Colerdige's Kubla Khan
"Kubla Khan" by Samuel Coleridge is a poem about the magnificent power of the creative mind. Using vivid images and mystery, Coleridge is able to show how an inspired poet has the ability to create new worlds with his imagination. The only problem that Coleridge encounters as he progresses through this poem, is the fact that everything that is created in ones mind risks destruction when introduced into the "real" world. In the first stanza of this poem a "pleasure dome" is described. In this first stanza there is no mention of the turmoil or wrenching work that could be associated with creating such a place. This comes later. In this first stanza Coleridge is mainly concerned with the existence of the dome itself. Through caverns measureless to manThis pleasure dome exists in Xanadu which gives the reader a sense that it is not in a real place. It is necessary to understand the rest of the poem in order to fully grasp these lines. In understanding the rest of the poem it becomes evident that these lines suggests that this paradise was born from a vision, or po
In order for the reader to acknowledge the two extremes of the poem, it is necessary to have images that stand in total opposition to one another. This gives the dome a sense of surreal power and unearthly potential. But since it is now tainted it can never be what it was supposed to be. The river has frozen and turned to ice before Coleridge could ever put the water to use. A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision I once saw: It was an Abyssinian maid, And on her dulcimer she played, Singing of Mount Abora Could I Revive within me Her symphony and song, To such a deep delight 'twould win me,In saying this he is directly telling the reader that everything he spoke about in prior stanzas were a part of his vision. So twice five miles of fertile ground, With walls and towers were girdled round, And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree, And here were forests ancient as the hillsEnfolding sunny spots of greenery. The poem progresses from paradise to hell and from light to dark. The last line of the second stanza combines the "sunny dome" and "caves of ice". In this poem, Coleridge journeys through the inner depths within his own mind. It passes a woman who is "wailing for her demon lover". In the first paragraph the river went on to "fertile ground" after passing these caverns, which is very different from the "lifeless ocean". At this point of the poem Coleridge is addressing his inability to transform his thoughts into reality. Fragments of rock and water are "vaulted like rebounding hail" out of the river. A plant evolves spontaneously from a seed with the correct nourishment.
Common topics in this essay:
Kubla Khan,
Nature Nature's,
Beware Beware,
Abora Revive,
Samuel Coleridge,
Nature Romantic,
pleasure dome,
poem progresses,
fertile ground,
sacred river,
caves ice,
caverns measureless,
sunless sea,
stanza poem,
rest poem,
own mind,
wailing demon lover,
dome caves ice,
woman wailing demon,
vaulted rebounding hail,
drunk milk paradise,
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Acceptance Essays
