The opening lines of the poem are colloquial and abrupt. They immediately establish the reality of the author's confinement by referring to his current position as a "prison." ("Well, they are gone and here I must remain, this lime tree bower my prison") Coleridge continues describing what he thinks his friends are experiencing without him throughout the remainder the first stanza. To-day Coleridge might be considered melodramatic, but to a poet of the romantic period he is being denied much more than a nature walk, he is being denied the chance to appreciate the beauty of nature and perhaps to expand his love for it. Coleridge enlists the use of imagery to appeal to our senses and help us to create the scene in our own imaginations e.g "the roaring dell" - a natural hollow with a strong wind moving through the trees; and "grasses dark green file of long lank weeds" - tall, thin grasses standing at attention enable us to imagine what he thought.
Coleridge goes on to describe what he imagines is the climax of the excursion throughout the second stanza. The descriptive language of the poem now assumes certain grandeur - "the wide wide Heaven", and "the many-steepled tract magnificent etc"and there is a sense of heightened colour : "purple heath-flowers!"; "yellow light" and "blue Ocean!" and excitement - "richlier burn, ye clouds!" and "hues as veil the Almighty Spirit, when yet he makes Spirits perceive his presence.". It is this enthusiasm that leads Coleridge to reach the stage of enlightenment that is described in stanza three.
Coleridge comes to the realization that nature is all around for those that care to look for it; he also discovers the true power of his imagination as he accompanies his friends on their journey with his third eye.
I believe Coleridge has decided to send this poem to Charles Lamb because he is constantly pent up in the city and Samuel wishes to share with him, the realization that nature is everywhere, even in the cold, cruel...