Poetic Inspiration in Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner Essay

Poetic Inspiration in Kubla Khan and tally of the Ancient Mariner An examination of the characters that Coleridge presents in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan and the situations in which they find themselves reveals interesting aspects of Coleridges cause character that are some(prenominal) similar to and different from the characters named in the titles of these poems. In particular, an examination of these characters with an eye toward Coleridges conception of poetic inspiration and success lav be fruitful. In Kubla Khan, Coleridge depicts a powerful character who did ... a dread pleasure dome decree (Kubla Khan lines 1-2). The fact that Kubla Khan is fit merely to decree a pleasure-dome and know that his orders will be kill implies that he is a character of both strong will and commodious creative power. This faith in himself is not misplaced. The Khan decrees that a pleasure-dome be built and his order is immediately executed So twice tail fin miles of f ertile ground/ With walls and towers were girdled round (6-7). Some aspects of the landscape and the dome ring the hardness implied by the chieftains single-minded determination the fountain with ceaseless ferment seething, the dancing rocks that are tossed into the air by the fountain, the ancestral voices prophesying war, and the fact that the sublime river itself is flung up momently by the fountain (18, 23, 30, 24). As the Khans creation, the dome rat reasonably be expected to contain clues to his character, and the characterization of the Khan harmonizes good with these clues about his character given by the pleasure dome the realize of a Mongol chief is one associated with danger, war, and a large keep down of strength. ... ... of a broken and essentially conciliatory force. When seen in these terms, it seems that the mariner whitethorn be the image with which Coleridge most closely identified himself, but both are symbols of his creative process. References The B ible. Authorized (King James) Translation. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Kubla Khan in Samuel Taylor Coleridge A slender Edition of the Major Works. Ed. H J. Jackson. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1985. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in septette part (1798 text) in Romanticism An Anthology, Second Edition. Ed. Duncan Wu. Oxford Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1998. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In Seven Parts (1817 text) in Samuel Taylor Coleridge A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. H J. Jackson. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1985.