Kubla Khan

 Ideas associated with community, uniqueness, development, individualism, intuition, and imagination

lives derive meaning only when lived within the context of a community

entities, whether the individual, a specific group, or a nation, are unique

The creative artist, whether painter, poet, or musician, became a new cultural hero

The French RevolutionGerman Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant,

Fredrich von Schelling, and August Wilhelm von Schlegl

OpiumHis dreamsSamuel Purchas’s Pilgrimage, a seventeenth-

century travel book recounting the adventures of early explorers

born on October 21st , 1772 in Ottery St. Mary, Devon, England

father, John Coleridge, was a minister and schoolmaster who died when Samuel was ten years old

Samuel was sent to Christ’s Hospital, a boarding school in London.

1791- went to Cambridge University, entered the school as a gifted writer and a conversationalist, but he studied to become a minister.

1794-left Cambridge University just before completing his degree

After he left Cambridge, he went on a walking tour of Oxford where he befriended Robert Southey, who was also a poet.

Southey was also inspired by the French Revolution The two decided to create an Historic Drama called

The Fall of Robespierre. shared a belief in liberty and both developed a plan

for pantisocracy (the idea of having a egalitarian community)

pantisocracy philosophy required every member to be married. This is when Coleridge decided to marry Sarah Fricker, the sister of Robert Southey’s Fiancee. After Marrying her he realized that he didn’t actually love her

This caused grief throughout his life. Coleridge ended up moving to Nether Stowey in Englands west country.

1796- Williams Wordsworth moved to an area around Coleridge

The two had been exchanging letters for many years and became very good friends

began a literary collaboration. This is around the time the Coleridge finished his first version of Kulba Kahn.

Shortly after, Coleridge traveled to Germany

After trip to Germany, he decided to begin a two – year trip to Italy, Sicily, and Malta in 1804.

acted as a public secretary in Malta, but in 1806 he gave up on this job.

1808- returned to Keswick, his opium addiction got worse. caused him to separate from his wife and two years later he began to quarrel with Wordsworth.

1814- Coleridge began to seek help for his drug use. As he got older he wrote political and philosophical works in his Biographia Literaria (his autobiography).

died in 1834 of complications from his dependence on opium

Rhyme scheme- A,B,A,A,B,C,C,D,B,D,B,E,F,E,E,F,G,G,H,I,J,J,K,K,L,A,A,L,M,M,N,O,N,O,P,P,Q,R,S,S,R,B,U,B,U,V,P,V,V,V,W,X,X,W

Syllable count- 8,8,8,8,6,8,9,11,11,10,10,12,11,11,12,11,12,11,10,10,10,10,11,11,12,10,10,11,10,10,9,7,8,7,10,10,8,7,9,8,7,7,6,9,7,7,8,8,8,8,7,8,8,8

Criticism- Nineteenth-century critics tended to dismiss it as a rather meaningless or insignificant poem

In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to man   Down to a sunless sea.                                            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 hills,             

Kubla Khan lives in XanaduGarden paradise surrounded by wallsContains flowing streamsUnknown words:Sinuous rills- meandering rivulets or streamsGirdled- surrounded or confined

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slantedDown the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!A savage place! as holy and enchantedAs e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted   By woman wailing for her demon-lover!And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil      seething,

Crack in the earth down a green hill in the distance

Scene looks haunting Chasm is occupied by a women or the spirit

of a women longing for evilUnknown words:Chasm- crack in the earthE’er- everSeething- to be in a state of agitation or

excitement

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,A mighty fountain momently was forced;Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst                          Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:And ‘mid these dancing rocks at once and ever It flung up momently the sacred river. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion                         Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,Then reached the caverns measureless to man,And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from farAncestral voices prophesying war!                                

Something bursts out of the chasm (lava or water?)

huge rocks broke off and were flung into the air

Lava/water flows down like a riverKubla hears voices of prophesies, telling of the

destruction of the garden/domeUnknown words:Tumult- violent and noisy commotion, uproarMazy- full of confusing turns

The  shadow of the dome of pleasure  Floated midway on the waves;  Where was heard the mingled measure  From the fountain and the caves.It was a miracle of rare device,                             A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

the fountain and the flowing of the lava/water becomes audible and visible once it reaches the caves

The miracle of rare devise is that fact that caves of ice can exist in a hot and sunny pleasure-dome

Unknown words:Mingled- to become mixed, blended, or united

A damsel with a dulcimer  In a vision once I saw:  It was an Abyssinian maid,  And on her dulcimer she play’d,                                Singing of Mount Abora.  Could I revive within me  Her symphony and song,To such a deep delight ‘twould win me,That with music loud and long,                                   

saw a young woman playing a dulcimer, like in a vision he once had

Her music influences him emotionally and inspires him

Unknown words:Dulcimer- a modern folk instrument related to

the guitar and plucked with the fingersDamsel- a young woman or girlAbyssinian- someone from EthiopiaMount Abora- a mountain of the Gods

I would build that dome in air,That sunny dome! those caves of ice!And all who heard should see them there,And all should cry, Beware! Beware!His flashing eyes, his floating hair!                      Weave a circle round him thrice,And close your eyes with holy dread,For he on honey-dew hath fed,And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Coleridge urges those who have listened to his poem to imagine the dome

He predicts they’ll be afraid of what they see (“Beware! Beware!”)

Unknown words:Thrice- three timesHath- have

Ruby, Mary

 

Poetry for Students Volume 4 Farmington Hills, MI

Gale Research, 1999

 

 

King, Neil

The Romantics. New York, NY

 

Evans Brothers limited, 2003

 

 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Biography. Ashton, Rosemary. 1966. Blackwell Publishers. 18 May 2010. <http://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Coleridge-Samuel-Taylor.html>