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
