Introduction
‘Kubla Khan’ is a fantasy epic authored by Coleridge, an English romantic poet in 1797. The poem revolves around the dream vision whereby a Mongolian leader called Kubla Khan orders some of his servants to build him a domed building for recreation and pleasure at the banks of river Alph. The place, which is made with much creativity, brings out the concept of the beauty of nature, violence, and pleasure. Throughout the poem, the persona intertwines between describing the beauty of the pleasure palace and the violent nature of the river Alph and its surroundings. The author shows how the streams exit the beautiful garden violently, accompanied by massive boulders, intensifying as the river moves. Although people believe that the beauty of nature is the source of pleasure, ideal pleasure comes from the combination of both its beauty and violent characteristics.
Main body
In the poem, Coleridge uses the theme of pleasure and violence to show the audience that the two concepts coexist to create meaning out of life. The poem starts by introducing Kubla Khan’s luxurious summer palace. However, before the persona moves deeper into his description of the castle, he quickly shifts his focus to the river and its violent energy, “A stately pleasure-dome decree: where Alph, the sacred river, ran…” (Coleridge 3). This statement shifts the poem from human creativity to the aspect of nature, therefore, showing that character plays an essential role in pleasure. The speaker further gives more focus to the negative, violent energy of the river than to its beauty. By shifting the focus from beauty and happiness to violence, the speaker portrays the message that joy and beauty come from two or more opposing forces that contain some elements of violence.
Coleridge also uses irony to build on his poem. The author presents situational irony in the poem to deliver his intended message about pleasure and violence. At the beginning of the poem, the leader decrees the construction of a pleasure dome. The building is meant to be a place that brings happiness and relaxation, and this makes the audience expect a remarkable, beautiful, and peaceful place. However, the opposite happens when the speaker associates the crown with violent energy and demons, “beneath a waning moon was haunted by woman wailing for her demon-lover” (Coleridge 15-16). Therefore, instead of the pleasure dome having positive characteristics, it is accompanied by various negativities.
The speaker also uses paradox in the poem to show a state of contradiction. A paradox is a figure of speech where two aspects in a stamen contract themselves. An example of this literary device is in the statement, “A sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice.” Ice is not expected to be present in a sunny area, and therefore having a cave of ice in the sunny pleasure dome is contradictory. This paradoxical description of the pleasure dome shows that the crown has a mix of two contradictory feelings; that is, a mix of pleasure and violence. Through this, Coleridge effectively portrays that happiness comes from the combination of violence and beauty.
Another stylistic device present in Coleridge’s poem is the vivid description. The author uses this style in his poem to make the audience create a mental picture of the fountain present at the pleasure dome, “it flung up momently the sacred river, five miles meandering with mazy motion.” By use of this statement, the speaker creates a mental image of the violent forces associated with the river and other natural creatures available at the pleasure dome through this description (24). It brings about the imagination of the combination of beauty and the violence of nature open in this place.
Symbolism is also widely used in this poem to build upon its ideal message. The river Alph in the poem is symbolic because it does not exist in real life. The term Alph is associated with the Greek biblical reference of God; ‘Alpha,’ which means the first and the last or the source and the end of all things. In the novel, the river Alph is seen as the source of violence because of its solid forces and waves. It is also the source of the violent streams that originated from it. Apart from being the source of violence, the same river ends this violence when it finally ends in an ice cave where the water freezes, thus reducing the violent flow. The start of this river highly contradicts its ending, which portrays its beauty and evokes the feeling of pleasure. The journey of this imaginary river teaches the audience that in between joy and beauty, there is violence. The tension brought about by the conflict between violent forces and beauty is what brings pleasure.
The author also widely uses personification to build upon the message of his poem. Personification is the act of giving qualities of living things to non-living things to make them livelier. This helps the reader to develop a mental picture by relating common aspects in living things to others portrayed by non-living, hence capturing one’s attention. In the poem, the speaker personifies the river when he describes its bursting sound as fast thick pants. Panting is a term that is often used to describe the heavy breaths made by an exhausted person. Therefore, the speaker used these characteristics to describe the bursting sounds of the river bursts to make the readers understand how powerful and forceful the river bursts were. Through this, the persona succeeds in depicting that the river flow was extremely violent. In as much as the fierce river bursts are considered violent, they are also their source of beauty which creates the feeling of pleasure.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Coleridge effectively uses creativity and various figures of style in his poem to successfully deliver the message the beauty and pleasures of life result from conflicting forces. This shows that pleasure, violence, and beauty are an inevitable part of nature. Pleasure and beauty cannot exist without some concepts of violence. As much as nature is beautiful, it has to exhibit some form of violent force to create the feeling of pleasure. Coleridge uses figures of speech and literary devices such as irony, paradox, symbolism, and vivid description, among many others, to build upon the intended message of his poem. The author also succeeds in using creativity to develop an imaginary river that highly contributes to the effectiveness of his message. Through this, the reader tends to build a clear picture of the river in question, hence enhancing understanding. Therefore, through the theme of pleasure and violence, Coleridge makes his audiences understand that beauty and violence are inevitable parts of nature that work together to facilitate pleasure. The two are sometimes determined by external forces behold one’s control.
Work Cited
Coleridge, S. “Kubla Khan-By Samuel. T. Coleridge”. Poetry Foundation, 2021, Web.