KUBLA KHAN – SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGEL.O: To work collaboratively and analyse the literary and linguistic features of the poem.

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KUBLA KHAN (EXTRACT)SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced;Amid whose swift half-intermitted burstHuge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and everIt flung up momently the sacred river.Five miles meandering with a mazy motionThrough wood and dale the sacred river ran,Then reached the caverns measureless to man,And sank, in tumult to a lifeless ocean:And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from farAncestral voices prophesying war!The shadow of the dome of pleasureFloated midway on the waves;Where was heard the mingled measureFrom the fountain and the caves.It was a miracle of rare device,A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

CONTEXT

Samuel Coleridge 1772 – 1834

Coleridge is one of the most celebrated poets from the Romantic period.

Coleridge wrote this piece in the period from 1797 to 1798.

Coleridge's inspiration for this poem was a drug-induced slumber caused by opium, perhaps why this poem is based the five human senses.

The legend is that he dreamed over 300 lines but he was interrupted by ‘the man from Porlock’ so the poem remains incomplete.

CONTENT

The theme of nature is introduced at the beginning of the poem and is continued throughout, with references to rivers, water, dark, magical, unrealistic surroundings.

The poem could be considered a metaphor for the way that Man tries to control Nature. A man-made paradise is annihilated and replaced with a “true” form of Nature in the form of a “pleasure-dome with caves of ice!”

MEANING

Write a paragraph explaining the meaning of your section of the poem.

You must be prepared to share your findings with the rest of the class.

Dulcimer

LANG LIT ANALYSIS Get into six different groups.

Each group need to analyse the features from the poem in the section they have been given.

Use the relevant terminology and the cone framework to help you know what to look for in your area.

You will be presenting your findings at the end of the lesson.

REVIEW

Present your findings.

Take notes to complete your analysis of this poem.