“Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw ; whether the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon. “

In “Frost at Midnight,” Coleridge describes an evening in which he recounts his past with his sleeping child at his side, hoping all the while that nature helps to teach his child the ways of the world. In the passage given, Coleridge uses personification as a means of presenting Nature's seasons, or what he perceives to be the ultimate device of instruction, in a more tangible way. Coleridge first presents the season of summer as the one which shall clothe the earth. This personification, while a somewhat abstract metaphor for warmth and shield from cold, can also be interpreted literally. Summer provides a temperature in which crops, such as cotton, are able to grow. In harvesting and processing cotton, one has the means to make clothing, which also serves to warm. Next, Coleridge presents winter for the remainder of the stanza. In describing the redbreast sitting and singing in the snow, Coleridge provides a means of wholesome and innocent entertainment for man, free of corruption and evil intent. The song of a bird is traditionally found to be innocent perhaps because of its lack of words, which can sometimes be unintendedly influential, sometimes negatively so when the content is that of sin and the weaknesses of man. Additionally, snow is white, which is often found to be the color of innocence. Winter is personified more specifically in the last three lines, where Coleridge mentions the “secret ministry of frost” and the “eave-drops” falling. Perhaps it could be understood that the eaves-drops are literally secrets, or