"This Lime-tree Bower My Prison" is a poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first composed in 1797. An informal early version consisting of only 56 lines was first sent to the poet Robert Southey, with a longer version published in 1800, followed by a final version published in Coleridge's collection Sibylline Leaves in 1817.
The poem, based on a real incident, depicts Coleridge sitting under the bower of a lime tree, unable to accompany his friends (in real life William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy, and Charles Lamb) and the speaker's wife, Sara, on a walk due to an accident. The speaker is frustrated that he is not able to participate in the walk but his bitterness turns...
