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Sunday, January 14, 2007

Literary Criticism: Coleridge's "Kubla Khan"

In the poem Kubla Khan, Coleridge introduces Kubla Khan, ruler of the Mangol Empire in China during the 13th century A.D. His kingdom symbolized wealth and mystery to Europeans ever since Marco Polo first wrote about his travels there. Throughout the poem, Coleridge builds a sense of the exotic and mysterious. The complete title of the poem is "Kubla Khan, Or A Vision In A Dream A Fragment". Coleridge conveys the grandeur and majesty of Kubla Khan's creation, pairing with the idea of a pleasure dome, a place of luxury and leisure. The opening images of the poem have striking similarities to the lines in "Purcha's Pilgrimage", which Coleridge said, he was reading immediately before he drifted into his deep sleep.
The site of the pleasure dome is by the side of a sacred river, which Coleridge calls the Alph. Really, no river with this name exists. Critics imagine it as Alpheus in Greek legend, which flows underground and then comes up as a fountain. Some critics are of the opinion that the term is similar to alpha, the first letter of Greek alphabet, which symbolizes "the beginning". Coleridge may also be referring to other "sacred" rivers like the Nile in Egypt and a river in Kashmir, which opened itself a passage through the mountains. Since rivers and water are life giving, the sacred river may be seen as a symbol of life. The river flows beyond man's reach into a series of underground caverns, 'measureless to man'. The ultimate destination of the river is the sunless sea.
Coleridge is giving a vivid depiction of Khan's kingdom. Ten miles of land, which are exceptionally rich, are enclosed behind a wall with towers to protect it. The gardens fill the area with brightly coloured flowers and sweet smelling trees, watered by numerous winding brooks, which brinch off from the sacred river. These gardens are set among ancient forests, which have been there as long as the land itself. The river and forests provide an ageless backdrop for Khan's dream. Although Coleridge notes the differences between Khan's planned estate and nature's realm, both seem to exist in a harmonious balance. There is an evocative series of images of an earthly paradise in the explanation of kingdom.
The movement of the river is followed as it plunges down a chasm that is deeply wooded with cedar trees. Coleridge uses a simile to show the distance of this site from Khan's imposing gardens. The waning moon describes that period as the moon decreases from full, so less and less of it is visible. Thus, this mysterious chasm is compared to a spot haunted, by a woman crying in anguish, as the moon's light diminishes, for her demon lover. The picture gives a feeling of magic and witchcraft to the place, as if the sound of the river water was like wailing of a woman. The idea of 'demon lover', and unnatural being, is again taken up in the description of the earth, as it pushes up the water (of river into a fountain). There are violent motions in the mysterious valley 'fast, thick pants', 'forced', 'burst' etc. Symbolist critics point out sexual and birth imagery in these lines.
The power of the fountain, which pours forth the river, is apparent. Huge boulders are tossed up with the water due to its force. Two similes are used to illustrate this force. In the first, huge boulders are compared to hails. The second makes them seem even lighter. A 'thresher' is a person or a machine that separates the useful, heavier part of a kernel of grain from its lighter, useless shell or chaff. Here, nature itself is like a thresher. Along with the boulders, the river emerges. It takes a wandering path through the gardens.
Although Khan's gardens initially seem a place of peace and balance, Khan himself hears a different message coming from the distant rumbles of the chasm and the cave. The tumult of the river issues a warning that human creations are not permanent. The voices of his ancestors provide testimony to the fact that the greatest creations of the world eventually come to ruin. Coleridge once more says about the pleasure dome--
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
The poet harmonizes the opposing forces, sun and ice, in his miraculous dome, which has since vanished without trace.
Next, the poem abruptly changes into a first person narrative. Kubla Khan's physical creation becomes poet's vision, as he recounts seeing a young girl playing a stringed musical instrument in a dream. The maid in the vision, like Kubla Khan, is from a foreign place. Abyssinia is another name for Ethiopia. Mount Abora, like Alph, is a name that Coleridge created. Several critics note its similarity to Mount Amara in Milton's "Paradise Lost". Milton describes Mount Amara as a mountain at the head of River Nile. Another reference is to "Travels to the sources of the Nile" by Bruce. Bruce refers to two tributaries of the Nile called Abola and Albora that flow through Abyssinia. However, the reader is not given much details of the vision; no images are provided. The reader may assume that Mount Abora is similar to Khan's paradize only because the poet says that it creates such deep delight.
In the concluding lines, the poet describes the power of successful poetic vision. His creativity, like the sacred river, comes from tumult with his words. The poet, when achieves his dream, can combine the chasm and the gardens, and thus taste the honey like paradise. The poem leaves unanswered whether or not the poet will be able to capture that dream.

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