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Worksheet 7.2 p.176

Exercise 5: Suggested responses

One possible symbol to express Coleridge’s poem would be a spiral. This could be drawn or presented through a type of human chain. The centre of the spiral is the core of the poem: Kubla Kahn himself. As we move outward we find ourselves further from the palace, into the natural surroundings and finally with the poet Coleridge as he speaks of the Abyssinian maid with her dulcimer. The idea is that the vision is further and further away from the vividness at the centre: we move from the vision to its memory.

Another symbol would be the cavern (deep romantic chasm). The idea is that the bottom of the cavern contains the life force and dark energy that radiates outwards, affecting the rest of the poem. Deep in this cavern (‘caverns measureless to man’) we are in the depths of sexuality and, ultimately, evil. Further, on the surface, we have a tranquility and beauty that is so deceptively calm.

Activity

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth wrote the preface to the Lyrical Ballads in 1798. The piece remains an important statement on poetry to this day and every student of literature, sooner or later, will be introduced to it. Go to your library or do a web quest to find the preface and read it, taking notes. This will help your appreciation of poetry in general and give you some ideas for analysis.

One of the great poems of English literature is ‘The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner’. Read it and take note of the way the structure develops. See if you can compare this poem to any of those you are studying in your literature class.