilight: Represent the transition from life and vigor to decline and melancholy.

The Maiden: Embodies idealized love, poetic muse, and pure joy.

Native Brook: Symbolizes the source of inspiration, peace, and the poet’s origins.

Moonless Night: Suggests darkness, loss, and the inevitable end of joy.

 

Summary of Analysis

Written In Early Youth is a deeply introspective poem in which Coleridge explores the contrast between youthful idealism and the inevitable decline into sorrow with the passage of time. The poem’s rich imagery, blending nature, mythology, and emotion, reveals the complex relationship between memory, imagination, love, and artistic creation. The poet’s fanciful visions of joy and love become bittersweet as they give way to a melancholic awareness of loss and fading hope.

 

Key Exam Points

 

The poem is a lyrical expression of nostalgia, reflecting on lost youth, innocence, and early love.

The speaker addresses “wild fancy,” urging it to restrain its imaginative flights but also uses it to revisit memories.

Imagery of light and nature (sunset, dawn, flowers, brooks) symbolizes the fleeting beauty and vibrancy of youth.

The “maiden” figure represents idealized love, poetic inspiration, and innocence.

The poem uses mythical and magical references (spirits of love, Proteus, fairy wand) to emphasize the power of imagination.

The tone shifts from joyful and hopeful to melancholic and reflective as the speaker recalls the passing of time and the loss of early pleasures.

The native brook symbolizes the poet’s origins and the pure source of poetic creativity and happiness.

The poem contrasts springtime (youth and hope) with autumnal evening (decline and sorrow).

The ending depicts the inevitable darkness of life’s later stages, with "shades on shades" and "moonless night" as metaphors for sadness and loss.

The poem explores the Romantic theme of the tension between imagination’s power and the harsh realities of life.

 

Revision Sheet

Written In Early Youth. The Time,--An Autumnal Evening

Poet: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Theme: Nostalgia, youth, lost innocence, the passage of time, poetic inspiration, nature, imagination

 

Summary:

The speaker reflects on the beauty and joy of youth and early love during an autumn evening. He calls on his imagination ("wild fancy") to revisit those vanished pleasures and an idealized maiden symbolizing innocence and poetic inspiration. The poem moves from joyful memories to a melancholic acceptance of loss and the inevitable onset of darkness.

 

Key Imagery & Symbols:

Wild fancy: Imagination, memory

Sunset and dawn: The cycle of life, hope, and decline

Maiden: Innocence, love, poetic muse

Native brook: Childhood, origin of creativity

Flowers and nature: Youth, vitality, fleeting beauty

Shades and moonless night: Sadness, loss, mortality

 

Tone:

Starts with nostalgic joy and hopeful remembrance

Moves toward melancholy and longing

Ends in a somber acceptance of time’s passing

 

Language & Style:

Rich, vivid natural imagery

Romantic symbolism

Use of apostrophe (addressing “wild fancy,” “spirits of love”)

Musical, flowing rhythm to evoke mood

 

Important Points:

Explores the Romantic ideal of imagination as a source of beauty and consolation

Contrasts the brightness of youthful hope with the darkness of aging and loss

Uses nature as a metaphor for human emotions and life cycles

Evokes the pain and sweetness of memory

 

Possible Exam Questions

 

Discuss the theme of nostalgia and lost youth in Coleridge’s poem Written In Early Youth. The Time,--An Autumnal Evening.

 

How does Coleridge use imagery of nature to convey the passage of time in the poem?

 

Examine the role of imagination (“wild fancy”) in the poem. How does it affect the speaker’s experience?

 

Describe the significance of the “maiden” figure in the poem. What does she symbolize?

 

How does the tone change throughout the poem? What effect does this have on the overall meaning?

 

Explain how Coleridge uses contrasts between light and darkness in the poem.

 

What role does memory play in Written In Early Youth? How does it influence the speaker’s emotions?

 

Discuss the Romantic characteristics evident in this poem by Coleridge.

 

How does the poet convey feelings of loss and melancholy in the poem?

 

Analyze the structure and style of the poem and how they contribute to its mood and themes.