Kubla Khan: A Dream, or Something Greater Essay

The book I have chosen is called Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. This book describes the Mongol Legacy and how his achievements have impacted the globe since he was first found. This book consists of Jack Weatherford’s take of how the Mongolian empire impacted the world. This book is divided into sections that talk about the stages of the Mongol influence.

As a young boy, he had a passion for reading (Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge). In 1795, Coleridge, with his good friend, Robert Southey, set out on a collaboration project to create a play called The Fall of Robespierre (Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge). However, in the very early stages of the play, Southey abandoned it, and Coleridge abandoned his college degree in order to pursue a career in writing (Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge). “Kubla Khan” is considered one of Coleridge’s best and most famous poems. While prescribed on anodyne, or opium, Coleridge admitted that the entire poem of “Kubla Khan” came to him in a dream (Representations of Drugs in 19th–Century Literature). Because of chronic rheumatic pain, he was prescribed laudanum, and eventually, he developed a dependency on the drug (Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Opium

One of the things that is so fascinating about poetry is that it allows readers to discover and sometimes challenge and channel their emotions as well as their understanding. A poem’s words as well as its structure can reveal many things to its intended audience. In “Myth” by Natasha Trethewey, the poems form is just as important as the words she writes, becoming a map for the journey Trethewey takes, using transitions to take us from one place to another. The nature of the poem therefor becomes multifaceted, as it encourages the reader to think about the speaker’s words and use of form and structure she uses to craft this epic story. Using form as a tool, Trethewey is able to use structure as a way to guide us as readers and the speaker across the conscious and unconscious thoughts and dreams the speaker faces in this story.

Genghis Khan, or Temujin, as he was referred to in his early life, was born around 1167 into the pastoral nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols. Mongolian life was centered on several fragmented tribes that continuously fought each other, led by individual khans. “Temujin enjoyed years of successful conquest in these tribal wars” (Adler and Pouwels, 239-41). At the age of sixteen, Temujin married Borte, a woman from another tribe. “Temujin married Borte, cementing the alliance between the Konkirat tribe and his own.” ("Biography.com"). Temujin was greatly feared among the Mongols, as he was known for his ruthlessness, cunning, and his ferocity. “…by 1196 he had become powerful enough to assert personal control over all of the

At the end of chapter 20 in Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria, Coleridge describes his own experience with poetry and its effect on others’ imagination from an outsiders point of view:

Coleridge’s ‘This Lime Tree Bower My Prison’, is a poem describing a man’s changing views as he contemplates the natural word which he has been prevented from seeing. Coleridge’s poem demonstrates the ability of individuals to modify their morals and values upon receiving a cathartic release from their relationship with nature, as predicated almost entirely on the imagination. Through allowing the persona to visualise the encounters his friends are making with nature along their journey, Coleridge first demonstrates the capabilities of the imagination in allowing us to picture things in certain detail, as shown through “now my friends emerge,” which in all exemplifies the presence of imagination in our relationship with nature. Furthermore, the description of their journey demonstrates the liberation received from engaging with nature, as shown where they “wander in gladness,” which relates to the cathartic release obtained from viewing nature that pushes us to reassess our ideas and perceptions. By showing his gradual change in tone, the influence of the persona’s imagination is shown, which when in conjunction with his exclamation of “yes!” reveals our emotional capabilities if becoming engulfed in our imaginations of nature. Also, by choosing to allow the persona to speak in a melodramatic tone, the poet is able to again explicitly demonstrate his

Such a situation warrants Coleridge the title of visionary, and therefore his poem becomes a vision: a Romantically textual utopia whose realisation was challenged by the rational status quo of its historical origin. Due to this, Coleridge’s work will always seek practical affirmation and will therefore constantly be the source of metaphysically-oriented debate, leaving the dualism that rules it to be decided by the reader and the ideologies he or she brings to the text. This conclusion is supported by the words of John Beer:

Throughout the beginning of the poem there are religious undertones Coleridge uses words like bended knee and reverential to highlight a religious belief and perhaps a plea to God to cure the “Pains of Sleep” this is interesting as he seems to feel “humbled” by the spirit presence. He mentions being weak but realises he is blest by this power. The religious undertone suggests to me a feeling of utter helplessness.

The poem begins with the narrator's describing the poem as a 'dream' that ''was not at all a dream'', which already causes doubt and tension within the reader. The narrator then goes on to talk about

There are a myriad of critical theory lenses that can be applied and utilized to closely observe pieces of literature. One of these theories is John Keats’s Negative Capability theory which consists of an idea of “…when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason…” (Keats 968). Ultimately, this signifies that in poetry the emphasis be placed on the significance of inquisitiveness and the asking of questions of the life and scenery around one’s self, rather than placing emphasis on strongly searching for these answers. This theory can be applied to a multitude of works, but for these sakes and purposes what will be critiqued is Samuel Coleridge’s Kubla Khan. In a subtle

The following report will discuss the leadership qualities of Borjigin Temüjin and the organizational culture of his people, the Mongols. Readers might be confused on who Borjigin Temüjin is, he was the man known today as Genghis Khan. This paper will illustrate how Temüjin’s ability to lead developed by exploring his beginnings and how through his exceptional leadership skills he went on to create the largest contiguous empire in history. The first part of the paper will concentrate on Mongol culture in the 12th century, Temüjin’s upbringing in that culture and how he changed it through the consolidation of the many Mongol tribes. The second part will discuss the rise of Borjigin Temüjin to the post of Genghis Khan and

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan was directed by a Russian filmmaker, Sergei Bodrov. The film was a co-production with companies from Russia, Germany, and Kazakhstan. The filming took place in a China, but particularly in inner Mongolia. It was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film contains some graphic scenes of violence and blood shed along with an occasional romance scenario. It follows traditional myths and legends of the powerful Temujin while also giving sightings of the nomadic life and customs. The movie is beautifully done while also staying authentic and true. It reveals Temujin’s life, who later becomes Genghis Khan, from a little boy to the Mongol Khan he later becomes. Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan follows the unwritten stories of Genghis Khan and his life with a little hint of mythical belief, but also adding Mongolian beliefs and way of life.

Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” is a bright example of the transforming power imagination has. The poet’s usage of diction and allegories transform this poem into a symbol for imagination. It is said that it was written after Coleridge’s encounter with the sublime while still being under the effect of opium, and when he went to record it, he was disrupted by a visitor and the remaining of the poem was lost even to him. In the poem he shows how possibilities are limitless as long as our imaginations are; Coleridge uses “caverns measureless to man” as a

Samuel Taylor Coleridge uses nature as a catalyst to search deeper into his mind and discover the surreal creativity of his own imagination. "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison" depicts an out-of-body vision that encompasses a breathtaking vista of green mountains and purple flowers from the eyes of an imaginer. Gazing at it "with swimming sense," the picture becomes "less gross than bodily," causing the swirling colors to form something only found in the divine. However surreal this picture is, nothing can compare to Cloleridge's vision in "Kubla Khan." In this poem he uses nature's creations to depict unnatural scenes. In "caverns measureless to man," Kubla Khan wants to build a "sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice." Such a place is only real in the imagination and in the written word, which is why this poem seems so tangible to the eye. He comes across these imaginary visions while "meandering with a mazy motion through wood and dale," where these thoughts come alive. It explains through alliteration how walking through wooded paths, accompanied only by one's mind, one comes upon new feelings and thoughts that are only palpable in that wood. Nature inspires Samuel Coleridge to exorcise his mind's eye and create a heavenly atmosphere.

Although there is no consistent syntax, rhyme, or meter in Kubla Khan, the poem begins its journey through the mind in a conscious and calculating manner. The first four lines of the poem, in fact, appear to almost directly derive from a passage of Purchas’s Pilgrimage, as the narrative voice slowly drifts into a dreamlike state. Coleridge’s paraphrasing of a relatively accessible, published piece of literature seems to provide the narrator with a solid foundation to build his seemingly inaccessible poem upon.