Coleridge - Kubla Khan (1 Viewer)

[SnkinLikeAStone]

The language in ‘Kubla Khan’ gives an understanding of what it means to be creative as the poem is based on ‘a paradise of imagination’. Coleridge speaks of a pleasure dome that represents harmony, safety and beauty and continues to use imagery to describe the scenery and certain elements of the landscape. The journey that Coleridge is describing and creating for the audience is one to try and regain his former glory by using the metaphor of Kubla Khan as he is referred to ‘the greatest man ever lived.’


As you can see I dont have a lot of information or vast understanding on Kubla Khan. If you have anything that might be able to help please please pass it on! Lol.

Thanks

 

[danish222]

You probably don't have a great understanding of the poem because the poem does not make logical sense. Why? Because it was inspired by Coleridge's own imaginative journey- he fell asleep while reading about Kubla Kahn. He dreamt about the pleasure dome then on waking he wrote about it. This may help you to follow it better... knowing it shouldn't make sense. In fact by the imagery and other language techniques it catalyses an imaginative journey for the responder.

Coleridge describes many opposites in the poem- look at those and how they are brought together near the end...

 

[Jerruy]

its a poem about poetry... no real meaning

 

[shaniya]

if u can please help me figure out what sum of da language techniques r u used in da poem it will be great, thx!

 

[choco-holly-24]

the poem is so messed up because apparently he dreamt it but as he was writing the poem he was interupted by someone and when he came back he could hardly remember the rest of the dream...

 

[ccc123]

Actually,

The whole poem is a sexual metaphor. Look at the language:

"wailing woman"
"Mighty fountain" - i.e, climax, male ejaculation.
"romantic chasms"- chasm=crack. You get the point.

This interpretation has a long critical history, and it's actually a valid theory.

 

[lionking1191]

quite so. our english teacher in fact, (to our gleeful delight) is thoroughly convinced of Kubla Khan as an extended sexual metaphor (just look at the 2nd-3rd stanza..) he took it so far that we were groaning everytime he mentioned it in such a way, and in the end he had to try (quite unsuccessfully) to relate it back to the 'nature of creativity'

 

[sainty23]

coleridge didnt fall asleep..he was tripping on opium, dazed off due to the effect of the drug and had vivid hallucinations/dreams that created the poem in his own head. btw...the person who started this post...i know that what you said was just off the net and thats cool..but at least acknowledge it maybe...

all the same, a good imaginative journey text.

 

[Nivi7]

i wanna do Kubla Khan for my imaginative journeys thingy but do any of yous think that it'll go well with my related text, "Life of Pi?"

 

[graduateof08]

does any one have good notes for kubla kahn that they could pass on to me??
it would be much appreciated...i think i undersatnd the drift of the poem im just having a little trouble linking the techniques with the concept of imaginative journeys!
please help me!

 

[vaire]

Im using Life of Pi as one of my other texts as well and ive linked it to Kubla Khan through the idea that you cant always know what is real and what isnt . Both Colerdidge and 'Pi' struggle with the power and limits of the imagination though in two vasty different situations.

 

[-WaxingLyrical-]

As you can see I dont have a lot of information or vast understanding on Kubla Khan. If you have anything that might be able to help please please pass it on! Lol.

Thanks

Kubla Khan is a poem that represents a number of ideas - the main one I chose to focus on was Humankind's desire to strive for perfection that can not be captured because we as human are flawed

Here, the imaginative journey can allow the responder to visualise a paradise/perfection that could not otherwise be captured in reality. It is also about the artist's (in this case Coleridge) inability to recreate the perfection captured in the imagination although they are inspired to strive towards it.

eg Kubla Khan is trying to create his 'stately pleasure dome' that walls in his paradise 'in Xanadu' and shuts out everything bad. But here 'ancestral voices prophesying war' meaning it's impossible - the idea of 'ancestral' links to eternity. Therefore, mankind has attempted it before, but we cannot succeed - if we could we would be God (link to last stanza)

More ideas to support this idea of human insignificance and the untamed nature of God's creation in Nature include 'caverns measureless to man' "so twice...girdled round" (girdled gives a sense of entrapment) and the wild quality of the natural world in this. I suspect the sexual connatations were used to give it more 'life'.

This isn't much, but I hope it helps (and makes sense)

 

[ashbashness]

One of the readings my teacher explained was that Kubla Khan is a visual metaphor for the human mind and imagination itself. The caverns measureless to man = unlimited potential, fertile ground = receptive mind, torrent of water = sudden stream of thought, sacred river = worldview (that last one's my interpretation). Under this interpretation, a sudden rush of ideas comes into the mind, causes chaos and throws up the river; ie changes his worldview/way of thinking.

And then you can explore the various visual imagery and the notion that Kubla Khan is a dual poem; the one that was never written and the existing lament about the one that was never written.

 

[cooldudehack]

lol im searching for life of pi and Coleridge’s poems that are related 2 so i can write my essay for it (for the half yearly’s) although im competing with you... lol ill help you out... im not sure what your others texts are about but KK is more about affection then the journey experienced in LOP.... i think its not a wise idea casue they arnt related too much but there is the idea of both worlds never existing etc or the fact that they may not exist yada yada yada... tell me how u go and ill keep u posted....

.................................................................................................................................
If coleridge was in BNW he would be on Soma quicker then a cat drenched in turpentine

 

[Matt1120]

Actually,

The whole poem is a sexual metaphor. Look at the language:

"wailing woman"
"Mighty fountain" - i.e, climax, male ejaculation.
"romantic chasms"- chasm=crack. You get the point.

This interpretation has a long critical history, and it's actually a valid theory.

Let us hope u never meet my english teacher he would kill u lol....but yeah i see what u mean lol