Samuel Coleridge: "Work Without Hope"

The first section of the poem talks about the beauty of nature. The man sees nature at work; "Slugs leave their lair – The bees are stirring – birds are on the wing…" (lines 2-3). The man refers to himself as an "unbusy" thing. Contrasting himself with the animals, he states, "And I the while, the sole unbusy thing, nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing" (lines 5-6).   He sees nature and begins to realize that while it is beautiful, he has trouble seeing the beautiful. "And Winter slumbering in the open air...." (line 3), he uses the imagery of winter, a desolate season, to describe his to imply the man’s attitude.

In the second section of the poem, the man develops these thoughts even further. He speaks of the beauty of the streams and flowers around him, but says, "Bloom, O ye amaranths! Bloom for whom he may, For me ye bloom not!" (lines 8-9). He knows of the beauty surrounding him, but in the state he is in, he is not able to see it and appreciate it. The man describes himself as having, "lips unbrightened" and a "wreathless brow." (line 11).  This represents his lack of success. He is sterile, like winter, having borne no fruit, or achieved any amount of success. He is despairing, and sees no hope for his future. The man is despaired with the unsuccessful times of the sterile winter days, and cannot see the beauty of nature around him.

The last two lines of this poem are the turning point, and make it all come together. Coleridge writes, "Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve, And hope without an object cannot live." The man is saying that drawing nectar in a sieve is impossible because is just drains through, as will any work without hope. Hope cannot live without an object, because if there is no hope and no point, then there is no reason to continue. These lines show how hopeless the man is. He has no hope, and sees himself as a cold, lonely winter. Although it is a beautiful day, blooming with the first signs of spring, he cannot see anything other than the hopelessness that surrounds him.