In today's class, we talked about the hallucinatory genesis of Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan" and the uncanny visions that are invoked by the poet as a seer. The poem itself is also a demonstration of Romantic art-making. Kubla Khan represents the artist; fantastic Xanadu is the world of art; and the "stately pleasure-dome"--a "miracle of rare device"--is the intricate artwork.
The poem, written in 1797 and published in 1816, is considered a Romantic poem. The Romantic Period is generally considered to be a period revolting against the 18th-century rage for order and reason. Traits or style of the period can be characterized in the following list of Romantic elements:
1) Orientalism: Romantics were interested in the Orient for its exotic and rich colors.
2) Primitivism: Romantics believed that a less advanced stage of culture, even a savage condition, gives people more happiness than complex modern society.
3) The Supernatural and Psychological Extremes: Romantics were fascinated with stories of bewitchings, hauntings, and possession. The 18th-century concepts such as "reason," "order," and "discipline" were disdained by them; instead, they favored supernatural happenings, strange adventures, and violent fits of passion.
4) Celebrations of Creativity and Individualism: The Romantic period, simultaneously the period of imperial expansion and boundless revolutonary hope, was also an epoch of individualism in which poets had high expectations for human potentialities and powers.
In "Kubla Khan," can you detect any Romantic elements listed above? What are they? Use concrete examples from the poem to prove your points.
20 comments:
I’ve detected element (3) in line 37 to 44.
First, starts from line 37, we all know that the protagonist in the poem sees a maid playing a dulcimer.
According to line 44, “To such a deep delight ‘twould win me”.
Take a look at the word “win”; it seems the dulcimer-playing maid has somehow “won” his heart over.
Beware that the element (3) is a romantic element about “bewitchings, hauntings, and possession”.
Doesn’t it look like that the protagonist has been “bewitched” and “possessed” by the maid when she wins his heart?
Thus, it fits the element (3) perfectly.
This poem written by a skilful artist, Samuel Coleridge. i can detect the romantic elements in line37 to line56. In the vision he saw an Abyssinian maid was playing her dulcimer(kind of musical instrument）the song was so touching,also the maid won his heart.
After that, he would build that dome in air. this is so unbelievable and impossible too, Samuel Coleridge is perfectly shown his skills in this poem.
In the poem “Kubla Khan”, I can detect all four Romantic elements listed above. First of all, the poem takes its title from the Mongol and Chinese emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty, and is mainly about the great emperor. Moreover, from line 37 to 41, it talks about an Abyssinian maiden playing her dulcimer and singing of Mount Abora. Abyssinia may refer to Ethiopian Empire that consisted of modern Ethiopia. Dulcimer is a kind of instrument that probably originated in Persia, and is traditionally played in Southwest Asia, China and parts of Southeast Asia, central Europe, and Eastern Europe. Mount Abora is an imaginary place, but it might come from Mount Amara in Abyssinia, where Abyssinian kings come from. All of these give the poem a rich Oriental color.
Next, cultures of Abyssinia and China are primitive to the Romantics. Also, the poem uses a lot of words to describe an imaginary paradise “Xanadu”, though it might refer to Xandu or Shangdu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan’s Yuan Dynasty in China. The words caverns (4), walls and towers (7), ancient forests (10), mighty fountain (19), and the imaginary Alph River (3), which later people used it to name a river in Antarctica, all suggests primitivism. What’s more, on line 14, it even says “A savage place!”
Furthermore, the words sacred river (3), incense-bearing tree (9), romantic chasm (12), holy and enchanted (14), and haunted waning moon (15) give the poem a mystical glamour. In addition, words like demon-lover (16), turmoil seething (like a witch’s boiling cauldron) (17), dancing rocks (23), ancestral voices prophesying war (30), and floating sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice (31~36) enhanced the supernaturalism. The description of Kubla Khan from line 50 to 54 illustrates his “violent fits of passion”.
Finally, there are many imaginary places such as Xanadu, Alph River, and Mount Abora, and the descriptions showed great creativity. On line 30 “Ancestral voices prophesying war!” in my opinion, suggests that Kubla Khan, the great emperor, is going to launch another war to expand his empire, and to the Romantics, imperial expansion is an epoch of individualism.
One of the characteristics of Romantic poem is the Orientalism. Kubla Khan was the king of Mongol and the emperor of Yuan Dynasty. The title itself is orient. The poem is also described the dynasty built by Kubla Khan.
In the poem, it talks about prophesy from ancestors. It is full of supernatural atmosphere. And also, at the end, the voice of the poem is strong and crazy just like the narrator is lost his mind in the world of Kubla Khan.
I think that this poem is full of imagination. When I read it, I can even really see the world the author created.
The author in this poem uses many imaginary words to describe the mysterious of Oriental world. First, in line 14 "A savage place！as holy enchanted" this sentence is accord with one of the Romantic elements. The author constructs a savage place to against 18th century’s limited society.
And, in line 16 "By woman wailing for her demon-lover" the image of this sentence quotes a story which is bewitching like fairy tales.
Also, in line 30 "Ancestral voices prophesying war" this sentence symbolizes that ancestors put high expectation on the descendants and wish them to expand their own territory.
The people who live in the era of Romantic age are adore to the elements like oriental, exotic and supernatural.
The poem Kubla Khan is one of their kind.The poem is illistrating the oriental world in the westerners' imagination point of view.
And I think element 3 is most rated in the poem, one of the most specific example is the poem after line 35.
In this poem, I find all of Romantic elements in it. First of all, this poem’s background is an eastern country. It mentions Alph, the secret river many times, and fragrance from incense-bearing tree make it full of eastern imagination. Also, the author imagines eastern world six centuries ago and makes this poem full of savage scenery like hills, forests, meandering river, wood and dale. Third, on the beautiful land, there is ceaseless turmoil, a woman cry, a goddess-like Abyssinian damsel and the ecstatic poet. Finally, Kubla Khan was described as an ambitious man who heard ancestral voices of making wars.
Im so impressed by his imagination.when i was reading this poem. i actually felt like im in this poem, i was awed by the surroundings, and what i had felt inside my heart.
I like Kubla khan is because i can feel the tension and passion that a poem and a poet shold have. Nowadays people easily feel bored and tired about everyday life, what we need is something like the imagination that a poet have.(But without taking an opium of course:)!)
In this poem, we can detect the romantic elements everywhere. For instance, the title is an great emperor on China. For English poets, China and Africa are romantic as well as mysterious. Besides, the vice-title, "a Vision in a Dream" implies this poem would be written in romanticism. Because "dream" is an evident element of romanticism. Besides, symbols are used frequently in this poem. The first one is "pleasure-dome", which symbolizes that poets' work of art can present two extreme stuff. And this kind of extreme experiences can be taken as a romantic element.
Then, we can feel that there is an abrupt drop into the unconscious and away from the character Kubla, and the sense of natural mysticism starts form here. For example, the "chasm" in line 12 symbolizes a boundary separating the world of human being and the imaginary universe.
Moreover, the "demon-lover" in line 16 is also a style of romanticism. From now on, we can find an "intense emotion" in this poem such as ceaseless turmoil seething and the ancestral voices, which yells out "war." Therefore, we can experience there is some kind of passion and terror.
In the end of this poem, it seems the poet's shows that artists can own the vision (mostly, wild) of future.
Briefly, symbols, vision of dream, beautiful imagination, terrifying views and so on are through all the poem; thus, the romanticism is evident.
i think not all the words just have one of those elements. Take "Xanadu" for example, it may combine element(1)&(3). As a result, it's more difficult for us to analyze.
element(1):Xanadu,Kubla Khan,Alph,incense-bearing tree,dulcimer
element(2):rills,greenery,cedarn cover,chaffy grain,tresher's flail,dancing rocks,Mount Abora
element(3):chasm,a savage place, waning moon...demon-lover,turmoil seething
element(4):Ancestral voices prophesying war
i think element(4) is the most difficult part to detect
this poem is mysterious just like exploring the graves,where make people feel how the strange the air is.
As for the orientalism, the title of the poem is a Mongol emperor, Kubla Khan.“Alph” is a river in Antarctica(3), an Abyssinian maid played her dulcimer(39~40).
Some object in the poem are Primitivism, such as towers
(7),caverns(4,27),forest ancient as the hills(10),A savage place
(14),caves(34).
The supernatural and psychological extremes are sacred river
(3,24,26),holy and enchanted
(14),haunted moon(15),sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice
(36,47).
As the original post said that there is heavy orient mood in this poem. In the late 18th, the period of Romantic, the western were really enchanted by exotic stream. The title of this poem is Kubla Khan, who is a great "Chinese" emperor. And the poet mentioned Xanadu, which is an unreal and ideal world. It is one of the connection between Romantic and orientalism. In addition, incense is a sacred stuff when the eastern want to show their respect to gods.
The verse(10) here were forest "ancient" as the hills. verse (14) A "savage place."(The prehistoric times and the world is not be built.) The verse (30) "Ancestral" voices prophesying war!
About the Supernatural and Psychological, I think the poet suggested that the poem is a Vision in a Dream. So I think a lot of word has its own connotation. The verse (2)A stately pleasure-dome decree. The verse (15)a waning moon was haunted.Verse(17)with ceaseless turmoil seething. And some words, such as girdled, sinuous, meandering, mazy, mingled measure. The poet used some abstract personification or adjective to
describe his mind.
The "symphony"(music creativity), thresher(grain creator) and Verse (46)I would build that dome in air .Verse (49)And all should cry, Beware! Beware! All these words are about the individual and a kind of creativity.
As the original post said that there is heavy orient mood in this poem. In the late 18th, the period of Romantic, the western were really enchanted by exotic stream. The title of this poem is Kubla Khan, who is a great "Chinese" emperor. And the poet mentioned Xanadu, which is an unreal and ideal world. It is one of the connection between Romantic and orientalism. In addition, incense is a sacred stuff when the eastern want to show their respect to gods.
The verse(10) here were forest "ancient" as the hills. verse (14) A "savage place."(The prehistoric times and the world is not be built.) The verse (30) "Ancestral" voices prophesying war!
About the Supernatural and Psychological, I think the poet suggested that the poem is a Vision in a Dream. So I think a lot of word has its own connotation. The verse (2)A stately pleasure-dome decree. The verse (15)a waning moon was haunted.Verse(17)with ceaseless turmoil seething. And some words, such as girdled, sinuous, meandering, mazy, mingled measure. The poet used some abstract personification or adjective to
describe his mind.
The "symphony"(music creativity), thresher(grain creator) and Verse (46)I would build that dome in air .Verse (49)And all should cry, Beware! Beware! All these words are about the individual and a kind of creativity.
(1)Orientalism:Xanadu is just appear in orient and the title is also Orientalism it let me feel that i am in the Mongolian in a grassland gallop wuth the horse.The dulcimer let me emerge the girls dancing with the music whirl under the waning moon.
(2)primitivism:in the poem it mention "the ancestral voice prophesying"the grassland let me associate the undeveloped place is very confortable and don't have pressure.
This poem have many element to support the poem it also let the poem have more tension.It is the way that i should learn how to use.
From the title of the peom"Kubla Khan" we know that it fits the element (1),because Kubla Khan was the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, and it gives people exotic feelings.
I think there are many objects that are Primitivism from line 4 to 14. For expamle,caverns,sinuous rills,incense-bearing tree,forests ancient as the hills,and a savage place.
The supernatural and psychological extremes are the sacred river,and in the line 14-15.
First, Coleridge wrote “a vision in a dream” that suffuses consciousness with the romantic. Kubla Khan was a significant emperor in Yuan dynasty. He was on behalf of the image of Orient. Maybe he had phoenix eyes, fuzzy beards, six-feet tall, standing on rocks and looking down the whole land. It’s so exotic. Secondly, in the fifth stanza, a damsel with a dulcimer comes out. She sings so beautifully that deep delight totally wins the author. Coleridge created a romantic and poetic scene by his imagination. Finally, I can see creativities. For example, “Alph, the sacred river,” is full of energy. The spurting chasm slings up water and dancing rocks from the underworld. This chasm, clearly associated with the “woman wailing for her demon-lover,” strengthens the vision with almost frenetic inspiration.
In this poem has many romantic elements. First is about primitivism for example, walls and towers (7) forests ancient (10) A savage place (14)
This poem describes great creativity. For example,(31-36) This paragraph raises the
supernatural. As it mystically intertwines the images of the pleasure dome, the waves, the fountains, and the caves. However, the sentence introduces a problematic image that
mysteriously haunts the remainder of the poem “A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!”
In this poem, I find orient elements as follws. Xanadu, which means a beautiful world far from hubbub society and people there live in a more peace way. In my viewpoint, this “Xanadu” shares the same idea in a Chinese great poet and writer - Tao, Yuan-Ming’s article called Tao Hwa Yuan Ji.
Still, an Abyssinian maid played her dulcimer and sang of Mount Abora. To the author, Abyssinian is a country full of exotic experiences and imaginations. The dulcimer is also another image of orient because it comes from Arab, a country in the middle-east. Mount Abora, as the Bible says, is in the eastern world and God let people live there. Above all are the orient elements I feel in this poem.
Although the poem is written in English, it describes the glory and honor of the significant Chinese history hero, Kubla Kban. First of all, it is full of exotic atmosphere; those descriptions of pleasure-dome
and the spectacular scenery around it are the element of Orientalism. And in line 39 to line 41, the author used his imagination to convey the exotic vision of an Abyssinian maiden, who played her dulcimer and sang of Mount Abora,
Second, from line 10 to line 14, this part describes a savage place which is simple and not developed .The enchanted scenery and primitive atmosphere are exactly the element of Primitivism.
Third, in line 15 to 30, we can detect the element of the supernatural and psychological extremes. For instance, a waning moon was haunted, woman wailing for her demon-lover, the endless chasm, and so on… these images are supernatural and fascinating happenings. This part is full of the vitality of nature; the power of it is so vivid that we can see the beauty of nature and also its rippled passion and violence.
As soon as I read the first line of this poem, the first image came into my mind is that this whole poem is talking about a dream (Or, a vision in a dream), so that everything in the poem the author described is not really fitting in reality. I think this kind of felling could be a Romantic element of Supernatural and Psychological Extremes. As far as I am concerned, the dream might be the desires that people do really do in reality, and this is hard to express because nobody would believe. However, those “desires” is just like the hope in Pandora’s gar that people only had. So as the words like sacred river, incense-bearing tree, romantic chasm, holy and enchanted, haunted waning moon, demon-lover, dancing rocks, ancestral voices prophesying war and floating sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice can reflect the disapprove of nature and discipline.
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