Answer to a Child’s Question

Description

Have you ever wondered what the sparrow, the dove or the lark mean when they express their vibrancy and joy through sound and physical expressions that show the majesty of nature in all of its splendor? Answer to a Child’s Question gives voice to these wonders of nature, and many others as well, in their author’s distinctive and well-recognized style.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834) was an English poet and critic whose critical work of Shakespeare was especially influential. What he was best known for, however, was his impact on the Romantic movement in England, which he was mainly responsible for in the late 18th century. Coleridge’s nature poetry was particularly popular, and it was strongly influenced by the German idealist philosophy of the time, which he also helped introduce in England.

Answer to a Child’s Question is one of the greatest examples of Coleridge’s skill and talent when it came to writing about nature. Through his words, the beauty and strong, vital harmony of nature is expressed through words that touch our hearts in the most soothing and gentle of ways even more than two centuries after they were set on paper.

The poem was included in The Golden Book of Coleridge published in 1914, and was also found in several other publications containing the collected works of the author. You can find it alongside other notable poetry works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge that include poems such as A Christmas Carol, Song, To a Young Lady and Work Without Hope.

Despite its seeming simplicity, this remarkable poem features layers of depth that one can scarcely find even in the later works of poets who were inspired by Coleridge in writing about nature. His ability to convey the emotions invoked by birds, trees and even the wind will captivate even 21st century readers. Thus Coleridge’s timeless style and the gentle but powerful intensity of his metaphors continue to live on through Answer to a Child’s Question.
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