Kubla Khan, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is one of the most enigmatic and ambiguous pieces of literature ever written. Allegedly written after a laudanum (an opiate) induced dream, the author claims to have been planning a two hundred to three hundred line poem before he got interrupted by a man from Porlock, after which he had forgotten nearly all of his dream. This may have been merely an excuse, and the poem was scorned at the time for having no poetic value, one critic even going so far as to call it more a musical composition than a poem. This is partly true, as the language seems to strive for an aural beauty more than a literary beauty, although it accomplishes both. Like many great artists, Coleridge has been most appreciated after his death, when his radically different works could be justified, as the ideas presented in his works hadnt been popular during his life. Coleridges philosophy in life was very romantic, and so nearly all of his poems exemplify the romantic ideal, especially Kubla Khan.
This romantic poem uses brilliant imagery and metaphors to contrast the ideals of romantic paganism with often ingratious Christianity. The vision of paganism is the first idea introduced in the poem. The super-natural reference to Alph, or Alpheus as it is historically known, the sacred river, [which] ran/ Through caverns measureless to man/ Down to a sunless sea, begins this pagan theme by referring to an underground river that passed through dimensions that could not be understood by any man, and then emptying into an underground sea. This also introduces an idea of the lack of human understanding that recurs at the end of the poem, one of the common elements that tie the poems seemingly two-part separate structure together. Xanadus walls enclosed gardens bright with sinuous rills. These gardens represent the Garden of Eden, or a natural paradise on Earth. The degree of nature in this paradise is such that, although it is a biblical reference, it is still connected to pagan and romantic ideals. The sinuous rills flowing through this garden can be taken as two different metaphors.
The Essay on Poetic Form And Language In 'The Pains Of Sleep' By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
‘The Pains of Sleep’ is written in the first person present tense from the point of view of an un-named narrator; which may (or may not) be the author. However, the nightmares and sleep disruption described in the poem are symptomatic of withdrawal from opiate addiction, an affliction from which Coleridge was known to suffer, and it is prudent to assume that it is the poet who speaks ...
The word rills can mean either a stream or a valley on the moon. The moon is seen as the source of all creativity in romantic idealism, and so this first metaphor is significant in the poem. The lunar references antithesis comes at the end of the stanza, when it speaks of forests ancient as the hills,/ Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. This reference to the sun contrasts with the valleys on the moon. The second metaphor is that of the snake in the Garden of Eden. The word sinuous implies snakelike, and the connection of these small tributaries to the river Alph shows that they are lustful, tempting, and bring about the destruction of those that offend paradise.
These qualities are shared with the Snake from the Garden of Eden and the River Alph (as will soon be seen).
The Garden of Eden idea is further shown with the description of the …deep romantic chasm which slanted Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! A savage place! as holy and enchanted As eer beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon lover! (lines 12-16) Coleridge uses syntax to exaggerate his emotion in the description of the chasm with his use of an exclamation point in the middle of a sentence in line 14. The author is barely able to contain himself, so romantic this chasm is, and so his sentence climaxes before it is even finished, then climaxes again at the end. This builds intensity until the eruption of the chasm that follows. The woman here is Eve, and she is wailing for the source of her desires, literally her demon lover, but figuratively the apple that got her kicked out of Eden. This connects her to the dome, which is also offending paradise, and this wailing is what seems to set off the chasm and become the domes and (presumably) her demise.
The Essay on Paradise Lost
So oft they fell / Into the same illusion, not as man / Whom they triumphed once lapsed. / Thus were they plagued (Milton, Book X, 570-72). Leaving the underworld, once again, defeated by the heavens. Although John Miltons epic poem, Paradise Lost, is considered to be a tragedy, it displays some reminders of a comic end. In its tenth book, when Satan returns to hell, there is the realization of ...
The idea of this material dome of pleasure floating above paradise is reminiscent of a sort of inverted Tower of Babylon, where, instead of building up to reach paradise, the dome, and therefore Kubla Khan, is attempting to reach it from above. Simultaneously, the dome is mocking Heaven, a synonym for paradise, as the dome is a common symbol representing the heavens. This angers nature, and it attacks the dome with the river and the fountain from the chasm. The river Alph is directly related to the Greek god Alpheus, who was the river god. According to Greek mythology, a pagan belief, the god Alpheus had fallen in love with Arethusa, the daughter of Nereus and a Hesperides. The Hesperides are a type of nymph whom tend to a beautiful garden, or paradise, of unknown location. Alpheus took the nymph to Sicily, where Artemis, the god of childbirth and chastity, turned Arethusa into a fountain, so that the two could make love by mingling their waters. The mingling of their waters is occurring in this chasm, where the mighty fountain of Arethusa is located.
To further this image of sex in nature, which Coleridge loved so much and was a large part of the romantic and pagan idea, the chasm is very much likened to a vagina, with its cedarn cover like pubic hair, and its romantic nature, which could mean either relating to romanticism or romance, both of which could have sexual implications. With fast thick pants, the fountain bursts up and the chasm spews out dancing rocks like chaffy grain beneath the threshers flail. Coleridge uses syntax to emphasize the excitement of the climax by not using a comma between the words fast and thick. This speeds up the narration and sends the reader into a state of heart-pounding excitement and elation, showing that the destruction of the dome is a good thing. The choice of diction with the dancing rocks comes to the same effect. These rocks are described as chaffy grain, relating the fragments to the figurative semen, or seed, that the river is spewing out. In this destructive orgy paradises wrath is invoked upon the dome, which is knocked down into the river and swept into the caves at its end to rest in the lifeless ocean (line 28).
The Essay on The Potential Of Ranch Paradise As Tourist Destination In Clark Field Pampanga
This thesis contributes new and unique evidence to the debates how Ranch Paradise became a tourist destination in Clark field Pampanga. Through the use of documentary evidence it investigates both potential and environmental research of the tourist. Asking some people that already have been in Ranch Paradise to know some comments. To raise consciousness on sustainable development and provide a ...
Both the sex in the chasm and the dome entering the caverns before sinking into the sea present the idea of convex and concave. This juxtaposition of a protruding object with a hole or depressed object adds to the two-part structure of the poem, and also lends to the ambiguity that creates complementary opposites in the work.
The presence of a material dome and materialistic ruler in a romantic setting is one example of this juxtaposition, as well as the opposite juxtaposition of the immaterial dome and inspired poet with the ignorant Christians in the second half of the poem. Another example of concave and convex is line 36, A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice! The juxtaposition here is further dramatized by the combination of the convex with heat and the concave with ice. The materialism of this dome is proven and emphasized when the author writes: The shadow of the dome of pleasure/ Floated midway on the waves. The description of the domes shadow proves that the dome is material because only those things constructed of real material can cast a shadow. The romantic term suspension of disbelief is shown when Coleridge describes the mingled measure/ From the fountain and the caves. The suspension of disbelief is when an author writes something that is factually impossible, but must simply be read as it was written by the author for the effect of the writing.
This ocean was described as being silent at the beginning of the poem, and it was five miles away from the fountain that could be heard from it. This term was originally coined by Coleridge, one year afte ….
