In the next six lines Coleridge extends the description of the landscape. Xanadu should be built in 10 miles area with rich soil, which is surrounded by walls and towers. As a consequence of the “fertile ground” the author describes the ideal landscape, where the gardens are light and the creeks are meandering, and there are green sunny fields which are encompassed by the ancient, large trees. The different adjectives represent different shades or colours, for instance “bright” and “sunny’ means extremely light, “blossomed’ suggests the different intensive colours of the spring and “greenery” represents the various tones of green.
In the first section there are positive and negative features, adjectives of the landscape which are in contrast, for instance the “pleasure dome”, “garden bright”, “blossomed … trees”, “sunny spots” are in contrast to “sacred river”, “caverns”, “sunless sea”. The words “stately” and “sacred”, which describe the dome to be built and the river, are also in contrast.
The opening image of the second section starts with a chasm which runs down on a special green hill across the cedars. A series of adjectives gives the place a mysterious feeling: the word deep enhances the picture of the chasm: the word romantic refers to a happy, beautiful but wild place. Also the place is described with the adjectives savage, holy and enchanted that only confirms the inside feeling that the author images: a wild, untamed and mystical place for this dome to be built. The following comparison associates the place with a haunted area, which is visited by a woman, who cries after her demon lover, suggesting that it is a cursed, evil place which the phrase “waning moon” even more enhances. Then in lines from seventeen through twenty-four the eruption and a flow of lava is illustrated via a powerful comparison. A gigantic ejection of water or as the poet wrote “mighty fountain” is forced out from the ground at that moment with an incessant, disquiet swirl. The simile in line eighteen suggests that this earth is seen as a suffering human being who is fighting for his breath in his “fast thick pants”. This breakout is fast and comes in intervals or continuously, “swift half-intermitted burst”, and it scatters big pieces, which are compared to the falling frozen rain. Another action is described by the poet during the imagination of this picture: during reaping, the unworthy grain bounces off as it hits the ground under the flapper, just like the “rebounding hail”. This image closes with the description of the river which throws meanders among these “dancing rocks”. The river then goes five miles with a hectic flow through valleys before reaching the above mentioned caves before dropping into the “lifeless ocean”, into the eternal nothingness. This latter mentioned phrase matches the earlier “sunless sea”. The usage of the suffix –less gives a great emotional effect, greater than if the poet had used the word ‘dark’, ‘dead’ or the phrase ‘not sunny’ or ‘not living’. In the closing two lines Coleridge describes the voices of the religious prophets that Kubla hears from the heaven, saying there will be a war probably concerning the “pleasure-dome” also.
It is interesting to compare the picture of the Paradise as it has been described in section one and two. While the ideal, pleasant and safe Paradise is mentioned in the first section, in the second section we got to know the demonic, supernatural or even dark side of it while reading the words “deep”, “chasm”, “haunted”, “demon-lover”. The peaceful side of the Paradise, “mighty fountain”, ‘sinuous rills” are in strong contrast with the picture described with using the following words: “ceaseless turmoil”, “forced”, “burst”, “vaulted like rebounding hail”, “dancing rocks”, ‘flung up”.
In the third section the poet describes the dark side of the dome and considers the decrease of that paradise which he pictured before. In the first two lines a powerful image opens up to the reader: the river is flowing and the shade of the dome is reflected on the water, therefore it is seen as the shadow which is floating. The words “shadow” represents the black, dark and evil side of the paradise that has been built. Next to the picture of this reflection the ears are also attracted due to the mixed voices that can be heard from the fountain and the caves. In the last two lines of this section the author implies an unknown strange device that will create this controversy situation: “sunny pleasure-dome with the caves of ice”, a powerful contrasting image which has been created supernaturally as a miracle. This whole description stands as an evaluation of the former picture of the ideal paradise.
In the fourth and final section Coleridge recalls his vision that he had during his sleep and he put down in the first three sections. Unfortunately the poet was disturbed during the composition and this final section is his try to regain the vision and complete the poem. In this picture Coleridge sees a young woman with a “dulcimer” who is from Abyssinia, a place that includes Eden, and she sings about Mount Abora, the Mountain of the Gods. The first five lines of this section create a lofty, dream-like and artistic, although a bit fragile and strange atmosphere and feeling. This is also supported by the phrase in the first line of this section: ”A damsel with a dulcimer”. Both the words damsel and dulcimer start with the sound ‘d’ and, besides a minor difference, contains the same consonants, but in the reverse order., The poet words a wish that he would like to remember this song again in his inner soul, to hear the woman’s voice and the music she plays on her instrument. If this wish comes true then he would gain a great and intense pleasure, “deep delight”, and alongside of this everlasting music he would be so inspired that he himself “would build that dome in air”. This dome would be created in air, on an immaterialised basis, as compared to Kubla’s dome, which is built on the earth and the contrast between the domes itself is also mentioned here again. Then a call is expressed to the general public, everyone who heard the music should use their own imagination and see their own soul there. Furthermore, they all should give warning for the evil feeling that has been created in everybody’s mind when reading the part before in this poem or perhaps a warning to be aware of the poet itself. This latter version, supported by the forthcoming last lines of the poem, “his flashing eyes, his floating hair” perhaps represents the speaker, therefore the poet himself. He is the one who needs protection; the audience should all draw a circle around the speaker three times and then simply close the eyes and pray for him. In this picture the poet becomes a person of supernatural forces because his head had been turn by all the miracles and beauties of the Paradise.
The picture described in this section can be compared to the picture of the first sections. The former image pictures an earthy Paradise, with the landscape, the woman and Kubla himself. However in this last section this Paradise can not be really materialised, just in the reader’s mind, using all the words that Coleridge has embedded in the poem: “singing”, “symphony”, “delight”, “dome in air”, “holy dread”, “honey-dew”, “milk of Paradise”.
The metre of the poem varies through sections. In the first section the main metre is iambic tetrameter, but there are lines in which this changes to iambic pentameter, and also there are a few deviations from these structures. In the last section the speed of the poem slows down with the decrease in the number of feet, creating a harmonic and dreamy atmosphere for the reader. The unique structure also strikes out when considering the alliterations, sounds and specially the end-rhymes. In the first section the pattern of the end-rhymes is the following: ABAAB then comes CC and DBDB, which alternates between staggered rhymes and couplets. The second section goes with the pattern ABAAB and then CCDDEEFF and finally GHHGII. The third short section is ABAB and CC. Then the fourth shows the ABCCB then DEDE pattern and finally FGFFF and GHHG pattern closes the poem.
There are many adjectives and phrases which are repeated several times in the poem if the reader sees it as a whole piece. The main phrase, the “pleasure-dome” appears in the second line as well as in the third section twice. Other repeated elements are the “sacred river”, the “caverns”, the “chasm”, the “fountain”, and there are several adjectives that are used more than once in the poem, such as “sunny”, “momently”. It is also interesting to note how the adjectives of the images accumulate and a lot of times become contrasts to each other. The pleasure dome is first full of sun but then it has caves of ice. The water rises and falls. The chasm is holy but at the same time it is enchanted. And the man in the last section of the poem has flashing eyes and floating hair.
Finally the reader can sense the whole Romantic feeling of that period through several words that Coleridge used. The words “cavern”, “chasm”, “cedarn”, “haunted”, “tumult”, “turmoil” and the word “romantic” are all used by many great Romantic writers throughout their period, and are representative of the Gothic novels as well as Romantic poems.
As a summary the reader can obtain an intense picture of Coleridge’s Paradise, both the earthy and the heavenly. Both the one surrounded by the natural beauties of the world, and the one that has been created in Coleridge’s mind. He uses powerful images throughout the poem in order to attract the reader’s imagination and uses several interesting adjectives when describing these images and pictures. Lowes argues that Coleridge took many of his strange and interesting images from several authors, especially from James Bruce and his description of his travels through Africa. The discussion and the analysis of these origins are beyond this essay’s possibility and the interested reader is referred to the original book of Lowes. One can ask the theoretical question what would have happened if Coleridge hadn’t been intruded. Maybe we would have been able to enjoy the most perfect poem. However, in my opinion it is perfect as it is now, despite the clear sign of the interruption.
Work Cited
1. Abrams, M. H. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol.2. W.W. Norton&Company, NY & London, 2000. p. 417. and 439.
2. Austin, Frances. The Language of Wordsworth and Coleridge. MacMillan Education LTD. London. 1989. p.122. 125-130.
3. Collier’s Encyclopedia. Crowell-Collier Education Corp. New York. 1970, p.190.
4. Knight, G. Wilson. The Starlit Dome. Studies in the poetry of Vision. Methuen Co. LTD. London. 1959. p.91-92.
5. Cornwell, John. Coleridge. Poet and revolutionary. 1772-1804. A critical Biography. Allen Lane. Penguin Books. Ltd. London. 1973. p.184, 186
6. Bowra, C. Maurice. The Romantic Imagination. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 1961. p. 277.
7. Bruce, James. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773. In 5 Volumes.Edinburgh.1790.
Austin, Frances. The Language of Wordsworth and Coleridge. MacMillan Education LTD. London. 1989. p.122.
Abrams, M. H. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol.2. W.W. Norton&Company, NY & London, 2000. p. 439.
Abrams, M. H. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol.2. W.W. Norton&Company, NY & London, 2000. p. 417.
Collier’s Encyclopedia, Crowell-Collier Education Corp. New York. 1970, p.190.
Collier’s Encyclopedia, Crowell-Collier Education Corp. New York. 1970, p.190.
Knight, G. Wilson. The Starlit Dome. Studies in the poetry of Vision. Methuen Co. LTD. London. 1959. p.91.
Austin, Frances. The Language of Wordsworth and Coleridge. MacMillan Education LTD. London. 1989. p.125.
Cornwell, John. Coleridge. Poet and revolutionary. 1772-1804. A critical Biography. Allen Lane. Penguin Books. Ltd. London. 1973. p.184.
Knight, G. Wilson. The Starlit Dome. Studies in the poetry of Vision. Methuen Co. LTD. London. 1959. p.92.
Austin, Frances. The Language of Wordsworth and Coleridge. MacMillan Education LTD. London. 1989. p.126.
Austin, Frances. The Language of Wordsworth and Coleridge. MacMillan Education LTD. London. 1989. p.128.
Cornwell, John. Coleridge. Poet and revolutionary. 1772-1804. A critical Biography. Allen Lane. Penguin Books. Ltd. London. 1973. p.186.
Austin, Frances. The Language of Wordsworth and Coleridge. MacMillan Education LTD. London. 1989. p.127.
Bowra, C. Maurice. The Romantic Imagination. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 1961. p. 277.
Austin, Frances. The Language of Wordsworth and Coleridge. MacMillan Education LTD. London. 1989. p.130.
Austin, Frances. The Language of Wordsworth and Coleridge. MacMillan Education LTD. London. 1989. p.129.
Lowes, John Livingston. The Road to Xanadu, A study in the way of the imagination. Constable. London. 1930. p. 356-402
Bruce, James. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773. In 5 Volumes.Edinburgh.1790.