If I Had But Two Little Wings

Samuel Taylor Coleridge holds on to those precious moments when loneliness is a problem for tomorrow.

April 23 1799

King George III 1760-1820

Introduction

Samuel Taylor Coleridge visited Germany in September 1798 in company with the Wordsworths, staying until the following July. He would later remember Germany as ‘a bright spot of sunshine’ in his life, but at the time he was lonely and homesick, and the death of his little son Berkeley on February 10th added to his griefs. These verses were included in a letter home to his wife Sarah on April 23rd.

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834

IF I had but two little wings,
And were a little feath’ry bird,
To you I’d fly, my dear!
But thoughts like these are idle things —
And I stay here.

But in my sleep to you I fly:
I’m always with you in my sleep —
The world is all one’s own.
But then one wakes, — and where am I? —
All, all alone.

Sleep stays not, though a monarch bids,
So I love to wake ere break of day:
For though my sleep be gone,
Yet while ’tis dark, one shuts one’s lids,
And still dreams on.

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834

From The Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume 1, edited (1895) by Ernest Hartley Coleridge.

Précis

Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was in Germany in April 1799, and feeling homesick, when he sent these verses to his wife Sarah. Coleridge told her that when he was asleep he felt close to her, but lonely when he awoke — unless he woke early enough to snatch a few minutes to think of her with his eyes still closed.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Why did Coleridge not mind waking up early?

Suggestion

Because he could doze and remember Sarah.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Coleridge missed Sarah. He wrote a poem about it. He said the poem was silly.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IAdmit. IIFeel. IIILonely.