Ah Yes... Late...

For my blog post I will be analyzing “On a Discovery Made Too Late” simply for the irony of my situation. The poem focuses on the heartbreak of the speaker, who has no choice but to accept the fact that he and his lover will never be. It is a petrarchan sonnet, with a rhyme scheme of ABBA CDDC EFFE EF. Coleridge keeps the standard iambic pentameter with all masculine rhyme. The poem can be divided into two parts that depict the frustration and acceptance of the speaker.
The speaker uses the first half of the poem to present his situation. The first quatrain focuses on his inner turmoil. He compares his feelings to a festering critical wound. He has evidently loved someone and been deeply hurt by the realization that they cannot be together. He feels blind sighted and recognizes defeat with agonizing pain. With the second quatrain the speaker moves into questioning his situation. He first personifies Hope and blames it for persuading him. In his state of mind he has reached the point where he is trying to find reason for his failure and properly blames Hope and Jealousy for turning him into a “maniac.” Clearly this pain was not his fault (Spoken with heavy sarcasm). The audience can sense that the speaker is feeling pretty hurt, possibly destroyed by his love life. He has presented his despair, but can he recover?
The second half of the poem culminates with his acceptance of the situation. The volta, or switch, occurs in line 9, where the speaker shifts his tone in the middle of the fourth foot. He changes from a passionate anger to a quieting compromise. He moves past the blaming and feeling sorry for himself as he realizes that he still has the love in his dreams. He understands that he cannot change her mind, but she can’t take away the memories. While the memories may be detrimental to his current situation, the fact that he provides a moment of content proves to the audience that his feelings are improving. But then he blows it and revels in self pity. He compares the love to a baby that died in his motherly arms. He recognizes that he could have made things work, but he had let sickness grow until the baby couldn’t be saved.
“On a Discovery Made Too Late” is an all too believable love conclusion. A man settles with defeat when he cannot get the woman he loves. Coleridge’s poem creates sympathy for the speaker and his tragedy. The speaker compares his love to a baby, but luckily the audience can rest assured that he will not be treating a baby of his own so poorly.