Analyse Coleridge’s Kubla Khan
as a symbolic poem.
Or
How far is Kubla Khan a poem
about poetic creation?
Or
Attempt a critical appreciation
of Kubla Khan.
Kubla Khan is one of
the three most unusual and popular poems of Coleridge along with The Ancient
mariner and Christabel.
Although it has its origin in an opium dream of the poet, and thus lacks the
logical consistency, it is a brilliant act of poetic creation which speaks
about the “ecstasy of imaginative fulfillment.” Coleridge has given such an
unprecedented influence on imagination that Graham Hough spoke about Kubla
Khan, “what underlines it is the recurrent Coleridgian theme of
poetic inspiration.”
The poem consists of three parts. In
the first part, Kubla Khan, the great oriental king makes a luxurious palace in
Xanadu on the bank of the sacred river Alph which is the symbol of life. The
river flows through deep and immeasurable caverns in the hills and finally
falls into a “sunless sea.” So, it is very clear that the world made by Kubla
Khan is devoid of morality and the blessings of God. A dark shadow of instability
pervades the whole world. Thus, it is a dead world controlled by a human being
who has the audacity to replace the dome made by God himself. Therefore, the
world of Kubla is full of seeding turmoil which leads only to war:
“And mid these tumult Kubla heard from
far,
Ancestral voices prophesying war”
As Kubla is unable to bring life and
sunlight to his own world, it is proved that one’s will cannot be imposed on Nature
by tyranny or physical strength. So, the poet brings in the poem his own poetic
imagination and builds a palace of amazing architectural skill. The palace has
sunny dome surrounded by icy cold caves:
“The shadow of the dome of pleasure
It was a miracle of rare device
A sunny pleasure dome with caves of
ice”
