A Second Chance: "Frost at Midnight" in Conversation with "Anecdote for Fathers"

            “Frost at Midnight” sees Samuel Coleridge express his aspirations for his son as he rocks the infant to sleep at night.  In doing so, Coleridge imagines for his son a life in the country, where he can maintain a closer relationship with nature. “Frost at Midnight” is similar to “Anecdote For Fathers,” a poem that also saw a father project his ideal perceptions onto a son.  Both poems underscore how parents presumptively define their children, placing expectations on their kin that may prove to be confining in the future.

            In “Anecdote For Fathers,” the father in question struggles to discern some deeper meaning from his child’s statement that he would prefer to be at Kilve rather than Liswyn farm.  This demonstrates the assumption on the father’s part that his child’s mind is operating with the same logic as an adult’s.  However, this expectation is proven to be incorrect when the son states that the presence of a weather vane was a deciding factor in his selection of Kilve.  Similarly, Coleridge’s poem operates on the assumption that his child will have a better childhood in the country than his father did in the city.  This is because Coleridge believes in the country his son will have more of a communion with nature, and therefore will be more capable of understanding the “eternal language” (Coleridge, 60) of God.  Coleridge draws from his own experiences in his assessment of life in the country as superior to urban life.  For example, Coleridge states that as a child of the city he was, “pent ‘mid cloisters dim, / And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars” (Coleridge, 52-53).

            The hope of a father to cultivate a better life for his son is a natural tendency.  However, like the misplaced beliefs of the father in “Anecdote For Fathers,” the belief that one knows what is best for one’s children (based on the adult’s individual experience) demonstrates hubris.  Moreover, such expectations could also prove limiting to children.  The child of Coleridge, for example, may develop beliefs concerning the city and the country that conflict with those of his father.  Moreover, “Frost at Midnight” demonstrates a certainty on the part of Coleridge that is impractical. For example, Coleridge states to his son, “all seasons shall be sweet to thee” (Coleridge, 65).  Such an expectation – that his son will always be happy when living in nature – demonstrates an irrational optimism that can only come from having a blank slate for a child.  Coleridge has high expectations for his son’s life that reality will ultimately fail to fulfill.

            Both the father in “Anecdote for Fathers” and Coleridge in “Frost at Midnight” have a desire for their sons to be successful.  For example, the father in “Anecdote for Fathers” at first hopes his son will subscribe to the norms of logic and reason in his preference of setting.  Coleridge in “Frost at Midnight” hopes that his son will exceed him in terms of his relationship with nature.  This is demonstrated by the evocation of the “secret ministry of frost” (Coleridge, 72), an artifact of nature Coleridge fails to understand.  Coleridge’s implication is that his son (who, when he is raised in the countryside, will become a child of nature in the eyes of Coleridge) may one day be able to understand the mysteries that Coleridge himself does not – those of nature, and of God.  Therefore, Coleridge’s son represents a second chance for his father.

            In “Frost at Midnight,” Coleridge takes notice of a piece of film that is fluttering in a grate.   Coleridge remarks how the film, “By its own moods interprets, every where / Echo or mirror seeking of itself” (Coleridge, 21-22).  Both the film and Coleridge’s child provide “mirrors” for Coleridge - the poet can see his own thoughts and aspirations reflected in them.  This is because both the film and Coleridge’s own son are empty vessels.  With the absence of any personality in his child, Coleridge is capable of assigning any possible future to his son.  Because his child has not yet grown, Coleridge does not reach the same conclusion as the speaker in “Anecdote For Fathers.”  He does not yet realize that his own son can be a teacher just as he is.