Kubla Khan

Kubla Khan

General General Romanti Romanti cism  cism  

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Pantheistic –  Pantheistic –  spirituality  spirituality found through the beauty of nature, which allows oneself to experience God. 2 waves of Romanticism –  Romanticism  –  1800s, and 1830-50

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1797 Came to him in a dream that was opium induced. Fell asleep, had a dream/vision that was 200300 lines. When he he awoke, he started writing, but was interrupted and therefore forgot. Second half of poem was written after the interruption from what he could remember. May not have been true –  true –  reason could be to put the notion of the importance of imagination out there as a Romantic.

IMAGINATION 

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River, sunless sea, etc. –  etc. –  lifeless dark place in the subconscious of the imagination, which can’t necessarily be accessed. The fountain is therefore the source of inspiration. Goes back to the lifeless sea.

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Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.

Mongolian emperor –  emperor –  exotic  exotic Violence –  Violence –  Mongols  Mongols famous for violently taking over large areas. Alliteration

[Subtitle] Fragment Imagination is so powerful, that it’s so difficult to capture and to hold/maintain. The transient nature of 

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In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

imagination. Xanadu Summer capitol  exotic, different, unusual. Kubla Khan as a place of  pleasure Stately Contrasting tone to violence. Connotation of reservation, grandness. Pleasure-dome decree Alliteration Compound word Dome Connotations of circle –  no  beginning or end. Sacred river Mongols not Christian. Not traditional religion that he’s talking about, and the Romantic view of religion isn’t traditional. River, ran Alliteration Many sound techniques in the  poem Aplh, the sacred river Alpheus, a river in Greece,  pursued the nymph, Arethusa, and dived underground and  below the sea until it reemerged in a fountain. The Alph is also a legendary river with features similar to the river Nile in Africa. The Egyptians considered the Nile sacred, so perhaps this is why Coleridge refers to the Alph as a sacred river. Measureless to man/sunless sea Dark imagery 

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

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Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

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Through caverns measureless to man

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Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground

Twice five miles Emphasizes size Fertile ground Positive image Girdled round Confining image Towers 

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With walls and towers were girdled round;

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And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Held in, watched connotations

Incense-bearing Overtones of religion Ancient as the hills Simile Ancientness –  feelings of deep respect and permanency with value. Enfolding Beautiful image somewhat contained and restricted. Tonal shift. Sense of violent nature moving.  Note use of verbs.  Exclamatory  –  harshness, violence But oh! Volta –  change of direction Exclamatory –  in wonder, surprise. 

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Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

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But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

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Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! A savage place! as holy and enchanted

Savage place! Surprising Holy and enchanted Holy –  connotations of holiness and religion Enchantment –  non traditional religion Therefore, mix between the two. 

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As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

 Not a traditional, religious image. More Pagan. Onomatopoeic, alliteration Demon-lover This is a reference to an eastern legend where a woman, after falling in love, discovered that her lover was a demon or a supernatural  being. Thereafter, she kept on looking for him in all sorts of enchanted places. Sense of foreboding movement Sibilance –  threatening Alliteration in first stanza –  long and soft. 

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And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

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As if this earth in fast thick pants were  breathing, A mighty fountain momently was forced: Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail: And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever It flung up momently the sacred river. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion Through wood and dale the sacred river ran, Then reached the caverns measureless to man, And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean; And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far  Ancestral voices prophesying war!

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Simile, personification

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Simile

Supernatural overtone Prophesying war Largely discussed by critics as to what that will mean War This would ruin the pleasure dome. Therefore, reality (war) ruins imagination and his sense of please –  fleeting. Shadow of the dome  Not a full experience 

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The shadow of the dome of pleasure

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Floated midway on the waves; Where was heard the mingled measure

Mingled Halfway in everything –   between the fountain and the caves. 

From the fountain and the caves. It was a miracle of rare device,

Device/ice Rhyme Miracle Religious overtones Sunny pleasure-dome…caves of ice Paradox –  heat and cold Bringing things together, to get back to the real world.  Another vision Dulcimer Stringed instrument 

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A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

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A damsel with a dulcimer

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In a vision once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid And on her dulcimer she played, Singing of Mount Abora.

Mount Abora Symbol of a muse? To unlock 

his inspiration. Appears to be exotic etc. Could I revive within me Her symphony and song, To such a deep delight ’twould win me, That with music loud and long, I would build that dome in air, That sunny dome! those caves of ice! And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

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Critics –  talking about himself

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Repetition

His Weave a circle round him thrice,

Thrice Biblical connotation –  holy trinity. Supernatural overtones –   power attached to it. Three –  wrapping around and solidifying the pantheistic  beliefs. Holy dread In awe and dread when God is confronted. Combination of  paradoxical feelings. 

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And close your eyes with holy dread

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For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Paradise After death usually. Therefore if that’s experienced before death, it’s the ultimate knowledge which results in people being scared of that knowledge being held. Milk of paradise Coleridge, having ‘drunk the milk of paradise’ desired and sought after the beautiful image of Xanadu and Utopia, and his final stanza is his way of describing to the reader how badly he wants to go  back there.  

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