What are the thoughts in the mind of Coleridge as he muses beside a fire on a frosty night in the poem "Frost at Midnight?"

In Coleridge's poem, "Frost at Midnight," several thoughts
come to the speaker. The author (Coleridge) is sitting by the fire, in solitude that
allow him to pursue " href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Abstruse">abtruser musings."
While his thoughts may be hard for others to follow, he sees a connection between his
own past and the future of his child—a son who sleeps in a cradle next to him, while the
rest of the household has retired for the evening.

One
thought that arises in the author's mind is how disturbingly quiet it is. The
"silentlessness" rather than calming Coleridge, makes him agitated. He notes how unusual
this lack of sound it, when the town is generally overrun by
noise.

He sees the "stranger" (a flap of sooty film) on the
fireplace's grate and recalls his years as a student away from home. The "stranger" was
superstitiously supposed to announce the arrival of an absent friend. The author alone
at school was still young enough to believe the superstition, and lonely enough to look
for a friend or family member (such as his sister—who he dearly loved) to appear
mystically at his school during these times of
isolation.

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How oft, at school, with most believing
mind,

Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars...and as
oft

With unclosed lids, already had I
dreamt

Of my sweet birth-place, and the old
church-tower...

As the author
sits looking at his sleeping child, he hopes and anticipates (as does every parent,
perhaps) that the future will hold so much more for his little boy than was offered
Coleridge. While Coleridge (the Romantic poet, with a love for nature) only saw the sky
and stars between buildings as he grew up, he hopes his son will wander over the face of
the earth, "like a breeze," by lakes, along shorelines, around mountains, and beneath
clouds. He expects God will grant him these things.

It
occurs to Coleridge that with this kind of familiarity with nature, his son will
perceive "all seasons [to] be sweet," wherever he goes and whatever the time of
year.

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Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to
thee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or
the redbreast sit and
sing...

These are the main
ideas that occur to the poet as he sits by the fire while their is "frost at
midnight."