***

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Summary and Critical Analysis

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a typical ballad by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It deals with a single
situation or incident, and though there are many incidents, they are also introduced so as to look like
parts of the one major event. The situation is presented dramatically. The poet makes use of striking
dialogues, and the effect is enhanced by repetitions, known as ‘refrains’. Another typical ballad element,
the supernatural is also introduced to give the effect of horror and mystery.

S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834)

S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834)

Coleridge, like many other romantic poets, turned to the Middle Ages for inspiration because he was
dissatisfied by the excessive ‘reasoning’ in content and ‘rules’ in the form of poetry. The medieval oral
ballads give a sense of reality to the supernatural and therefore Coleridge took up this form of poetry
with great interest. The present ballad has all the elements that typical ballads should have: a vivid story,
dramatic action, verbal music, a scenic setting, a unifying element of feeling, moral, and mystery. Like
most folk ballads, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” contains a single incident that makes up an
eventful and striking story which in itself is enough to hold the attention of the audience.

It ends with the lifelong punishment of its main character for the violation of the law binding human
beings with the invisible beings of the nature. This ballad has the oral quality of typical folk ballads. It is a
short narrative poem with dramatic elements like dialogue, quick and unexpected development of
action, tension and a dramatic end. Another important feature of this ballad is the typical form. The
poem is written in four line stanzas (quatrains) with the usual ballad rhyme scheme abcb. Each stanza is
written in more or less the traditional ballad meter: the first and third lines are in iambic tetrameter, and
the second and fourth lines are in iambic trimester. The language is simple and the narrative is
straightforward. The order of events is chronological: the narrator tells what had happened in the order
in which the events had taken place.

The first thing we notice in this poem is the simplicity of language. There are lines in the poem which
make use of very simple and homely words and expressions. “The sun came up upon the left, out of the
sea came he”. But like the old ballads, the poem has a serious aim and purpose of implicitly conveying a
message. It is more than a mere poem of the supernatural, describing some adventurous and exciting
events. The poem narrates certain horrible and unusual incidents that lead to the refining and purifying
of our emotions and sentiments as well as conveying a lesson for practical life. It tells us, more or less
directly, that the violation of the fundamental laws of the nature will result in terrible disasters in the
well-being of men, especially their mental health.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in some way illustrates the theory of love between the creatures,
between human beings and the visible and invisible beings of the nature. The old (ancient) sailor
(mariner) commits a crime against the divine law of love and as a result there is an upheaval both in the
internal world of his mind and in the external world of nature. The bird that he kills on his voyage (the
Albatross) is not a mere bird; but is a symbolic spirit as indicated by the very the manner of its arrival at
the place form nowhere out of “fog and mist”. The mariners are also very happy and receive the bird
warmly, thinking it a good soul which has come to help them “as if it had been a Christian soul.” But the
leader mariner’s reckless act of killing the bird is a great crime, a violation of the sanctity of life. The
other mariners also suffer because they unknowingly make themselves accomplices in his sin by
justifying his act and saying that it was right to kill the bird which brought the fog and mist (though they
sometimes say that it was wrong). Those other sailors who did not realize the sin died, but the main
mariner who appreciated the dirty-looking snakes in the sea was atoned by the spirits that came to rush
him to the shore. However, the mariner is obsessed by his consciousness of guilt, which he can alleviate
only by telling the story of crime to someone who looks appropriate. The teaching of the story pacifies
his soul from the burning guilt that he is made to carry along throughout life. The mariner’s regeneration
began when he blessed the water snakes and his heart is in harmony with the universal law of love, and
his life continues only if he confesses and teaches that inviolable law to others.

Coleridge was influenced by medievalism and "The Ancient Mariner" is formed with the colors and
glamour of the middle Ages. Supernaturalism and sentimentalism were the chief features of the poetry
of the medieval time. Besides having a love of adventure and romance, the people of the middle ages
had a faith in religious ceremonials, rituals and superstitions.

The basic idea of "The Ancient Mariner" is 'medieval' from this point of view. The crime and penance of
the mariner and its final expiation is a Catholic idea which is the central point round which the story
moves. The active intervention of the supernatural machinery has been used by the poet to the same
effect. The poet makes use of superstitious beliefs to heighten the old-world atmosphere of the poem.
The description of the voyage and the ship is also in conformity with the early history of English
navigation. And lastly, the moral comes at the close of the poem as a final pronouncement of life. The
natural, the supernatural and sustains the other. Its theme involves remorse, suffering relief, hatred,
forgiveness, grief and joy.
In terms of the spiritual truth Coleridge succeeds in making the poem an organic whole. The whole story
has a powerful impact on us, and it convinces us about the mystery of life, which is made up of the
natural and the supernatural, the known and the unknown. The mariner is successful in conveying
effectively his spiritual crisis to us and finally we come to share his faith in-the nature.

***

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Summary

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An Ancient Mariner, unnaturally old and skinny, with deeply-tanned skin and a "glittering eye", stops a
Wedding Guest who is on his way to a wedding reception with two companions. He tries to resist the
Ancient Mariner, who compels him to sit and listen to his woeful tale. The Ancient Mariner tells his tale,
largely interrupted save for the sounds from the wedding reception and the Wedding Guest's fearsome
interjections. One day when he was younger, the Ancient Mariner set sail with two hundred other sailors
from his native land. The day was sunny and clear, and all were in good cheer until the ship reached the
equator. Suddenly, a terrible storm hit and drove the ship southwards into a "rime" - a strange, icy patch
of ocean. The towering, echoing "rime" was bewildering and impenetrable, and also desolate until an
Albatross appeared out of the mist. No sooner than the sailors fed it did the ice break and they were
able to steer through. As long as the Albatross flew alongside the ship and the sailors treated it kindly, a
good wind carried them and a mist followed. One day, however, the Ancient Mariner shot and killed the
Albatross on impulse.

Suddenly the wind and mist ceased, and the ship was stagnant on the ocean. The other sailors
alternately blamed the Ancient Mariner for making the wind die and praised him for making the strange
mist disappear. Then things began to go awry. The sun became blindingly hot, and there was no
drinkable water amidst the salty ocean, which tossed with terrifying creatures. The sailors went dumb
from their thirst and sunburned lips. They hung the Albatross around the Ancient Mariner's neck as a
symbol of his sin. After a painful while, a ship appeared on the horizon, and the Ancient Mariner bit his
arm and sucked the blood so he could cry out to the other sailors. The ship was strange: it sailed without
wind, and when it crossed in front of the sun, its stark masts seemed to imprison the sun. When the ship
neared, the Ancient Mariner could see that it was a ghost ship manned by Death, in the form of a man,
and Life-in-Death, in the form of a beautiful, naked woman. They were gambling for the Ancient
Mariner's soul. Life-in-Death won the Ancient Mariner's soul, and the other sailors were left to Death.
The sky went black immediately as the ghost ship sped away. Suddenly all of the sailors cursed the
Ancient Mariner with their eyes and dropped dead on the deck. Their souls zoomed out of their bodies,
each taunting the Ancient Mariner with a sound like that of his crossbow. Their corpses miraculously
refused to rot; they stared at him unrelentingly, cursing him with their eyes.
The Ancient Mariner drifted on the ocean in this company, unable to pray. One night he noticed some
beautiful water-snakes frolicking at the ship's prow in the icy moonlight. Watching the creatures brought
him unprecedented joy, and he blessed them without meaning to. When he was finally able to pray, the
Albatross fell from his neck and sank into the sea. He could finally sleep, and dreamed of water. When he
awoke, it was raining, and an awesome thunderstorm began. He drank his fill, and the ship began to sail
in lieu of wind. Then the dead sailors suddenly arose and sailed the ship without speaking. They sang
heavenly music, which the ship's sails continued when they had stopped. Once the ship reached the
equator again, the ship jolted, causing the Ancient Mariner to fall unconscious. In his swoon, he heard
two voices discussing his fate. They said he would continue to be punished for killing the Albatross, who
was loved by a spirit. Then they disappeared. When the Ancient Mariner awoke, the dead sailors were
grouped together, all cursing him with their eyes once again. Suddenly, however, they disappeared as
well. The Ancient Mariner was not relieved, because he realized that he was doomed to be haunted by
them forever.

The wind picked up, and the Ancient Mariner spotted his native country's shore. Then bright angels
appeared standing over every corpse and waved silently to the shore, serving as beacons to guide the
ship home. The Ancient Mariner was overjoyed to see a Pilot, his boy, and a Hermit rowing a small boat
out to the ship. He planned to ask the Hermit to absolve him of his sin. Just as the rescuers reached the
ship, it sank suddenly and created a vortex in the water. The rescuers were able to pull the Ancient
Mariner from the water, but thought he was dead. When he abruptly came to and began to row the
boat, the Pilot and Pilot's Boy lost their minds. The spooked Hermit asked the Ancient Mariner what kind
of man he was. It was then that the Ancient Mariner learned of his curse; he would be destined to tell
his tale to others from beginning to end when an agonizing, physical urge struck him. After he related his
tale to the Hermit, he felt normal again.

The Ancient Mariner tells the Wedding Guest that he wanders from country to country, and has a special
instinct that tells him to whom he must tell his story. After he tells it, he is temporarily relieved of his
agony. The Ancient Mariner tells the Wedding Guest that better than any merriment is the company of
others in prayer. He says that the best way to become close with God is to respect all of His creatures,
because He loves them all. Then he vanishes. Instead of joining the wedding reception, the Wedding
Guest walks home, stunned. We are told that he awakes the next day "sadder and...wiser" for having
heard the Ancient Mariner's tale.

***

Part I:

A party crasher arrives to a wedding, who is old and gross in the eyes of the wedding guests. The party
crasher is a man called the Mariner. Mariner decides to tell a couple of the guests a story about the
effects of an albatross. One of the guests tries to leave but the magnetic draw of the Mariner's eyes is so
powerful, that the wedding guest has no choice but to stay and listen to the story. The story starts out
when the Mariners ship left the port everything was good. They watched a couple of sites along the way.
The wedding is starting but the wedding guest feels no obligation to go inside, he just sits there
mesmerized by the eyes of the mariner. In the story, while on the sailboat, they get visited by an
albatross that comes around day after day. The bird seemed nice so they fed him and let him stay
around. Everyone treated him like a pet. The albatross followed the crew around for nine nights. After
not seeing the albatross the mariner comes clean that he had shot the bird with a crossbow; all the
other sailors were not impressed.

Part II:

The albatross was a symbol of good fortune and, after the mariner had killed it, the sailors were worried
for what was to come next. For a while, time went on; the sun rose and set and nothing seemed
abnormal. The sailors were convinced that the bird brought them the good for winds and everyone
thought that the mariner had done a bad thing. After the bird died, the fog went away so, as easily
influenced the sailors were now they believed that the albatross brought them bad luck and now its
good that the bird is dead cause everything is so clear. In a quick instant the sky turns red and now there
is no winds therefore the boat cannot move. Now they are worried about thirst they have nothing to
drink. The ocean started to turn slimy and growing algae around the boat. And supernatural beings
appear. The crew is still very thirsty and that thirst causes them to not to produce saliva so they cannot
talk anymore.

Part III:

A weary time passed during which the sailors and the mariner were parched and deprived of the basic
needs of life. Then, far in the distance, the mariner saw what looked like a ship. Upon nearing the object
from the distance, the mariner and the sailors realized it truly was a ship but with what looked like
“death” and an sultry woman. These two characters then set a curse upon all except the mariner which
caused the other sailors to die with open eyes and move their souls through the mariner upon their
leaving.

Part IV:

The talking then goes back to the wedding guest who displays fear toward the mariner and his stories
fearing the mariner is a ghost. The mariner then reassured the wedding guest that he was not cursed
and went on to continue his story. Back in his story, the mariner is all alone on the vast sea while his
fellow sailors lay dead on the ship deck. Then the mariner tried to pray but found himself unable to do
so. Looking out into the sea, the mariner then notices some strange snake like creatures in the ocean.
These beautiful creatures gave the mariner the peace he needed and he is finally able to pray and
release his guilt from killing the Albatross.

Part V:

The mariner is finally able to sleep again and after dreaming of rain, he wakes up to find his dreams came
true. The mariner had left buckets out on the ship’s deck so that when it rained, they would fill. The
buckets are now full and the mariner feels like a new person. The mariner hears a storm brewing and
even the storm is huge and violent with lightning, black clouds and roaring winds, the ship never moves.
Suddenly the dead crewmembers rise up from under the boat and help the ship move forward. The dead
sailors spirits begin singing in the morning and the ship sails on peacefully until noon. The singing stops
and the ship moves uneasily, causing the mariner to fall down. He is knocked unconscious. When the
mariner wakes up, he hears two voices talking. The first voice asks if this is the man who killed the
beloved Albatross. The second voice states that the mariner has done his penance and has more to do in
the future.

Part VI:

The first and second voices discuss the boats movement. The second voice informs the first that the
ocean works like a slave to the moon; the ocean does, as the moon wants. It is unclear what/who the
voices are, but they are some type of supernatural being. It is nighttime once the mariner is fully
conscious again and the boat slows down its speed. The mariner sees the dead sailors on the boat with
him and he feels a peaceful breeze that only blows on him and what is immediately around him (the
sails). The wind doesn’t reach the ocean. The wind pushes the ship back to the mariner’s homeland.
Once he arrives home, the curse on the dead crew members has lifted and the dead sailor’s spirits rise
from their bodies and appear as red lights. The angels of each dead sailor stand next to their physical
bodies and wave goodbye to the mariner. He feels overjoyed. Another ship arrives with a pilot, the pilot’s
son and a hermit on it. The mariner hopes that the hermit will grant him forgiveness and listen to his
confessions of his sins.

Part VII:
The Hermit lives in the woods and is very religious. The red spirit lights have disappeared and the Pilot
and Hermit row closer to the mariner’s boat. As they approach, a strange noise is heard and the
mariner’s ship sinks, suddenly. The Hermit and Pilot find the mariner’s body and save him but they think
he has already died. The mariner moves his lips and the Hermit and Pilot are happy to know he is alive,
causing the Pilot to faint and the Hermit to pray. Once they’re all on land, the mariner begs the Hermit to
listen to his confessions. When the Hermit asks the mariner what kind of man he is, the mariner gets an
overwhelming desire to tell the Hermit his confessions of killing the albatross. From then on, the mariner
travels around finding people who need to hear his story. When the mariner is finished telling his story
to the wedding guest, he shifts his focus back to the wedding. The bride and groom are in the garden
singing and everyone seems to be having a good time at the party. The mariner expresses that all he
really wants to do now is say his prayers because he doesn't want to feel lost from God. The mariner
explains to the wedding guest that it is better to pray together and praise god in a church as a group,
than it is to have a big marriage-feast and party. The mariner leaves the wedding guest with some final
words; that he must love all of God’s creations, big and small, and because we have been created from
God and he loves us all the same. The mariner seems to disappear and the wedding guest decides not to
go into the wedding at all. When the wedding guest woke up the next morning, he felt like a sadder and
wiser man.

***

Introduction

The story “The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” is written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Samuel Coleridge
was the founder of the English Romantic Movement and also was the friend of William Wordsworth.

His well-known poems are “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner is one of the longest poems of Samuel which was written in 1797-98 and published in
1798.

This story is inspired by a variety of ways since it was created in 1797-98. Majority of the people thought
that time that it is an expression of nature violation. Some of them understood that it’s related to the
religious text some otherwise. A question of symbolization arises of both the Mariner and albatross.

The Rime of The Ancient Mariner Summary

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a summary about three guys who are on their way to a wedding
celebration when an old sailor (the Mariner) stops one of them at the door-steps (Who will be called the
Wedding Guest).

He uses his mesmerizing eyes to hold all the attention of Wedding Guest and starts telling him a story
about the unfortunate and destructive journey that he took. The Guest wants to go to the celebration,
but he doesn’t seem to pry himself away from this old mariner.

The Mariner begins his story.

They leave the port and ship sails down near Antarctica to keep themselves safe from the severe storm.
But suddenly they get themselves caught in a deadly foggy course. An albatross shows up to steer them
into the fog and provides them good winds, but the mariner decides to shoot it.

Soon the sailor loses their wind, and it gets really hot. They run out of the water. Now at this point,
everybody blames the Mariner. The ship seems hunted by a cruel spirit, and weird stuff starts appearing,
they see the slimy creatures walking on the sea.

Mariner’s crew decides to hand the albatross body around his neck to remind him of his grave mistake
that he made. Due to his mistake, everyone is dying due to thirst. Mariner happened to see another ship
is sailing at some distance from his ship.

He desires and tries to yell out loudly, but his mouth is too dry to yell. To moisten his lips, he sucked his
own blood. He thinks that they are safe now. But sadly the ship is a ghost ship and piloted by two spirits.
Then starts the game of death.

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Plato Attack on Poetry

Who wants to save himself? Who has to be the last member you want to meet on a journey?

Everyone dies on the mariner’s ship. The guest realizes, “Oh! You are a ghost”! But the Mariner replies
him patiently, saying “well I am the only one who didn’t die that day.” After that, he continues his ballad
and says he’s on the boat with all the dead bodies full of slimy spirits surrounded by an ocean.

Severe, these slimy things are nasty water snakes. Mariner unconsciously escapes his course by the
blessings the hideous snakes and the dropping blood drop of albatross from his neck into the sea.

The Mariner falls into sleep, and when he wakes up, it’s raining. A storm strikes up in some distance, and
he sees all his crew members floating on the water like zombies. Sailors don’t come back to life. It seems
the supernatural spirits and angels fill their bodies and push the boat.

The Mariner hears some voices, saying that how cruelly he killed the albatross and still he has more
sufferings. These mysterious voices explain all the situation that how the ship is moving.

The Mariner says that he still has the same painful need to tell all the story. That is why he stopped that
guest on this very occasion. In the end, Mariner says that he needs to learn how to express his love, how
to say prayers, how to live people and many other things. Then he goes back home and wakes up the
next day, just like the famous lines go “a sadder and wiser man.”

***

Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Summary and Critical Analysis

Kubla Khan was written in 1798 but not published until 1816. It was then issued in a pamphlet containing
Christabel and The Pains of Sleep. It is one of those three poems which have made Coleridge, one of the
greatest poets of England, the other two being The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel.

S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834)

S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834)
Coleridge himself describes this poem as the fragment of a dream, a vision seen perhaps under the
influence of opium-which he saw when he had fallen asleep after reading the account of Kubla Khan in
an old book of travels written by Purchas. Kubla Khan is a brilliant achievement in the field of
supernatural poetry.

Coleridge beautifully imagined and skillfully described what he had imagined about a palace about which
he had read. He has achieved remarkable success in making the description lively and complete. He
writes as if he has seen it before him.

The poem begins with the description of the kingdom of Kubla Khan. The action takes place in the
unknown Xanadu (a mythical city). Kubla Khan was the powerful ruler who could create his pleasure
dome by a mere order. Alpha was the sacred river that passed through Xanadu. It followed through the
measureless caverns (caves) to the sunless sea. There were gardens in which streams were following in a
zigzag manner. The gardens had many flowers with sweet smells and the forests had many spots of
greenery. The poet gives a beautiful description of the remote and distant land cape of Xanadu.

There was a wonderful chasm sloping down the green hill. The cedar trees were growing on both sides
of the chasm. The place was visited by fairies and demons. Coleridge then gives a medieval tale of love
and romance. When the moon declined in the night it was visited by a woman. She was sad for her lover.
Form the chasm shot up a fountain violently. It threw up stones. They were falling down in every
direction. The sacred river Alpha ran through the woods and dales. Then it reached the unfathomable
caverns and sank noisily into a lifeless ocean with a tumult. In that tumult Kubla Khan heard the voices of
his ancestors. They warned him of approaching war and danger.

In the second part of the poem Coleridge describes the pleasure dome of Kubla Khan. Its shadow floated
midway on the waves. There was mixed music of the fountains as well as of the caves. It was bright with
sunlight and also had caves of ice. Then the poet tells the reader about his vision. In his vision he saw an
Abyssinian maid playing upon her dulcimer. The poet desires to revive their symphony and song. Her
music world inspires with divine frenzy. With the divine frenzy he would recreate all the charm of Kubla
Khan’s pleasure dome. The poet would be divinely inspired so people would draw a circle around him,
and close their eyes with divine fear. The poet must have fed on honeydew and drunk the milk of
paradise.

The supreme strength of Coleridge as a poet lay in his marvelous dream faculty; one might say that the
dream faculty lay at the root of his greatness as a poet and his weakness as a man." It is this dream
element which makes Kubla Khan a thing of wonder in English poetry. Actually the poem had its origin in
a dream. One morning Coleridge fell asleep in his chair after taking a dose of opium when he was
reading about Kubla Khan in Purchas' Pilgrimage. In his dream he composed, as he himself believes,
about two to three hundred lines. On awakening, he appeared to have a distinct recollection of the
whole and instantly and eagerly started writing down the lines. When he had written fifty lines he was
unfortunately interrupted by a man who had come to him on some business, and detained by him above
an hour. On his return to his room, he found that the rest of the dream had passed away from his
memory and therefore he could never finish the poem. So the poem is only a dream fragment. In itself
the poem possesses the qualities of a dream. It has no logical consistency of ideas. It is a procession of
images expressed in language of haunting melody. It contains no story, no thought, no moral, no allegory
or symbolism. It is appreciated for its shadowy vision and haunting music.

Kubla Khan is a poem of pure romance. All the romantic associations are concentrated in this short
poem. It contains many sensuous phrases and pictures like bright gardens, incense bearing trees laden
with blossoms, sunny spots of greenery etc. Then again the description of the Abyssinian maid is very
romantic in character:

"A damsel with dulcimer In a vision once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid, And on her dulcimec she
played, Singing of Mount Agora."

Supernaturalism is also a romantic quality. Kubla Khan is a supernatural poem, based on a dream. There
are images and expressions in it which are supernatural in character and create an atmosphere of
mystery and awe: for example 'caverns measure-less to man', 'a sunless sea', 'that deep romantic chasm'
etc. Kubla Khan is a triumph of supernaturalism. It transports us out of the world of everyday life into a
world of wonder and romance.

***

Introduction

The poem Kubla Khan is highly imaginative, in which, after each stanza, the level of imaginations and
creativity goes deeper. The poem focuses on the “willing suspension of disbelief” i.e. the reader must
quit his rationality in order to understand the creativity of the poem[i].
Summary of Kubla Khan

STANZA 1- THE CREATIVITY OF KUBLA KHAN

Or, a vision in a dream, a fragment…

…Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

In the first stanza, the poet in a dream or in imagination sees Kubla Khan in his capital city Xanadu,
commanding from his luxurious palace dome. The river of Alph flows through the vast chambers and
covering huge distance mixes into the sea where there is no sunlight. (Note: – there is no such river with
the name Alph in the world. The word Alph resembling the first letter of Arabic “Alif” probably
symbolises the river of knowledge for which the humans are thirsty)

The capital of Kubla Khan is about ten square kilometres with fertile land which is surrounded by walls
and towers protecting it. There are beautiful gardens through which a streamlet flows in a curved
manner and along the streamlet, there are trees and plants having a sweet fragrance. There are forests
which are as old as the hills and are covered with green plants over which sunlight is falling. In the first
stanza, it is the creativity of Kubla Khan. It is the first level of imaginations.

STANZA 2- THE DIVINE CREATIVITY

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted…

…And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean

In the second stanza, the creativity moves to a deeper level of imaginations. The poet describes the
divine creativity. There is a sloping hill with green plants, across which there is a chasm or a deep gap
covered with mosses. It is as wild and holy (i.e. natural) as the love of a woman who under decreasing
moon is crying for her supernatural lover. In this chasm or gap, there is an unending disturbance. It
seems that earth is breathing angrily and through the gap, water is coming out with great force and then
falling down.
There is thus a duality of the movement (up and down). With the water, huge stones are thrown out on
either side of the chasm which covers the gap. Amidst these stones, the holy river comes out and flows
through the woods and the valley in a zigzag way. The river reaching the vast chambers ultimately sinks
with noise into the silent sea.

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STANZA 3-THE POET CREATIVITY

And ‘mid this tumult Kubla Khan heard from far…

…A sunny pleasure-dome with cave of ice

Now in the third stanza, the creativity moves into the 3rd or deepest level of imaginations where human
creativity and divine creativity are combined and as a result of it artefacts is made. It should be also
noted that in stanza 1, it is the creativity of Kubla Khan, in the second stanza, it is the divine creativity
and in the 3rd stanza, it is the creativity of the poet. While hearing the noise of river falling into the silent
sea, Kubla Khan hears the voice of his dead ancestors who predict and foretell the future war.

The shadow of luxurious palace dome floats in the air, where a combination of the noise of fountain and
silence of cave is heard. (Something quite impossible!). The poet calls it a miracle of a rare device which
is really true because a sunny dome (hot) and cave ice (cold) cannot co-exist. It is thus the impulse of
creativity which makes the contradictory things like sun and ice, dark and bright, flat or hilly, silent and
sound to exist together.

STANZA 4 WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

(A damsel with dulcimer…

…and drunk the milk of Paradise)

In the 4th stanza, the poet in a dream sees a damsel (i.e. a virgin girl) who is playing the dulcimer (a
musical instrument). She is from the Black Race of Africa and probably from Ethiopia. She is playing the
dulcimer and singing for Mount Abora (which probably means the river of Akbara which joins the River
Nile). The poet by saying “Could I revive in me her symphony and sound”, expresses the superiority of
the damsel and in spite of being a European, he praises a Non-European.

The poet wishes that if he could have the skills of symphony and music of that damsel, he would have
built the dome like that pleasure dome of Kubla Khan, in the air with caves of ice, and thus he would
have constructed some impossible artefact. The audience, on seeing him, doing so would pay attention
to his acts. They would then appreciate his attractive eyes and beautiful hair.

They would then weave a circle thrice around him i.e. they would appreciate his poetry by reading it
three times, each time going to a deeper level and at this instance, there would be the willing
suspension of disbelief i.e. they would close their eyes of rationality with holy dread which means that
they will then go to imaginations. They would then witness that by creating the imaginary dome and ice
cave in the air and by having the symphony and music of that damsel, he would drink the milk of
paradise i.e. he would achieve the best pleasure.

***

Romantic Poets

Romantic poets are also called the early nineteenth- century poets. These poets revolted against the
poetic tradition of the eighteenth century. They turned to the nature. They disliked the set rules and
orders of the neo-classical poets. Instead, they gave too much focus on emotion, imagination, originality
and freedom in their poetry. Simple and commonly used natural language was chosen for their poetry.

The publication of the first edition of the Lyrical Ballad marks the beginning of the romantic period in
English literature. It was combined work produced together by Wordsworth and Coleridge. Poetry was
defined in a new light in this work. Much emphasis was given on simple language, imagination,
originality and poetic freedom. Nature was thought to be a proper subject matter for poetry. It was a
work of great change and experimentation in terms of poetry. Its publication gave a shock to the
traditional poets and critics of the eighteenth century. They considered the language too simple.

William Wordsworth

Wordsworth is regarded as a forerunner of the romantic period. He brought a completely new approach
to the writing of poetry. He had a great love for nature. Nature was God for him because it was a source
of his poetic inspiration. Because of his poetic ability and imagination Wordsworth could paint ordinary
things with beauty, poetic ability and imagination. Wordsworth could paint ordinary things with beauty
and charm. His main purpose was to make ordinary things seem wonderful in his poetry. Though
“Wordsworth argued that the language of poetry should be very simple, he could not truly apply it to his
all poetry.

Wordsworth wrote many poems and sonnets. In his poem Tintern Abbey the poet remembers his
childhood days and describes the lovely view of the nature Westminster Bridge and London are among
his best sonnets. The Prelude is his greatest long and autobiographical poem. It contains the own
experience of French Revolution. The poet also describes the gradual growth of his poetic genius in this
poem. The Excursion is his great philosophical work which he planned but never completed.

S.T. Coleridge

Coleridge is also an important leading figure of the Romantic age. He is both a great critic and poet. He is
also a literary partner of Wordsworth. Both of them worked together to publish the Lyrical Ballad.
Coleridge could make mysterious events acceptable to a reader’s mind.

Coleridge’s famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was published in the first edition of the
Lyrical Ballads. In this poem, an old sailor describes some mysterious events which occurred during the
voyages. The wind failed, the water supply ended and all other sailors died of thirst. All these strange
misfortunes happened because the old sailor had shot a great bird. Finally the curse is lifted and he is
able to return home.
Another good poem of Coleridge is Christabel. It is also magical and mysterious. Christabel finds a
beautiful lady Geraldine alone in the forest and brings her home. But later on it is known that she is an
evil spirit in the form of Geraldine.

Kubla Khan is one of the most famous poems of Coleridge. The poem is a poetic vision which he saw in
his dream and recorded it as a poem, later on. But he couldn’t remember the whole dream because of
some interference while recording. The poem contains the descriptions of the buildings which were built
among the caves, woods and rivers. The poet seems successful in producing a strange and magical
picture.

Lord Byron

Though Bryon was a romantic figure, the classics had a great influence upon his poetry. His poetry is
powerful but it lacks the poetical qualities of Wordsworth and Coleridge. His carelessly written poetry is
often strong and beautiful. Byron’s poem Childe Harold is written in the Spenserian stanza. It tells the
story of a man who goes off to travel far and wide because he is disgusted with life’s foolish pleasures.
Don Juan a long poem of astonishing adventure is also a satire which attacks some of Byron’s enemies. It
starts with a shipwreck and continues with its later results. But the main story is often left and the poet
puts forward ideas on various subjects. Byron also wrote a number of short poems which are popular.

P. B. Shelley

Shelley was a great romantic poet who belonged to the second generation of romantic poets. He was a
very revolutionary and uncompromising figure, but his popularity as a lyric poet is undoubtedly very
great. He struggled against the causes of human misery and against accepted religions. His first
important poem Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude is written in blank verse and shows the Wordsworth’s
influence. It expresses joy in the universe and sorrow for the violent feelings of men. His fine poem
Adonis is an elegy on the death of Keats. He wrote many beautiful lyrics in fine language. One of his
finest sonnets, Ozymandias, expresses the uselessness and the shortness of all earthly power. Some of
his best lyrics include The Cloud, To a Skylark and Ode to the West Wind. These poems express his free
spirit, forceful imagination and desire to change the world.

John Keats
Keats blossomed early and died young. He was inspired by reading Spenser. He developed self- discipline
both in feeling and skill which Shelley never attained. For Keats sensation was a path to the knowledge
and it was the poet’s duty to express it in words. His early poem Endymion is based on old ideas of
religion so it was criticized. Keats wrote many beautiful poems in rich detail and accused Shelly of using
thin language. He is also famous for his great odes and sonnets. The Ode to a Nightingale is his greatly
admired poem. His To Autumn is a poem of scenes season and a mood. On First Looking into Chapman’s
Homer is one the best sonnets of Keats. He also wrote a good ballad entitled La Belle Dame Sans Merci
in which, a Knight dreams of his lady but later on he finds himself alone.

The Lake Poets

The lake poets are the romantic poets who liked the Lake District in the north-west England and lived in
it. These poets are William Wordsworth, Samuel Tailor Coleridge, and Robert Southey. William
Wordsworth was a poet of nature and had the ability to make even an ordinary thing charming. He is
said to have democratized poetry and made poetry available for the farmers and shepherd. In the
preface to the later edition of the Lyrical Ballads (1802) he said that the language of poetry should be the
language of the common man. According to him poetry was a spontaneous overflow of powerful
emotions recollected in tranquility. His well known short poems are The Daffodils, The Solitary Reaper
and Lucy. In Lines Written above Tintern Abbey, the poet returns to a scene of his boyhood. His best
sonnets are Westminster Bridge, an emotional view of London asleep, and London, which is a cry for
help in the troubles of the world. The Prelude, in fourteen books, describes the poet’s own progress in
poetry and thought. It has an autobiographical element.

S. T. Coleridge had the ability to make mysterious events acceptable to a reader’s mind. His poem The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner appeared in the first edition of the Lyrical Ballads. In this, an old sailor
describes some strange misfortunes that happened to his ship when he killed an albatross. The
mysterious surroundings of the silent ship are described in magic words. Two other important poems are
Christabel and Kubla Khan. The first one tells about Christabel and Geraldine, and the second describes
Kubla Khan’s great palace in Xanadu. It contains both mysterious and supernatural elements in the
description of the palace, set among gardens, rivers, forests and caves of ice.

Robert Southey was less important of the lake poets. He wrote a great amount of prose and poetry. His
poems often told a story and were set in far-away lands. The Inchcape Rock and The Battle of Blenheim
are two of his shorter poems.
***

What is Romantic Poetry?

It is generally supposed that the English Romantic Movement began in 1798 with the publication of the
"Lyrical Ballads" but it is not a sudden outburst but the result of long and gradual growth and
development. The term 'Romanticism' (the Romantic Movement) is a literary movement which took
place in Britain and throughout Europe roughly between 1770 and 1848. Politically, it was inspired by the
revolutions in America and France.

Emotionally, it expressed an extreme assertion of the self and the value of the individual experience
together with the sense of the infinite and the transcendental. The stylistic keyword of ‘Romanticism’ is
intensity and its watchword is ‘Imagination’. In Britain, Romantic writers of the first generation included
Wordsworth and Coleridge (Lyrical Ballads, 1798), Blake and Burns, though introspective 18th century
poets such as Gray and Cowper show pre-Romantic tendencies. The second generation of British
Romantics- Byron, Shelley and Keats absorbed these tumultuous influences, wrote swiftly, travelled
widely and died prematurely. Their life stories and letters became almost as important for Romanticism
as their poetry.

Romanticism does not mean any one thing or one characteristic. It is, in fact, a collective term to mean
certain features and characteristics, such as mysticism, humanism, supernaturalism, escapism, love of
beauty, love of nature, love of equality, alienation, fanciful, melancholy, wonder, emotional intensity, rich
imagination, subjectivism, simple diction, sensuousness, love for medievalism, etc. It wanted to free
literature from tyranny of the rules of the ancients. English romanticism is both a revolt and a revival. It is
a revolt against 18th century traditions and conventions; it is a revival of medievalism and old English
meters and masters of poetry. The chief characteristics of romantic poetry are as follows:

Subjectivity: All romantic literature is subjective. It is an expression of the inner urges of the soul of the
artist. The poet gives free expression to his feelings, emotions, experiences, thoughts and ideas and does
not care for rules and regulations. The emphasis is laid on inspiration and intuition.
Love of Nature: Zest for the beauties of the external world characterizes all romantic poetry. Romantic
poetry carries us away from the suffocating atmosphere of cities into the fresh and invigorating company
of the out of door world. All poets were lovers of nature and looked at the beautiful aspects of nature. To
them, nature was a friend, a lover, a mother, sister and a teacher. To Wordsworth, nature was both
mother and sister. He spiritualizes nature, Shelley intellectualizes nature and Keats is content to observe
nature through his senses.

Spontaneity: Romantic poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. Poetry to romantic
poets is not a craft but inspiration. The poet does not care for the perfection of form or clarity of
expression.

Melancholy: Most of the romantic poets in English are full of melancholy and pessimism. A romantic is
dissatisfied individual. He may be dissatisfied with the circumstances of his own, with his age, with
literary conventions and traditions of the day, or with the general fate of humanity.

Supernaturalism and Mysticism: Romanticism was a revival of medievalism. The romantic is

extraordinarily alive to the wonder, mystery and beauty of the universe. The unseen world is more real
for him than the world of the senses. Romantic poetry is mystical and is removed from the everyday
experiences of life.

A Revolt: Romantic Movement in literature is a revolt. It was a revolt against the 18th century poetic
style of artificiality.

Imagination and Emotion: The romantic poets laid emphasis on imagination and emotion. The 18th
century neo-classical poets had emphasized on reason and intellect.

For example, we can take Wordsworth’s romantic poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” which deals
with subjects of creative imagination, childhood memories, beauty of nature, the role of nature as a
guiding spirit .The poem “I Wanderd Lonely as a Cloud” is not only a typical romantic poem, but it also
tells us how a poem is written in the romantic sense. This poem is romantic is in its subject and theme,
and in its expression and word game. The subject is that of the poet’s personal experience in nature. The
expression is emotive and imaginative. The nature is personified. The poet felt that the daffodils were
dancing better than the sea waves. They were happy like the children. Now, as the poet is sitting at
home, the daffodils revisit him in his mind’s eye, and he writes the poem. The poem is, therefore, not
only romantic, but also satisfies Wordsworth’s idea of what poetry is and how it is written. This is
typically as a poem based on the poet’s emotions recollected in tranquillity.