Kubla Khan Flashcards
A03 context
Did he finish the poem
Authenticity of the introduction is doubted: instead being seen as a fiction in itself
Poem probably finished 1798 rather than written instantly
Says unfinished to avoid criticism OR POSs - so much eroticism that Coleridge felt he wanted to ascribe the composition to something beyond himself OR to excuse the blashphemy
‘Few srsly believe Kubla Khan is unfinished’
Poem either as an entire text working with musical and symbolic logic, or a wilful ‘fragment’, comparable to the kind of gothic architectural jolly popular in Coleridge time, and all the more sublime because of its infinite suggestion
A03
Accent
Coleridge has Devonshire accent ‘a’ assonances in Xanadic and Khan are full rhymes with ‘ram’ and ‘man’
Coleridge - Devon w Cornish and Somerset friends
A03
State of mind when he wrote poem
Coleridge includes a briefer comment about having written Kubla Khan when high on opium
A03
Bruce and Bartram’s travels
And river
Both writers associate the expensive force of these fountains and their deluges to fragments of rocks and trees
In coleridge’s time fragments and torrents suggest apocalyptic war then (1798) ranging in Europe
Did Coleridge remember Kubla was credited historically w warlike fears (like his father Ghanhis Khan) but w introducing Buddhism to his realm- as the result of a vision
River can be seen as Eden river
Poem structure thingy
Mingling of iambic pentameter and trochaic tetrameter and solitary trimeter threatening us with ‘sunless sea’
A01
Stanza 1: who is first character introduced and what has he achieved
Kubla Khan - built a pleasure dome and idyllic state
A01
Stanza 2
What are the key elements in the setting described here?
‘Mighty fountain’
‘Sacred river’
‘Savage place’
‘Prophesies of war’
‘Woman wailing’
‘Demon-lover’
A01
Stanza 3
How are the images of stanza 1+2 United
Reflection of river and shadow
A01
Stanza
Who is the character introduced and what would the poet do if he could remember her song?
Abyssinian maid - ignites his imagination
He would build the dome
‘Abyssinian maid/ and on her dulcimer she played’
What are the 3 ways the poem is interpreted
A05
Coleridge usually wrote from the perspective of his Christian values.
Here, he has written an elaborate introduction to excuse himself from a poem which could be interpreted as erotic and blasphemous
Coleridge’s contemporary readers were most interested in the poems varied cadences (Up and down of rhythm) and sensual symbolism, enjoying it as ‘verbal music’
Coleridge read widely and diversely, meaning the poem has been influenced by many sources.
How can the poem be seen as:
Coleridge’s usually wrote from the perspective of Christian values. Here he has written an elaborate introduction to excuse himself from a poem which can be seen as erotic and blasphemous
A05
‘Holy and chanted’
Holy connotations with God and purity
Enchanted - magic- black magic - no control - not your fault
Simile - ‘woman wailing for her demon lover’
- wailing for sex - women weren’t meant to want
- demon
- orgasm
Fountain - phalic connotations - penis
Chasm -Deep pit of opening - vagina
‘Mighty fountain momentarily was forced’
Coleridge challenging God stanza 4
- sin of fornication - promising paradise - establish religion out of imagination
‘I would built that dome in air’
How can poem be seen as
COLERIDGES CONTEMPORARY READERS WERE MOST INTERESTED IN THE POEMS VAROED CADENCES (up and down rhythm) AND SENSUAL SYMBOLISM, ENJOYING IT AS ‘VERBAL MUSIC’
Alliteration and masculine line endings (endings w stressed syllable) used in stanza 1! ‘Dome decree’ ‘River ran’ ‘Driving force’ ‘Sunless sea’ ‘Measureless to man’
Stanza 2: feminine line endings (unstressed) and more assonance
‘Moon’ ‘cover’ ‘lover’
Softer rhymes and ‘moon’
Force of water = fertility ‘mighty fountain’
Stanza 3: imagination reunites ‘sin’ and ‘ice’ reconnects
Stanza 4: music as the purest vehicle of imagination. Damsels music is a trigger to his imagination
How can the poem be seen as
COLERIDGE READS WIDELY AND DIVERSELY MEANING THE POEM HAS BEEN INFLUENCED BY MANY SOURCES. I’m
The biblical prophecy by the prophet Exehiel of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and his account of women wailing for the demon Tammuz, in the valley of lamentations
“Xanadu de Kubla Khan”
“By woman wailing for her demon lover”
The biblical vision by John in the Book of Revelation of the river of water of life, flowing from the throne of God, and of a new Jerusalem suspended in heaven
‘The sacred river ran’
The myth of Cybele who was an earth goddess associated w both fertility and destruction.
‘A mighty fountain momently was forced’
The myth of Bacchus, the god of intoxication, who was nurtured by milk and honey (opium from paradise)
‘For he on honey dew hath fed/ and drank the milk of paradise’
A03
What romantic themes does Coleridge include in this poem
Nature
Cycle of fertility and destruction
Imagination
A03
Does the poem contain a political message
‘Ancestral voices prophesying war’ - we can stop it - YES
No- why is it in a poem?
Yes - intellectuals can read it
A symbolic expression of political disenchantment and defeat
A04 comparison
On first reading, Kubla Khan May seem v diff to Coleridge’s other poems. But ANY similarities?
Christabel - poem dified any critical consensour to its meaning
V scriptable
Different meanings
Blasphemous
The person from Porlock
Coleridge broke journey from farmhouse between Porlock and lynton’ on Exmoor as a result of ill health (he was on his way back from solo walking excursion to Lynton in north Devon and possibly the nearby Valley or Rocks)
Coleridge took some opium he had been prescribed and felt sleep during which he imagined composing at least 200-300 lines of poetry.
When he awoke, Coleridge claims to have had a ‘distinct recollection of the whole’ and proceeded to write down what he remembered,
But was called out by person on business from Porlock and on returning - unfinished. Debatable on if this is true or if he couldn’t finish.
The mystery of the valley of rocks
One of Coleridge favourite walks was Valley of Rocks
Coleridge’s fascination with scene on valley of rocks - stronger. Essayist Hazlitt later recalled how he had witnessed Coleridge ‘running out bare-headed in a thunderstorm’ to enjoy elements in valley of rocks.
There were names given to certain rocks such as ‘Rugged Jack’, ‘Castle Rock’, and ‘Devil’s Cheesewring’ pertuating the valleys gothic and supernatural appeal
Legend- Devil! His wives engaged in naked drunken party with neighbour, and upon returning the devil instantly turned them into turrets of rock and destroyed the castle.
This could be embedded in Kubla Khan particularly in relation to geological formation of valley
Explain castle caverns and chasms
Critical attention ‘stately pleasure dome’
Coleridge drafted from his reading of Purchas, his pilgrimage’
But
Legend that valley of rocks - once a castle and used for an orgy- reference takes an extra dimension esp when we consider the suggestion that the valley was once a huge cavern
East Lyn Valley
Imagery Coleridge deploys in order to describe the fantastical palace decreed by Kubla Khan also has close links with the East Lyn Valley we see today
Coleridge talks of ‘Alph, the sacred river’ running through ‘wood and dale’ and ‘forests ancient as the hills,/ Enfolding sunny spots of greenery’
This description closely resembles the dense oak woodlands covering sides of East Lyn Valley - which like the river Alph clearly ‘meander(s) with a mazy motion’
Coleridge’s alliteration doesn’t just sound ‘meandering’ here but highlights the ‘mazy’ almost surreal, course of the river
Similarly the sibilance deployed in ‘sunny spots’ invited the reader to imagine a tranquil, pleasant scene and creates an atmosphere of almost Edenic felicity
Theme
Sexual freedom
‘Woman wailing to her demon lover’
‘Fountain’ ‘chasm’ - phallic symbolism
Theme
Power of imagination
Pleasure dome decree
Theme
Religion
I would build that done in the air
Blasphemy - he can built ‘holy’ city
