Coleridge creates a sense of mystery and the supernatural in "Kubla Khan" through his description of Xanadu and the pleasure dome within it. He describes a deep romantic chasm and measures caverns leading to a sunless sea, invoking awe. As a dream poem, the events defy reality but seem possible in a dream state of imagination. Coleridge suggests supernatural elements through vivid yet suggestive descriptions, like referring to the area as "holy and enchanted." Contrasting yet coexisting elements like sun and ice further an atmosphere of magic and the impossible. The poem exemplifies Coleridge's mastery of the supernatural through a dreamlike trance that suspends disbelief.
Coleridge creates a sense of mystery and the supernatural in "Kubla Khan" through his description of Xanadu and the pleasure dome within it. He describes a deep romantic chasm and measures caverns leading to a sunless sea, invoking awe. As a dream poem, the events defy reality but seem possible in a dream state of imagination. Coleridge suggests supernatural elements through vivid yet suggestive descriptions, like referring to the area as "holy and enchanted." Contrasting yet coexisting elements like sun and ice further an atmosphere of magic and the impossible. The poem exemplifies Coleridge's mastery of the supernatural through a dreamlike trance that suspends disbelief.
Coleridge creates a sense of mystery and the supernatural in "Kubla Khan" through his description of Xanadu and the pleasure dome within it. He describes a deep romantic chasm and measures caverns leading to a sunless sea, invoking awe. As a dream poem, the events defy reality but seem possible in a dream state of imagination. Coleridge suggests supernatural elements through vivid yet suggestive descriptions, like referring to the area as "holy and enchanted." Contrasting yet coexisting elements like sun and ice further an atmosphere of magic and the impossible. The poem exemplifies Coleridge's mastery of the supernatural through a dreamlike trance that suspends disbelief.
Coleridge creates a sense of mystery and the supernatural in "Kubla Khan" through his description of Xanadu and the pleasure dome within it. He describes a deep romantic chasm and measures caverns leading to a sunless sea, invoking awe. As a dream poem, the events defy reality but seem possible in a dream state of imagination. Coleridge suggests supernatural elements through vivid yet suggestive descriptions, like referring to the area as "holy and enchanted." Contrasting yet coexisting elements like sun and ice further an atmosphere of magic and the impossible. The poem exemplifies Coleridge's mastery of the supernatural through a dreamlike trance that suspends disbelief.
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Qst. Comment on Coleridge's treatment of supernatural in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. [NU.
94,98] Or, How does Coleridge mingle the natural and the for supernatural in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. [NU. 96, 2006] Or, How does Coleridge handle supernatural elements in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. [NU. 94] Or,Show how Coleridge blends the real and the unreal in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. [NU. 87, 96, NU]Or,How does Coleridge juxtapose the natural and the supernatural in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.Or, To what extent is Coleridge's theory of the willing suspension of disbelief applicable to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. How does Coleridge make the supernatural look Or, natural in The Rime of the Ancient M
Ans. S. T. Coleridge is the greatest English poet of the supernaturalism and his The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is one of the best poems of supernatural ever written in English literature. The poet employs the supernatural elements in this poem in a convincing manner. As we go through the poems, there is "a willing suspension of disbelief” on our part. The poem contains several impossible incidents, yet we feel inclined to believe what we read. A lot of unbelievable supernatural events have been incorporated in the poem. But Coleridge portrays these events in such a way that they might seem natural and believable to the readers.
The story of the Ancient Mariner is an unbelievable one. Up to the killing of the Albatross, everything around the ship of the Ancient Mariner is natural, but after the killing, unbelievable and supernatural things begin to happen. First of all, Coleridge aroused the sense of supernatural mystery by transporting us to distant times and remote places. After the killing of the Albatross, the ship of the Mariner entered into a silent sea where the ship remained unmoving as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.
The appearance of the spectre ship is a supernatural element. For killing the Albatross, the sailors had to suffer untold sufferings. They had not a drop of drinking water. They were waiting for a ship to come and to help them. At that time a skleton ship comes with two supernatural figures on its deck. One of the figures is Death and the other is Life-in-Death. The poet describes a mood of uncanny fear in the minds of the readers by describing the physical appearance of the Life-in-Death.
The manner of the death of two hundred sailors is also supernatural. Two hundred sailors drop down dead one by one so quickly that they could neither groan nor sigh. As each sailor drops down dead, his soul passes by the old sailor like the whiz of a crossbow.
The most supernatural event in the whole poem is the coming back to life of the dead sailors. After the old sailor blesses the water snakes, his redemption, begins and ship is driven towards the home harbour by the Polar Spirit. At one point a group of Angels enter into the body of the dead sailors and the dead sailors rise to their feet and row the ship.
The manner of falling the dead Albatross from the Mariner's neck and the talking of the two voices in the air are equally supernatural events. For the killing of the Albatross, the other sailors blamed the old sailor and they hung the dead Albatross round his neck as a punishment. But when the old sailor blessed the water- snakes, the dead body of the albatross fell down into the sea automatically and: The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
Thus Coleridge presented supernatural incidents in such a way that they appeared to be real. In one stroke Coleridge presents a skeleton ship, the spectre sea, the woman and her death mate, the coming back to life of the ship's crew and Polar Spirits talking to one another. But these supernatural incidents have not been left without their association with reality. With these supernatural incidents, the poet has artistically woven convincing pictures of Nature like the sun shining brightly, the mist and the snow surrounding the ship, the freezing cold of the Arctic region, the water-snakes moving in the water. Thus the natural and the supernatural, the realistic and the fantastic, the possible and the impossible have been so artistically blended that the whole strikes us as quite convincing and credible.
Qs.How does Coleridge create an atmosphere of mystery and magic in Kubla Khan?
Or,Bring out the supernatural elements in Kubla Khan.
Or, Discuss Kubla Khan as a romantic poem. [NU. 98, 2006]
Or, Products of sheer fancy.
Ans. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is one of the greatest romantic poets and his Kubla Khan is one of the most celebrated and debated works of the Romantic period in English literature.It is the finest specimen of pure poetry, a product of sheer fancy. It is a dream poem, a poem of pure magic. Being essentially of the of a dream it enchants us by the sheer loveliness of its colour, artistic grandeur and sweet harmony. The poem exemplifies Coleridge's mastery over supernatural poetry.
In the poem, Coleridge creates an atmosphere of mystery in Kubla Khan mainly by describing the pleasure dome and the surrounding in which it stood. The poet says:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
It is beautiful place where the river Alph flows "through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea." The immeasurable caverns and the subterranean lake, evoke in our minds a feeling of mystery and awe. There is the deep romantic chasm which lay across a forest of cedar tress. Being essentially of the nature of a dream it enchants us by the sheer loveliness of its colour, artistic grandeur and sweet harmony. The poem exemplifies Coleridge's mastery over supernatural poetry. The images which passed through his mind during the dream have been expressed through word-pictures which have the vividness and clarity of a dream.
From the very outset of the poem, Coleridge gives a dream touch to the poem. The title of this poem is rather unique and unexpected, the name of a ruler of China in the 13th century. This ironic name simply injects a sense of wonderment and unexpectedness into the poem by presenting a character that does not belong and inserting him into a delicately painted background that is this poem. The imagination or dream-like state certainly had something to do with this name, it points to the irreverent and unexpected. The characters and events that the poem presents can only be possible in dream. The happenings in Kubla's world defy reality and perplex senses. But in a dream anything is possible. Impossibility is reality in a dream.
The setting of "Kubla Khan" is a distant past. The 'sunny pleasure dome' and the 'caves of ice'-an impossible picture of warmth and coldness can only occur in the magical distant land of the poem. Besides making the poem remote in time and space, the poet has also imparted to it a dream like quality so that the rational self is kept at bay and 'poetic faith' is easily achieved. In the poem, a dream has been restated in poetic language and 'willing suspension of disbelief is achieved for the magical as well as supernatural in the poem.
The mysterious and supernatural environment in "Kubla Khan" is mainly produced through Coleridge's description of the pleasure dome and it also arrests our attention through its stunning beginning as:
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree."
An exquisite quality of Coleridge's supernaturalism is his suggestiveness. Coleridge as a skillful master of
treating supernaturalism does not describe it directly. In "Kubla Khan", he vividly describes the palace tower and the huge surrounding area with a keen suggestiveness of its supernatural environment. Coleridge's suggestiveness of supernaturalism is clearly noticed in the following lines:
"A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'ers beneath a waning moon was haunted."
The story that Coleridge presents in the poem, has many magical and supernatural elements. In the world of Kubla, contrasting elements mingle in one palace. An impossible picture is created by juxtaposing sun and ice in the same pleasure dome. Coleridge makes Xanadu idyllic but also savage. It is lovely and innocent, surrounded by evil and the constant threat of destruction. Coleridge has sought to impart reality to the magical and supernatural by setting the poem in the framework of a dream.
To sum up, we can say that "Kubla Khan" is rightly considered as a product of sheer fancy. It is just the inscription of the poet's dream of the magnificent palace of Kubla Khan.
