Samuel Coleridge: "Work without Hope"

In his poem, “Work without Hope,” Samuel Coleridge contrasts a busy, joyful nature with  a desolate speaker.  “All Nature seems at work,” (line 1) he begins.  The speaker, however, describes himself as, “the sole unbusy thing,” (line 5).  This is a stark contrast to much of the Romantic selection that I’ve read so far.  The speaker doesn’t have the same, what I would call, “oneness with nature”.  He is out of sync with nature.  While, “The bees are stirring - birds are on the wing,” (line 2), the speaker states that, “Nor honey make, nor pair nor build, nor sing.” (lines 6).  Even the, “Slugs leave their lair,” (line 1).  Slugs do not exactly have a reputation for being industrious or productive, but even they are out and about.  This disconnect with nature is further emphasized in the second stanza.  Though the speaker knows where the amaranths grow and the streams of nectar flow, he takes no pleasure in them.  “Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,/ For me ye bloom not!  Glide! rich streams, away!” (lines 7-8).  Simple knowledge of nature is not enough.  It’s kind of like a certain genre of music.  One may be able to recognize it, but that doesn’t mean that he or she, “gets” it.  There’s a certain understanding, perhaps a certain commonality missing here that prevents the speaker from working  in harmonious industry with nature.  

This contrast between nature and the speaker is further promoted by the personification of winter.  “And Winter slumbering in the open air,/ Wears on his smiling face a dream of spring,” (lines 3-4).  In my experience, there is a lot of symbolism in the seasons.  Spring tends to symbolize birth and rebirth.  Summer is analogous to the prime of life, and autumn corresponds to decline.  Winter is often used to symbolize death.  Yet here, Winter is optimistic, hopeful, and looking forward to spring and rebirth.  The speaker, however, describes himself as without such hope.  He feels lifeless, “with lips unbrightened,” (line 11), and speaks of spells that drowse my soul,” (line 12).  The speaker’s despair is most apparent in the last two lines. “Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,/ And Hope without an object cannot live,” (lines 13-14).  The speaker, because he has no hope, gets no nectar, no sweetness or joy, from it.  This lack of hope and joy is perhaps the missing connection between himself and nature.  Furthermore, it appears that he does not even consider himself whole, as functioning.  As he cannot hold hope, he is not an object, a being.