Comparison of The Aeolian Harp to Rene Wellek's Standards of Romanticism

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Æolian Harp brings to light René Wellek's definition of nature and imagination with ease. Its descriptive-meditative lyric form exemplifies the connection of nature to spiritually and the importance of imagination in portraying that. True to its form, the Æolian Harp consists of three sections. It begins in the tangible, physical world that the poet lives in, then moves into meditation that integrates nature and spirituality, and finally circles back to the original subject in the physical world, but this time the poet includes his newfound insight.

The Æolian Harp begins in a countryside setting outside of the poet's cottage. The environment is placid and overall there is a great sense of peace. The poet speaks fondly of his wife, who sits beside him and reflects upon the beauty of the clouds in the beginning of evening and the "exquisite" smells of the countryside around him. Evening falls and with the appearance of the first star that is deemed "wise" (perhaps a hint to the catalyst of the poet's insight) comes the poet's meditation and the introduction of the Æolian Harp.

This is where Wellek's rule that the doorway to nature is primarily inward is apparent. That is to say that to get a true glimpse of nature in its purest form, we must meditate, look inside of ourselves and feel the connection to it. That also leads to the connection with the "universal current" that runs through nature. The Æolian Harp represents the means to achieve this perfect harmony. The harp, like the human body, acts as a conduit for nature. Coleridge personifies the harp, comparing it to a "coy maid half yielding to her lover" (line 15) and the wind (nature) must intensify its advances to get the maid to yield. The wind, stronger the second time, is able to move the strings of the harp to make its music.

Similarly, the romantic idea of the "universal current" is to yield to it and allow oneself to produce the same "music" that the Æolian Harp does and engulf oneself in the harmony of nature, seeing in it all things of self-peace.

Now, Coleridge compares the music of the Æolian Harp to that of the sounds in "Faery-land".
So far, the poem as jumped from a real, literary world to a completely fantastic one of the imagination. Like Wellek states, the imagination in poetry is necessary to make order out of chaos. Some people may fail to understand this concept of becoming one with the current of nature. There is a great deal to understand in this way of thinking, and it is quite overwhelming if only on a literal base. A poet putting forth this romantic idea using imaginary images and combining them with realistic feelings and hopes simplifies the many ideas that are necessary to achieve this perfect balance with nature.

The imaginary setting that the poet chooses to allude to is not original. Coleridge himself feels that there is a distinct difference between imagination and fancy. His reference to "fae" and "elves" and "witchery" are all pre-existing shapes simply placed in a different setting; one that suits the poet's needs for what he describes. But regardless of the semantics, Coleridge's usage of fantastical elements was deliberate. It was an abrupt drop from reality to fantasy and nature combined.

This "faery-land" is perfection and balance, where every being there already is part of the "universal current". The music that the Æolian Harp produces is reminiscent of the perfect music (harmony) in the fantastical world where dwells the universal love romantics strive for. On a spiritual note, the "faery-land" stands in opposition to the rigidity of Christianity. From lines 24-26:

"Where melodies round honey-dropping flowers
Footless and wild, like birds of Paradise
Nor pause nor perch, hovering on untam'd wing"

In this natural world of harmony and balance, the inhabitants are once again in "Paradise", aka. the Garden of Eden. They are "footless", "wild" and "untam'd"-that is, they are not the flawed humans that once roamed "Paradise", but the flawless and pure animals that were not condemned.
Coleridge may also mean that passage to object to the Church and its stiff formalities. When the poet enters this meditation, he is free of all rules and laws except that which are natural. He is "free" yet he still has the connection to God, but in a pantheistic way. The universal love, current and harmony suggest that God resides in every animate piece of nature. To become one with this idea was to become one with God.

So far, the poet has brought us from his Christian reality to a meditative and spiritual reality with elements of the fantastic. Then, the poet begins to compare himself to the Æolian Harp, becoming his own symbol and therefore becoming "nature". He then, like the harp, becomes reliant on the wind to inspire his music (thoughts) and that such thoughts were 'as wild and various as the random gales." (line 43) The poet, by now, has completely abandoned reality and has imbibed the "universal current". Now he sees all of humanity as harps also, but "diversely fram'd" with one "intellectual breeze" that is the "soul of each and God of all." (lines 46-49)

The poet expresses a great sense of unity and with his reference, "at once the soul of each and God of all" now points blatantly to pantheism, which goes hand in hand with Wellek's idea of the absolute immergence with harmony and nature that needed to be achieved.

This is the highest point of the poem, at which point the poet has gone from the grounded earth to an ethereal sky. But it is at this point that the third turn of the descriptive-meditative form comes into play. The words of the poet's wife brings him back down to humble earth with a gentle reminder of where he stands in the Christian world of church and Sabbath days. Yet the poet is happy and gives thanks to God for letting him experience what he has and still allowing him a home and loving wife on the grounded earth.

This is the poem's resolution. The return to the physical world, yet tinged with a deeper insight than there had been at its beginning.
So, does Colerige complete all of Wellek's requirements for a romantic poem?

Wellek's fist requirement: "Human beings are part of a larger natural order and should be in harmony with it." Coleridge exemplifies this throughout the entire poem, bringing particular love (from the first section) to universal love. The poet loses himself to nature and its perfection through the Æolian Harp.
Wellek's second requirement: "Access to nature is primarily inward". The poet may have started in the natural and beautiful countryside, physically, but the true harmony he reached through the meditation and study of the harp.

Wellek's third requirement: "The voice of nature within us is an inner energy." This is illustrated in lines 35-44 when the poet is the harp and through closed eyes he can see and feel and think with absolute comfort and tranquility.

Wellek's fourth requirement: "Our interaction with nature is through sympathy which acts as a "current" running through nature." This is the "universal current". In this poem's case, that current is the wind on the harp.

Wellek's fifth requirement: "The poet regards himself in collaboration with nature, but the poetry is often about the poet's mind and emotions." This is illustrated at the higher points of the poem when the poet becomes the Æolian Harp and meditates about universal love.

And finally, Wellek's sixth requirement: "The function of art is to see and portray the infinite in the finite." This is what the entire poem is about. The poet's physical and limited environment extends into something immeasurable, supplying the means to transcend into infinite meaning to the Æolian Harp representing the vastness of nature and all of humanity combined in one form.

Coleridge does, indeed, fulfill the requirements that René Wellek has laid down for proper poetry of the romantic era.