To the River Otter

To the River Otter by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

To the River Otter was written around 1793 when Coleridge was just 21 years old. The Otter was the river running through Ottery St Mary in devon, the village where he was born and spent his early childhood.

The poem is about Coleridge's memories of playing by the river as a child and skimming stones. As an adult he can simply close his eyes and imagine himself amongst the scenes of his childhood. Being able to remember these pleasures helps him to deal with the ups and downs of his adult life. the poem is not really about the river at all, but about Coleridge himself and the part that memory plays in his thoughts and throughout his life. Unlike Wordsworth however, who sees his childhood memories as a source of strength and hope, Coleridge seems to find that recalling his childhood is a bitter-sweet experience because it reminds him of the 'various-fated years' that have intervened since then. The last line, with its heart-felt exclamation, 'Ah!' expresses a wish to turn teh clock back, to abandon his adult cares and become once more 'a carless Child'

The poem is a sonnet, with a rhyme scheme of ABBAACDCDCDECE.

Dear native Brook! wild Streamlet of the West!
How many various-fated years have past,
What happy and what mournful hours, since last
I skimm'd the smooth thin stone along thy breast,
Numbering its light leaps! Yet so deep imprest
Sink the sweet scenes of childhood, that mine eyes
I never shut amid the sunny ray,
But straight with all their tints thy waters rise,
Thy crossing plank, thy marge with willows grey,
And bedded sand that, vein'd with various dyes,
Gleam'd through thy bright transparence! On my way,
Visions of Childhood! oft have ye beguil'd
Lone manhood's cares, yet waking fondest sighs:
Ah! that once more I were a careless Child!


Composed about 1793,
Published Poems on Various Subjects, 1796