Effusion 23: To the Nightingale

In "Effusion 23: To the Nightingale," Samuel Taylor Coleridge speaks to the nightingale and examines the meaning of the nightingale's melancholy song in relation to love. Coleridge acknowledges that the nightingale's song is sad: "Most Musical, most melancholy bird!" But the nightingale's song is also extremely beautiful, and although Coleridge realizes this, not everyone does. To some the nightingale's song is only sad. This is because nature can emulate our emotions and we see what we feel in nature, meaning that maybe the people who think the nightingale's song is only sad are actually sad almost all of the time. These people experience "the languishment of lonely love..." and think that love always ends painfully and alone. Coleridge acknowledges that love, like the nightingale's song, can be sad at times. Coleridge experience this firsthand throughout his life, as he had many problems with his love life. But often the nightingale's song is extremely sweet and beautiful, and Coleridge knows that love is often the same way. He knows this because he now loves his wife Sara, whom he mentions towards the end of the poem. Coleridge says that her voice, like the nightingale's, is very sweet. Since Coleridge is now happily in love, he sees that the nightingale's song is happy because he sees his own feelings in the nightingale.