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  • Essay / Individualism In Coleridge's "This Lime Tree Bower My"...

    Despite the Romantics' valorization of nature, the direct threat to the natural habitat marked by the presence of soot around steel towns due to The Industrial Revolution catalyzed increased support in Pantheism which values ​​the unity between man, God and nature. A pantheist himself, Coleridge's This Lime Tree Bower My Prison (1816) follows the character's wish to accompany his colleagues on an expedition after suffering a scald. The character's initial exclamation "This lime tree houses my prison!" which metaphorically accentuates his physical constraints contrasts with his affectionate tone after a period of reflection in “This Little Linden Tree” exploring the transformative capacities of imaginative contemplation as it relates to changing perceptions of physical limits within nature. Additionally, the biblical annotations in the descriptions “You purple heather flowers! burn more richly, clouds! and "the magnificent expanses of steeples / Rolling fields and meadows" elevate nature to a status equal to that of God, reflecting pantheistic values ​​and the vivid images explore the impact of imagination in transcending physical constraints and enabling for the individual to explore nature. Thus, thanks to the power of the imagination, we are able to transcend the physical.