Coleridge Poetry Interpretation

Coleridge Poetry (My Interpretation)
By Madison Nef
To start off, I chose a short yet cryptic poem named “Song”. I went through it line by line and this is what I came up with:
Tho’ veiled in spires of myrtle-wreath,
Love is a sword that cuts its sheath,

Okay. I think that this line speaks for itself- metaphorically using love as a sword, and a sheath is supposed to protect a sword when it is not in use. Maybe Coleridge is talking about how when you truly love someone, you will have ups and downs with them where you will fight verbally with them and it will sting- but it is normal. You WILL on occasion “cut your sheath” and hurt the one you love, even if not intentionally.

And thro’ the clefts, itself has made,
We spy the flashes of the Blade!
But thro’ the clefts, itself has made,
We likewise see Love’s flashing blade,

When a couple fight, sometimes it is easy to see. However, if the sword represents LOVE this could also mean that even while you may fight, the hurt that you deal each other in the end show how much you love your significant other if you hold together through the fights. “And through the clefts, itself has made” = and through the words that have been said (hurtfully to the other person) “We spy the flashes of the blade” = we see how even though they fight, their love for each other still shines through in the end.
By rust consumed or snapt in twain:
And only Hilt and Stump remain.
The end can have one of two meanings: By rust consumed (the good ending) or snapt in twain (the bad ending). By rust consumed signifies that through the fighting, you made it to the end of life together and the rust is symbolic for aging. It becomes brittle and finally snaps (death). As for “snapt in twain”, that is pretty much saying that you fought TOO much and the blade of love snapped before it could even rust. This could symbolize divorce or a break up and POSSIBLY death, but either way it is a bad ending.
The poem is titled Song, but I see no relevance to a song at all. Maybe Coleridge was going through a hard time in his life with the one he loved and wrote this to express himself- who knows. That’s the feeling I got from it. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen similar things happen first-hand between my Mom and Dad. Mom was very sick, but even though her and Dad would argue a lot, they stuck through it to the end, love always showing through. Even though not everyone gets a happy ending, everyone USUALLY gets a happy life. Happiness is a choice- you can wake up and choose to smile or you can wake up and frown. Love and Happiness are what you make them.
I hope you like your choices, I know that I like mine.
Maddie