Make a critical estimates of
Kubla Khan as a romantic poem or
Dwell upon the romantic elements
of Kubla Khan.
Ans : Introduction : Kubla Khan is
one of the most fascinating poems by Coleridge.
It was composed by him during the summer of 1797. The poet, being in ill-health, was having a
rest in a farm-house. He was reading
Purchas’s Pilgrimage, seated in a chair.
Being under the effect of anodyne, he soon fell asleep, and had a dream
of Kubla Khan’s pleasure-palace. He also
composed about two or three hundred poetic lines on it. He woke up after three hours or so. He immediately took his pen and began to
write down the verses he had composed in his dream. But when he had written down its first thirty
six verses, he was called out by a man on business. The man detained him for an hour or so. When the poet came back to his desk, he found
that the rest of the verses of his dream had disappeared from his memory.
The poet then composed eighteen
lines more towards the poem, and left it as unfinished and unsuitable for
publication. But later George Gordon
Byron requested Coleridge to publish it.
So the poem was published with a brief
Preface by Byron regarding the circumstances of its composition. Byron also gave the following title :
Kubla Khan : Or, A Vision in a
Dream, A Fragment.
Its Poetic thought : Two Parts
The Poetic thought of the poem
can be divided into two parts. The first
part may contain the first thirsty six verses which were composed by him while asleep and written
down on waking. The last eighteen lines
may be said to make up the second part.
In the first one, he represents the situation and the nature of Kubla
Khan’s pleasure-palace. In the second,
he wishes for the magic of poetic music to create the pleasure-dome of his
listeners’ imagination.
In the first part, he writes that
Kubla Khan commanded his ministers to erect him a pleasure-dome on the bank of
the Alph, in the wild regions of Xanadu.
The pleasure-palace was to be built in the deep, deep, rift through
which the Alph ran before falling into a
dark sea. In obedience to the Emperor’s
command, his men therefore, got a ten-mile stretch of fertile land surrounded
with walls and watchtowers. Within the
enclosed space, there were green gardens with twisting small brooks, a large
number of fruit-trees laden with fragrant blossoms and fruits, ancient forests
and hills. The most wonderful thing
there was a deep, romantic, chasm inside a hill covered with a green wood of
cedar trees. And inside the chasm there
sprang a powerful fountain of water. Its
water flowed down, in the form of the
river called the Alph. It flowed down
like a serpent through woods and a valley, for five miles. Then it entered the deep, deep, ravines, and
then ran into a dead sea in a rush.
Kubla Khan’s pleasure-palace was built on the bank on the river, in
those ravines. One day Kubla Khan, while
resting in the pleasure-palace, heard
his ancestors’ voices prophesying a future war.
The pleasure-palace was a wonderful building; its dome was sunny whereas
its underground chambers were icy cold.
In the second part, the poet
wishes for the enchanting power of a song sung in his dream by an Abyssinian
maid to the accompaniment of a dulcimer.
If he could recapture the melody of the song, it would inspire him to
sing his poem loud and long to build the pleasure-palace in his listeners’
imagination. He adds that his listeners
would also be filled with awe and fear of divine power, noticing his flashing
eyes and effect him. Some of them would
also warn others to be careful of their behaviour, weave three circles round
him respectfully, and look upon him as a poet with divine inspiration.
Dream Quality
Evidently the first part of the
poem was composed in a dream, as Byron
tells us in his Preface to the poem. But
the whole poem is gifted with the quality of a romantic dream. It can be evidenced by the description of the
surroundings of Kubla Khan’s pleasure
dome. The green hill in which the
romantic charm existed was a “savage a”.
Further, inside the gulf, there sprang a powerful fountain of water
intermittently. With its jets of water,
there also sprang into the air huge fragments of rock. The waters of the fountain later flowed down
in the form of the Alph, and entered “the caverns measureless to man,”
“
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean,
And
mild this tumult Kubla heard from
Ancestral
voices Prophesying war!
Here the succession of the images
is like the succession of the images of a swift-moving dream. The transition of the images of one scene to
those of another is abrupt(sudden) and in conformity with the nature of a
dream. For example, after representing
the noise of the falling river, the poet perceives Kubla Khan in his
pleasure-dome already erected, and hearing his ancestors’ voices coming from
inside the noise.
Romantic features: Medievalism
The first romantic feature of the
poem is what is called Medievalism.
Kubla Khan was the Mongol Emperor of China, and ruled over his empire
from 1257 to 1294. He, his summer
capital Xanadu, and his grand pleasure dome, carry us back into the Middle
Ages, on the wings of imagination. They
lure us by a sense of remoteness in time and space, and sweep us away into
Kubla Khan’s times and empire in China of the 13th century.
The Remote and the Fearful
Among other romantic features of the poem are the
remote and the fearful. Coleridge’s
poetry does not transport us into a medieval city. On the contrary, we are transported into a
wild wild, region of ancient woods and hills.
The place is quite imaginary and as remote as one of a dream. It is also fearful. We are struck by the imaginary vision of a
deep, fantastic, gaping hollow, cleaving a hill into two parts each of which is covered with green
cedars. Then we are made to perceive
fearful sounds, as if the earth were breathing out in fast, thick, pants. In fact, the sounds are those of the
inter-mittent bursts of a fountain of water inside the hollow. Then we are made to perceive the awful river
flowing through deep, deep, ravines.
The Supernatural : Another romantic feature of
the poem is representation or rather suggestion of the supernatural. The romantics chasm is described as an awful
place possessed by demons who seduce women of beauty. Under the waning moon, the place is possessed
by the supernatural exclusively. For
example, on waning moon nights it is frequented by a woman wailing for her
demon-lover who had seduced her in human form.
Then there is another suggestion of the supernatural element. Huge fragments of rocks spring from inside
the earth, along with jets of water like “chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s
flail.” . Then the voices of Kubla Khan’s ancestors have
a supernatural touch. The image of the
poet in poetic frenzy (passion)also resembles that of a man possessed by a
spirit.
MINGLING OF THE NATURAL WITH THE
SUPERNATURAL
Then there is a subtle mingling
of the natural with the supernatural.
The tumultuous rising of the Alph, its winding for miles and miles
through woods and valleys, then entering the fearful caves and sinking into the
dead sea, with an uproar – these are
natural things in themselves. Yet the
noise of the river is connected with the supernatural, since Kubla Khan’s ancestral voices come from inside the uproar
of the river. The poet’s indirect
suggestion is that the remote, the fearful, and the noisy things of Nature may be possessed by the supernatural. That is why he calls the Alph,” the sacred
river,” and the romantic chasm, as “holy and enchanted.”
WITCHERY OF VERBAL MUSIC
Another romantic element of the
poem is the witchery of verbal music.
The subtle use of alliterations
and the modulations of vowel-sounds are devices to induce the reader to suffer
a romantic sleep. The verses move on, as
if they were incantations of magic spell.
For the poet would build the dome and the underground chambers, in the
air, with his loud and long magical music, the movement of the verses is so sweet and natural as
the gurgling music of a small stream in the hot summer.
Conclusion :
According to Humphry House, it is
a poem about the act of poetic creation..
But generally it is considered a most romantic poem characterized by
dream quality, medievalism, a sense of the remote and that of the fearful, the
supernatural element, the mingling of the natural with the supernatural, and
the witchery of romantic verbal music.
In brief, it is characterized by
all the features known as romantic features. According to one critic, “ The remote and the
fearful constitute the essence of Coleridge’s romanticism.” Viewed in the light of this observation, we
may call Kubla Khan a great romantic poem, a conspicuous example of Coleridge’s
romantic poetry.
Kubla Khan or A Vision in
A Dream, A Fragment
Ans : Introduction : Kubla Khan
was composed by Coleridge during the summer of 1797. But he did not publish it, regarding it as a
fragment. Later it was published, in
1816 at the request of George Gordon Byron, the young Romantic poet. Byron also gave it a title :
Kubla Khan, or A vision in a
dream, a fragment: It was then published with Byron’s brief Preface which
explained the circumstances in which it
was composed.
The poet then composed eighteen
lines more towards the poem – lines 37 – 54, and left it as fragment not worth
publishing. But Byron got it published
in 1816.
Substance of the Poem : Kubla
Khan (the Mongol Emperor of China) ordered his men to build for him a grand
pleasure-palace in the wild regions of Xanadu.
The pleasure-palace was to be erected on the banks of the Alph, a sacred
river, in-side the deep, deep ravines through which the river ran towards an
ever-dark sea. So a ten-mile stretch of
fertile land was surrounded with walls and watchtowers. The enclosed space had bright gardens, small
streams, ancient woods, and hills, inside it.
But the most wonderful thing which was a deep, fantastic, ravine. And inside the ravine, there bounced a mighty
fountain of water from the earth.
Fragments of rocks also went into the air with the jets of water. And the fountain waters then ran downwards,
rolling the stones, in the form of the sacred river called the Alph.
The river followed a winding
course for five miles. Then it ran down like a serpent, through woods and a
valley. Then it entered the deep, deep,
ravines, and flowing through them, ‘ it ran with a great noise, into a dead
sea. Once Kubla Khan in that
pleasure-palace heard, from far, the voices of his ancestors, coming from the
great noise of the falling river.
The pleasure-palace was a
wonderful building. Since it stood on
the bank of the Alph, its reflection was visible in the waves of the
river. It also stood midway between the
place of the fountain and the place
where the Alph ran into the sea. So a
mixed noise of both the fountain and the
falling-river was audible in the Pleasure-palace. It was also so high that its dome was
sunny. It was also so deep that its
under-ground chambers were icy cold.
Once the poet had a vision of a girl with a dulcimer. She was singing of Mount Abora. Her song excited great delight in the sleeping poet. He wishes he could revive her song in his
soul. It
would excite a great delight in
him. And in the ecstasy of the song, the poet would sing his own
poem loudly and long, and would creat Kubla Khan’s Pleasure-palace in the air (of the
imagination). He believes that his
listeners would perceive the whole Pleasure-palace in their mind’s sky. They would also charm by his flashing eyes
and waving hair. So they would look upon him as a superhuman
being fed on heavenly food and milk. And
they would advise one another to weave three circles round him and shut their
eyes with awe and reverence.
Dejection : An Ode
Introduction : The poem dejection : An Ode was originally a
verse letter and was first written in 1802.
It is said that in its original form it was made up of 340 lines. It was then thoroughly revised and six months
later published in the Morning Post of 4th October 1802. It was again revised and finished in its present form of 139 lines. Now it consists of eight stanzas of uneven
lengths.
The poem is essentially a
lament. Here the poet bewails his
gloomy, barren, dejection in which he has lost “the shaping spirit of imagination.”
The main cause of the poet’s sorrow is that this state of dejection has
virtually destroyed his creative poetic power.
Substance of the Poem :
Thomas Percy tells his master that at a late hour last night, he saw the
old moon stands in the arms of the new one.
So a terrible storm is about to appear soon.
Coleridge begins his ode
with reference to the weather forecast
in the quoted lines. He says that if the
poet of the Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence can make such a weather forecast, he can also do so, for he notices
the old moon in the arms of the new one in the sky. So a terrible rainy storm shall disturb the
night soon. He wishes the noisy storm
come just then, scared his dejection out of his being, and filled him with
poetic inspiration as it used to do in the past.
Addressing his beloved Lady, he
says that he has been gazing at the
western sky throughout the peaceful evening.
Beautiful objects of Nature are there before him. Yet he is unable to feel their charm.
He has lost his amiable
spirits. A heavy burden of grief lines
over his heart. But beautiful objects of
Nature do not raise it at all. So he
believes that the real sources of passion and life are within the human
heart. When they are dried up, one
cannot expect the external objects to renew them.
Addressing his Lady, he says that
Nature does not possess any life independent of
ours. We cast our joy or sorrow
over her and are happy or sad accordingly.
The objects of Nature are lifeless and uninteresting. Whatever light or glory we see in them, it is
a projection of the glory of our own soul.
The source of this light, this
glory, this beautiful and beauty making power is the joy in the heart and
soul. In effect, this joy is at once
life, pleasant thoughts and feelings.
This joy is the power giving principle and unites us with Nature,
through imagination. This joy is granted
only to the pure-hearted. All the
external melodies and pleasant sights of Nature are simply the echoes and the
reflections of the joy.
There was once a time when the
poet’s heart was filled with this joy.
So he was able to derive pleasure from the hopes of others even. But now he has been crushed by earthly sorrows
and cares. What pains him most is that
every fit of his depression spoils the inborn gift of his creative power of
imagination. His metaphysical studies,
too, have damaged his poetic powers, and tend his thoughts to infertile
metaphysics.
Thoughts of metaphysics are
poisonous to the poet’s mind. So he wants to divert his attention to the beauty of
Nature. But the wind does not give him any joy.
It is producing a sound of
groaning wounded soldiers trembling with cold.
And now, it is producing the sound of a moaning little girl who has lost
her way home.
It is already midnight. But there is no sleep in the poet’s
eyes. The poet then concludes his ode
with a prayer for Sara Hutchinson. May she
sleep gently! May she get up with a cheerful heart next morning! May she live in happiness forever and ever!
Coleridge As a Romantic Poet :
Coleridge was a born
romantic. To him, romanticism was a cult
of conceiving ideas, and experiencing feelings and emotions, which were remote
from ordinary experience and real life.
As a poet, he wanted to experience an intense emotion, which was
thrilling as well as striking. And he
also wanted to represent such emotion in his poems, with a view to amazing his
readers with romantic beauty. The power
to excite such emotion in himself, and to represent it in his poetry, he found
in the shaping spirit of his imagination.
As early as 1793 he believed that
the fruit of Romanticism was an intense poetic emotion represented with all the
glories of the imagination. Soon his
poetic experience told him that an intense, thrilling and striking, emotion could be excited in
him, and represented in his poem, by the shaping power of his own romantic
imagination. To strengthen the power of
his imagination, he made his senses submissive to it. So when his imagination, made more powerful
by his senses, went into action, the result was a poetic vision of great
beauty.
Treatment of Nature
The Weird in Nature
TREATMENT OF THE SUPERNATURAL
THE MIDDLE AGES
DREAM ATMOSPHERE
ELEMENT OF MYSTERY
HYPNOTIC WORD MUSIC
CONCLUSION : To conclude, Coleridge as the Romantic
poet seems to believe that the elements of poetic Romanticism are an intense
emotion, gloriously romantic imagination, treatment of the sensuous and the
spiritual aspects of Nature, and a fine treatment of the supernatural and the
eerie. According to a renowned tritic, “ The remote and the fearful
constitute the essence of Coleridge’s Romanticism.” The critic implies that Medievalism and the
setting of fearful places are the other most striking elements of Coleridge’s
Romanticism. But his most peculiar and
cultivated elements are a dream atmosphere around his poetic vision, an element
of mystery attached to it, and the monotonous poetic music which seem to cast a
dream-inducing spell on his readers..
Now, for all the above romantic
elements in his poetry, Coleridge has
been called “the most romantic of the romantics.” Coleridge produces poetic enchantment by
purely natural means, which is the triumph of his Romanticism.
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