Index:
About Coleridge
............................. . Page 1
Historical context
..............................Page 2
Kubla Khan poem
............................ Page 3
Commentary of the poem
.................
Page 6
Opinion of the poem
......................... Page 7
Conclusion
........................................ Page 9
Bibliography
..........................................Page
10
Sara Pavσn Saiz
Forιs
English 1Ί paper
29 November 2007
Samuel Taylor
Coleridge: a poet of Romanticism
About his life:
Who was Taylor Coleridge? He was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on October 21, 1772
in the rural town of Ottery St Mary, Devonshire.
He frequently sought refuge at a local library, which led him to
discover his passion for poetry. His childhood was hard, and this has been
linked to his dependent personality as an adult. Coleridge's marriage proved
unhappy. He grew to detest his wife, whom he only married because of social
constraints, and eventually divorced her.
Around 1796, Coleridge started taking opium as a pain-reliever. He became an addictive.
In 1798 Coleridge and Wordsworth published a joint volume of poetry, Lyrical Ballads, which proved to be the
starting point for the English romantic movement. But his opium addiction
separated from his second wife in 1808, quarrelled with Wordsworth in 1810,
lost part of his annuity in 1811 and put himself under the care of Dr. Daniel
in 1814.
Samuel Coleridge, a Romantic poet:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge is an
important poet of Romanticism. An anonymous Coleridge critic argued that his
poetry and prose writings, are pervaded by a sense that and understanding of
the natural world is a key to human happiness and wisdom.
As a good Romantic poet,
Coleridge talks about emotions, sense, freedom, truth, nature, beauty... The
Romantics make the human race to recognize the beauty. Our way to understand
the world is troughout the distinction between beauty and uglyness.
For the romantics, poetry was believed to be the highest form of
literature. French and American revolution influenced a lot in Romantics. In the Emerson Society Quarterly,
James E. Miller Jr. writes, America has traditionally incarnated the romantic
in almost every sense, and that The American adventure, the great democratic
experiment . . . are the essence of Romanticism.
Another important topic of the Romantic is the concept of nature. Some
Romantic ideas are today based in attitudes about nature. Most people do not
know it, but our current ideas about the environment and our relationship to it
were born during the Romantic era. An anonymous said that For Coleridge,
poetry, the human mind, and the natural world are often linked as part of that
"one Life within us and abroad," a force that can connect the
apparently disparate aspects of reality into a unity perceived by the creative
intellect.
Historical context:
To continue I will speak about one of the most famous poem of Coleridge
called Kubla Khan.
Kubla Khan was an important Romantic poem of it time. Why? Because it
was published in 1797, when the Romantic movement had a big expansion. British
people were in this time worry about society dayli problems such as wealthy,
power, nature, progress
Coleridge was a victim of this time and he took refuge
in the drug. For this reason, the history of this poem is curious. He had
fallen asleep after taking opium. Before falling asleep, he had been reading a
story in which Kubla Khan commanded the building of a new palace; Coleridge
claims that while he slept, he had a fantastic vision and composed some two or
three hundred lines of poetry. Waking after about three hours, the poet seized
a pen and began writing, however, after copying down the first three stanzas of
his dreamt poem he was interrupted by a person who detained him for an hour.
After this interruption, he was unable to recall the rest of the vision or the
poetry he had composed in his opium dream. Many reachers say that the
mysterious person from Porlock is one of the most notorious and enigmatic
figures in Coleridge's biography; no one knows who he was or why he disturbed
the poet or what he wanted.
As I have said before, Kubla Khan is a Romantic characteristic poem. It
has relation with other poems witten at the same time. All the poems of the
Romanticism treat the same topics, therefore they all are similar.
About the relation of this poem with today, I will say that Romantics
lived in a time where the changes took place on the first time, and the poems
written at this time were very influenced by French Revolution and American
revolution. On the contrary, today changes take place in our own life, in our
generation and in our own experience.
The poem:
Kubla Khan
1In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
2A stately pleasure-dome decree:
3Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
4Through caverns measureless to man
5 Down to a sunless sea.
6So twice five miles of fertile ground
7With walls and towers were girdled round:
8And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
9Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
10And here were forests ancient as the hills,
11Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
12But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
13Down the green hill athwart a cedan cover!
14A savage place! as holy and enchanted
15As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
16By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
17And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
18As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
19A mighty fountain momently was forced:
20Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
21Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
22Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
23And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
24It flung up momently the sacred river.
25Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
26Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
27Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
28And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
29And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
30Ancestral voices prophesying war!
31 The shadow of the dome of pleasure
32 Floated midway on the waves;
33 Where was heard the mingled measure
34 From the fountain and the caves.
35It was a miracle of rare device,
36A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
37 A damsel with a dulcimer
38 In a vision once I saw:
39 It was an Abyssinian maid,
40 And on her dulcimer she played,
41 Singing of Mount Abora.
42 Could I revive within me
43 Her symphony and song,
44 To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
45 That with music loud and long,
46 I would build that dome in air,
47 That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
48 And all who heard should see them there,
49 And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
50 His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
51 Weave a circle round him thrice,
52 And close your eyes with holy dread,
53 For he on honey-dew hath fed,
54 And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Commentary:
Summary:
The writer is talking about "stately pleasure-dome" built in
Xanadu, where a sacred river ran. He is
describing a beautiful place. In my opinion he talks about this place as it was
a perfect space in which all is good and lovely. He uses romantic topics in it
such as the description of the nature. He is speaking about the sunrise, the
grounds, the river, the gardens
he seems to be happy. But suddenly some changes
happen. He begins to describe now a savage place, as hole and enchanted. And he
talks about the apparition of a woman. The earth became savage:
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.
Suddenly she starts singing
and he could revive her symphony and song; hes happy again..she
has convert this place in a
Paradise again.
Form:
Coleridge uses alternative rhyme schemes in this poem. The first stanza
is written in tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAABCCDEDE. The second stanza
expands into tetrameter with a rhyme of ABAABCCDDFFGGHIIHJJ. The third stanza
is written in tetrameter too and rhymes ABABCC. The fourth stanza continues the
tetrameter of the third and rhymes ABCCBDEDEFGFFFGHHG.
The three first stanzas are
very descriptive and imaginative. The first stanza seems perfect. Hes
describing a beautiful place using typical expressions of the Romantics, and
referring to nature ( the sacred river, the sunless sea, the fertile ground,
the hills, the gardens
) But after the second stanza it changes, it isn΄t as
perfect as before. Now this is like a holy and enchanted place. The adjectives
are now strong and less beautiful. (A savage place! as holy and enchanted. As
e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
). In the fourth stanza he argued that
the speaker had a vision of the damsel singing of Mount Abora. We would
recognize the dangerous power of the vision, which would manifest itself in his
"flashing eyes" and "floating hair." After this apparition
all is perfect again, he drink the milk of Paradise.
Kluba Khan point out for its
musical rhyme and for the force of his author. It is written in the past.
Coleridge uses an easy vocabulary and a good language. The words used are very
descriptive. It is a symbolic, mysthic and narrative poem too.
We fing metaphors too: the
sacred river can be the course of the life, the course of the time. The vision
of the woman can be the hope. The belief that something can help us, is like
the presence of God in my opinion. And the same with the expression drunk the
milk of Paradise I think that it means the opportunity of been in a good
place, where nothing matters, where all is perfect.
It can be a mysthic poem too. The palace represent the perfect
place again, a world of pleasures.
Opinion:
I think that this is an
interesting poem. Coleridge show us a poem full of Romanticism. It isn΄t long,
and the vocabulary isn΄t difficult and
it makes easier the comprehension. I think that it is a beautiful poem. And it
reflects the worries of this time very well. Everyone can understand it in
differerent ways. Is a poem that I recommended to read.
Conclusion:
To end up I must say that
Coleridge was a good Romantic poet. His works are full of Romanticism and
expressions of its time. He worried about society problems and it was reflected
on his poems. Kubla Khan is an interesting work but we musn΄t forget the rest
of his poems and the importante that they had. Today he is considered a liric
poet and a literary critic. He became in one of the most influential english
philosopher and critic of the XIX th century. I think that Coleridge will be
remembered by all the people who love poetry.
Bibliography:
- Biblio: Online text copyright © 2005, Ian Lancashire for the
Department of English,
University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services,
University of
Toronto Libraries.
Original text: S. T.
Coleridge, Christabel, 2nd edn. (London: William Bulmer, 1816). D-10
8859 Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto).
First publication date: 1816
RPO poem editor: Kathleen Coburn, R. S. Woof
RP edition: 3RP 2.446.
Recent editing: 4:2002/3/20
- english wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge
- http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/coleridge/section5.rhtml
- class notes
- http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/524.html