Kubla Khan & ‘Dejection’: An Ode’
KUBLA KHAN
Written in 1797. 'Kubla Khant_was first published, at the request of Lord Byron, in 18 16. The book contained an 'introduction' which throws light on the circumstances that prompted the poet to write the poem: 'In the summer of the year 1797, the Author, then in ill-health, had retired to a lonely farmhouse between Porlock and Lintan, on the Exmoor confines of Somerset and Devonshire. In consequence of a slight indisposition, an anodyne had been prescribed, from the effects of which he fell asleep in his chair at the moment that he . was reading the following sentence, or words of the same substance, in 'Purchase' Pilgrimage: 'Here the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be built, and a stately garden thereunto. And thus ten miles of fertile ground were enclosed with a wall: The author continued for about three hours in a profound sleep, at least of the external senses, during which time he had the most vivid confidence, that he could not have composed less than from two to three hundred lines: if that indeed can be i called composition in which all the images rose up before him as things, with a parallel production of the correspondent expressions, without any sensation or consciousness of effort. On awakening he appeared as~ himself to have a distinct i recollection of the whole, and taking his pen, ink, and paper, instantly and eagerly I wrote down the lines that are here preserved. At this moment he was unfortunately called out by a person on business from Porlock, and detained by him above an hour, j ' and on his return to his room, found, to his no small surprise and mortification, that though he still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general pvport of the i vision, yet, with the exception of some eight or ten scattered lines or images, all the rest had passed away like the images on the surface of a stream into which a stone has been cast, but, alas, without the after restoration of the latter!'
Structure
there are three parts in the poem. In the 36- line first part the poet describes the pleasure palace of Kubla Khan, an emperor in ancient China & demon lover. It has three stanzas of 10,20 and 6 lines respectively.
The second and the third parts are in one stanza, the second covering 5 lines and the third part the remaining 13 lines, In the second part the poet is referring to an Abyssinian singing girl whom he had seen in a 'vision'. It is about art that transcends life. The third and final part creates the picture of an inspired poet who can bring about a revolution in the world, a yogi who can change the meaning of life.
Interpretation
The word 'decree' is important. It includes desire, order, determination, 'Xanadu', the name, suggests remoteness, as if there is something exotic, mysterious, desire - evoking, thought -provoking in life. Alph flows through Xanadu, and Alph is a 'sacred' river. Its flow through the garden is the quest for the ultimate reality, 'the desire of the moth for the star' in art. It goes through mysterious caverns, and finally falls into a sunless sea. The 'sunless sea' is 'death' where life finally ends. A particular area with a perimeter of ten miles is fenced in with walls and towers and within that boundary there are gardens and small winding rivers, The trees in the gardens bear fragrant flowers. The forests are as old as the hills on which they have grown. It refers to the beauty and agelessness of art, its universal validity and charm.
DEJECTION: AN ODE
What is an Ode?
an ode is quite comprehensive: 'A lyric poem, usually of some length. The main features are an elaborate stanza-structure!' a marked formality and stateliness in tone and style (which make it ceremonious), and lofty sentiments and thoughts. In short, an ode is rather a grand poem; a full-dress poem.
we can distinguish two basic kinds; the public and the private. The public is used for ceremonial occasions, like funerals, birthdays, state events; the private often celebrates rather intense, personal and subjective occasions; it is inclined to be Romantic Poets meditative, reflective. Tennyson's Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington is an example of the former; Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale', an example of the latter.'
Introduction to 'Dejection : an Ode'
'Dejection: an Ode' was written in 1802. The 139-line poem is divided into eight uneven parts. It has a single theme-- dejection, need for love to overcome it and prayer to nature for a stormy shake up -- and it is elaborated in great length. In the lines quoted by Coleridge, the speaker says that he has seen the old Moon holding the new Moon in her arms and he is frightened. He fears that a deadly storm might follow. Such strange forebodings take place in nature. The relevance of these lines is that Coleridge wants such a storm to come in his life to arouse him from the spiritual slumber he is now in. The slumber is painful to the poet because it deprives him of his enjoyment of life and nature, and makes him unable to write poetry.
Coleridge, however, meant that it could be addressed to anybody with a happy disposition and contended mind. The poem is actually about the poet himself; it is a kind of confession. One confesses to one who is just the opposite type: a sinner to a holy priest, a guilty person to one who is pure of heart, and a sad man to one who is full of joy. Originally the poem had 340 lines. Later Coleridge cut it short to 139 lines and divided it into eight parts. The drastic revision was made by Coleridge the critic who expunged the 'too personal' details.
The entire poem is an expression of great anguish, intense feeling about a troubled mind. So it is an apprehension of loss, more than real loss. The poet wants that a storm should come to unsettle into his dull, lethargic state, and make him more dynamic, even if it would mean devastation.