Samuel Taylor Coleridge Kubla khan A Critical appreciation

 

Kubla Khan is one of the three great poems of S.T. Coleridge, the other two being The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christable. The Poem is a dream fragment. It is an edifice of dream. It is also regarded as one of the greatest compositions in the field of supernatural poetry. The poem originated in a dream which the poet had in a sleep induced by opium. He recollected the dream dream after he had woken up and he instantly poetised the them of dream. The poem begins with the proposed palace of Kubla Khan in Xanadu, and it ends with a personal reaction of the poet to such a palace. In this respect, it remains a unique example of the romantic imagination and subjectivity.

The poem is divided into three parts. The First part tells us about magnificent pleasure-palace, which kubla Khan order to be built for him in xanadu. It is to be located in a romantic spot full off "garden bright with sinuous rills" and "forests ancient as the hills". In the background there is a hill down the slope of which there is a "deep romantic chasm". It is a wild and savage place as holly and enchanted. The sacred river Alph, which follows with a 'mazy motion' for five miles, sinks in tumult to a lifeless ocean, and in the midst of this tumukt he seems to hear from a great distance the "ancestral voice prophesying wire". 

            The second part of the poem is an attempt to release the vision, to give it a concert from to build that dome in air with music. Whereas in the first part the poet presents the image of the dream in words. In the second part is seeks to give an actuality and concretenes to the dream image by means of "the Deep delight", the creative joy and inspiration of the poet_cum-artist. And the proposed pleasure-palace becomes se marvellous and unbelievable achievement of supremely creative art which combines ice with sunshine- "it was a miracle of rare device,|a Sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice  !"the poet seems to listen to an Abysinian maid singing on Mount Abora, thereby adding the romantic  character to the poem.

           In the third part, the poet describes the art of poetic creation. He said that if he could bring back or revive within him the symphony and song of that lady, hey Google gate indeed such a deep delight that he would build the pleasure place that popular wanted it to be constructed. In other words, the experience of the vision inspired the poet to create a rare musical composition in which the the countries of life would be harmonized into a miraculous unity. And he has fed on 'honeydew'and drunk'the milk of Paradise', suggesting thereby that his heart has been filled with divine inspiration by virtue of which he writes creative poetry. It is the fit of inspiration in which the poet will be transformed into a supernatural figure to be dreaded hlh worshipped.

     The poem each trip of supernaturalism. Transport us out of the word of everyday life into a world of enhancement."the Caverns measureles to man, deep romantic chasm, the intermittent burst aap water from the fountain, the sunless sea this all create a World of wonder and mystery.

        To sum up, the descriptive or pictorial quality of the poem is very striking. Some of the pictures and highly sensuous and suggestive. The pictures of bright gardens, streams,trees laden with sweet blossom, sunny spots of greenery,caves of ice etc. Reveal the poet's wonderful power of pictorialism.