Poem Analysis

Kubla Khan Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Kubla Khan Summary By S. T. Coleridge | Kubla Khan Analysis

Kubla Khan Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Kubla Khan Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Introduction

            Kubla Khan is one of those poems that have kept the name of Samuel Taylor Coleridge at the forefront of the greatest English Poets. The other two are The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel. The present poem Kubla Khan is a highly imaginative poem, in which after each stanza the level of imagination and creativity goes dipper. It is given the subtitles ‘A vision in a Dream: A Fragment’.

Origin of The Poem

            Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote this poem in 1797 while staying at a farmhouse in a town called Porlock. He was in poor health and he had been prescribed opium. After taking opium, he was reading a travel book entitled Purchas Hit Pilgrimage, then he fell into a deep sleep. Upon walking. Coleridge said that he remembered the entirety of his dream and began to write it down exactly as he had dreamed it. In the midst of his writing, however, he was interrupted by a person from Porlock. The man’s interruption led Coleridge to forget the 200 to 300 line he had composed in his Dream. Coleridge was never able to finish the poem. He left it unpublished and kept it for private reading for his friends until 1816 when, at the promotion of Lord Byron, it was published.

About The Poet

            S. T. Coleridge the poet of Kubla Khan is the pioneer of romantic poetry. He is a friend of Wordsworth. He has good observation and a sense of nature but also feels it. He loves landscapes, sceneries, countryside images, rivers, forests, and plants. He finds beauty in them and mentions it in his poetry. Among his world-famous works include – The Rime of Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan, Christabel, Dejection: An Ode, and also Lyrical Ballads, which he published along with Wordsworth.

            The poet calls this poem a fragment because he can’t sketch his complete dream. The majority of critics do not think that the poem is fragmented.

George Saintsbury said:
“It is complete, It is pure poetry, It is perfect.”

Form of The Poem

            The Poem Kubla Khan does not conform to the strict form of poetry such as a ballad, sonnet, or ode. It consists of 3 stanzas, wherein the first stanza is 11 lines, the second stanza is 25 lines and the third stanza is 18 lines long. Since the poem is not constrained by a strict form, rhyme scheme, or meter. It grants the poet total freedom in conveying the meaning as they desire it.

The Themes of The Poem

            The poem has many themes but the major themes are –

  • Imagination and creativity.
  • Dreams and Reality
  • The impact of Nature.

Title of The poem

            The title of this poem is after the name of Kubla khan the famous Mongolian emperor. He was a great conqueror and ruler. According to Coleridge’s preface to Kubla Khan, the poem was composed one night after he experienced an opium-influenced dream after reading a work describing Shangdu, the summer capital of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China founded by Kublai Khan (Emperor Shizu of Yuan).

Poem Explanation

            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 a huge distance, mixes into the sea where there is no sunlight. There is no such rivel with the name Alph in the world. The word Alph resembling the first letter of Arabic Alif probably symbolizes the River of Knowledge for which humans are thirsty.

            The capital of Kubla khan is about ten square kilometers with fertile land which is surrounded by walls and towers protecting it. There are beautiful gardens through which a streamlet, and there are trees and plants having sweet fragments. There are forests, which are as old as the hills and are covered with green plants over which sunlight is falling. The first stanza is about the creativity of Kubla Khan. It is the first level of imagination.

          In the second stanza, creativity moves to a deeper level of imagination. The poet describes divine creativity. There is a sloping hill with a green point, across which there is a charm or a deep gap covered with mosses.

            It is as wild and holy as the love of a woman who under the decreasing moon is crying for her supernatural lover. In this charms or gap, there is an unending disturbance. It seems that the earth is breathing angrily and through the gap, water is coming out with great force and then falling down. With the water, huge stones are thrown out on either side of the charm which covers the gap. In the midst of 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.

            While hearing the noise of the 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 a luxurious palace dome floats in the air, where a combination of the noise of the fountain and the silence of the cave is heard. The poet calls it a miracle of a racing device, which is true because a sunny dome and cave ice cannot co-exist.

            In the third stanza, the creativity moves into the 3rd or deepest level of imagination. The poet in a dream sees a damsel who is playing the dulcimer. She is from the Black Race of Africa and probably from Ethiopia. She plays dulcimer and signed for Mount Abora, which joins the river, Nile. The poet by Saying:

“Could I revive in me her symphony and sound?”

Express 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 the caves of ice.

            The audience, on seeing him, doing so would pay attention to his acts. They would then weave a circle thrice around them that is they would appreciate his poetry by reading it three times, each time going to a deeper level. They would then witness that by creating the imaginary dome and ice cave in the air by having the symphony and music of that damsel, he would drink the milk of Paradise then he would achieve the best pleasure.

Conclusion

          Thus, now we can say that in the poem Kubla Khan, Coleridge talks about the beautiful land of Xanadu through its vivid description. It is a highly romantic poem focusing on humans and natural forces beautifully. The whole poem seems to a Utopian world; a world where there are no worries; it is for those people who are lovers of nature.

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The Waste Land By T S Eliot

The Waste Land By T. S. Eliot | The Waste Land Poem Analysis

The Waste Land By T S Eliot
The Waste Land By T S Eliot

Introduction

            T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land has a special position in the history of English Poetry. It is one of the most famous poems of the 20th century. The poem is written in five parts and is often called, a poem in five fragments, but all the parts are connected with the theme of the disillusionment of a Generation and the Futility of Moden life. The poem became famous due to the techniques that Eliot used to convey his message. The poem was published in 1922. It was the time of Modernism. Modernism was a movement in which artists and writers tried to find novel methods of observation, new methods of getting knowledge, and leaving behind every established rule. The Poem The Waste Land is written in the full spirit of Modernism.

The poem “The Waste Land” is divided into five parts:

  • The Burial of the Dead
  • A Game of Chess
  • The Fire Sermon
  • Death by Water
  • What the Thunder Said

. It opens with an intriguing epigraph dedicated to Ezra Pound It consists of 434 lines and it’s regarded as one of the longest poems, if not the longest, in English literature. It is a highly complex poem

About T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot, full name Thomas Strean Eliot was one of the significant poets of the 20th Century. There are descriptions of modern society in his poems. He received the Nobel Prize in 1948. He was a keen student of philosophy and took an exceptional interest in Indian and Hindu philosophy. In 1911 he wrote his first major poem The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. Among his world-famous poem included – The Waste Land, Ash Wednesday, Four Quartets, The Journey of the Magi, The Hollow Men, Morning at the Window, Little Gidding, and The Hippopotamus.

Themes Of the Poem

The Waste Land had five main themes:

  1. Death, that is not only physical but also Spiritual and Moral.
  2. “Loss of High Culture” because modern man does not have faith in the culture and traditions of his past.
  3. Rebirth, the image of barren and dry land brings hopelessness to the poem but is countered by the hopeful image of “Rebirth”.
  4. Physical Love, there is a lot of love relations shown in the poem.
  5. Spiritual Dryness, the modern man is breathing and walking but does not have the spiritual element intact. He is Spiritual Dry.

Analysis Of The Waste Land

            At the first of the poem an aristocratic lady, she talks about her happy past days. After the speaker talks about the image of love in modern times, which is fixed upon lust and physical needs only. It is no spirituality left in it. The next speaker talks about a woman who is a card reader named Madame Sosostris. She foreshadows that water will bring death and that men should fear it. She also talks about how she is forced to carry out her business in secret.

            The scene changes again, and the speaker describes the condition of ordinary men in modern times. He says that a lot of people are walking in the streets of London, but they have lost their vitality. They seem alive but are dead inside. The speaker then recollects a meeting with a soldier during a war. One soldier asks the other whether the corpse he buried in his garden has sprouted or not.

            The next section, A Game of Chess opens with a description of a well do lady and the room she is sitting in. The room is laden with a lot of beauty products and perfumes. She is sitting on a burnished chair waiting for someone scattered among the artificial objects of ornamentation, there are a few glimpses of the past. When the person whom she is waiting for arrives, they indulge in meaningless dialogue.

            In the next section, the speaker discussed a meeting of two underprivileged ladies sitting in a bar. They are talking about a woman name Lil. She says that her husband is returning after a long time serving in the army. They show their concern about their appearance of Lil as she has not treated her teeth and has lost her charm.

            Therefore, they think that her husband will try to find recompense in other women. While these women are talking, the keeper of the bar repeatedly tells them to hurry up because the time is over. Towards, the end, the two women depart.

            The third section named “The Fire Sermon” opens with the description of a dirty place by a riverside. The river is filled with garbage and rats are pushing themselves here and there. The speaker tries to catch fish in this river and thinks about his father and brother. He recalls how both of them died in the same manner. In the next setting, the speaker narrates an event when he was invited to homosexuality. He says that a merchant gave him the offer to have dinner with him and spend the weekend with him.

            The next speaker narrates about a hectic day for a female typist. She is a young lady and works till late. She comes home after work and the dirty dishes from breakfast wait for her in her room. She cleans the mess and waits for her lover. The lover comes, and they indulge in sexual activities. The typist shows no emotion when the deed is being done.

            At the end of this section, there is the happier image of a church, a bar, and the river Thames. The speaker recalls the love affair between “The Earl of Leicester and Queen Elizabeth”. Then, there is a confession of the lady of modern times who talks about her affairs with many men.

            The fourth Section is named Death By Water. The speaker says that Phlebas the Phoenician has died by drowning in water and that his body has lost connection with the outside world. In the same manner, the speaker warns, the reader’s bodies will lose connection with the world and they will die. Therefore they should remember their own deaths.

            In the Last Section named What The Thunder Said the speaker talks about the condition of modern man. He says that modern men move around in cities but have lost their human vitality. They are unreal human beings. They might walk and work like living humans but they are dead from the inside. Therefore, cities like London, Vienna, Athens, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, where these unreal humans live, have also become unreal.

            Suddenly the speaker describes the condition of the east. He says that it is going to rain near the Ganges. Here the three aspects of thunder according to Hindu mythology are introduced. The first means “Give”, the second means “Sympathize” and the third means “Control”. The poem ends with the repetition of the word “Shantih”.

“Datta, Dayadhvam and Damyanta
Shantih, Shantih, Shantih”.

Conclusion

So, The Waste Land is still the most influential poem of our age: “nothing else so truly reflects the age and redeems it.” F.R. Leavis, Matthiessen, and Cleanth Brooks, the distinguished critics of the present age, have penetrated into The Waste Land and have of the opinion that The Waste Land is a highly condensed epic of the modern age. Cleanth Brooks remarks that the poem is:

“a sigh for the vanished glory of the past;
the living death of the modern waste landers”.

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Paradise Lost Book 1 Summary

Paradise Lost Summary Book 1 | Paradise Lost By John Milton Summary

Paradise Lost Book 1 Summary
Paradise Lost Book 1 Summary

Introduction

          “Paradise Lost” is an epic poem written by the great English poet “John Milton” and first published in 1667. The book Paradise Lost is considered by many scholars to be Milton’s best work and solidifies his place as one of the greatest English poets of all time. The poem consists of 12 books and more than 10,000 ‘Blank Verses’. It is a tale of the Fall Of Mankind – the moment when Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit from the ‘Tree Of Knowledge’ and God Punished them from the Garden of Eden forever. The paradise lost is similar to the book from which Milton takes much of his story the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

About the Poet

            John Milton was an English poet and man of letters, commonly considered “One of the preeminent writers in the English Language”. One of the most knowledgeable men of his time, he was fluent in English, Latin, Greek, and Italian, writing his works in all of these languages. Among his world-famous works include – Paradise Lost, Aeropagitica, and Lycidas. He is described as the Great English Author by biographer Willam Hayley. Poets such as William Blake, William Wordsworth, and Thomas Hardy were much influenced by John Milton.

The setting of the Poem

            The action of the poem is set in four main stages – Hell, Heaven, Paradise before the fall, and earth in its fallen state.

The theme of Paradise Lost

  • Hierarchy and Order
  • Disobedience and Revolt
  • Sin and Innocence
  • Free Will and Predestination
  • Love and Marriage

Summary Of Paradise Lost Book 1

            Just like the Iliad and The Odyssey, Paradise Lost begins with an invocation and the poet explains the theme of his act of disobedience towards God and then its Consequences,

“Of Man’s first disobedience and the fruit
 of that forbidden tree whose moral taste
 Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
 With loss of Eden, till one greater Man…

            Then Milton invokes the Muse to assist him divinely in giving to his purpose of writing. Milton’s muse is Holy Spirit which, in his view, makes his poem superior to the others. According to Milton, his purpose in writing is to

“Assert eternal providence and justify the wages of God to men.”

            Milton moves from prayer to the disobedience of Adam and Eve that occurred because of Satan. Satan, who was Lucifer, an angel. A war started between God and Satan in which Satan was defeated and thrown out of Heaven into Hell along with Beelzebub and his companions who are now demons. All of the demons including Satan lie stunned, in a lake of fire. Breaking the awful silence, Satan bemoans their terrible position but does not repent of his rebellion against God, suggesting that they might gather their forces for another attack. Beelzebub is doubtful; he now believes that God cannot be overpowered. Satan does not fully contradict this assessment but suggests that they could at least pervert God’s good works to evil purposes. Satan says to all the devils, who were formerly angels who choose to follow Satan in rebellion,

“Better to reign in hell than serve in Heaven”

            Satan calls the rest of the fallen angels named – Moloch, Belial, Dagon, Baal, Orus, Isis, Osiris, etc. He again commands “Awake arise or be forever fall in”. As an army of devils gathers around Satan, he praises them by calling them O Myraids of Immortal Spirits and O Powers Matchless. The army of demons under the command of the materialistic Mammon starts digging the ground and bringing out Gold and other costly minerals (except oil) with their superpower, they construct a great chamber called Pandemonium. Thousands of demons shrink to fit inside it. Now all of them make a plan to fight with God and how take revenge on them. Book I is end with the debate of demons.

Conclusion

            Throughout the first book of Paradise Lost, Satan seems as if he is the hero of the poem. Because the focus of the poem is all on him.

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Every Day You Play By Pablo Neruda

Every day You Play By Pablo Neruda | Every Day You Play Summary

Every Day You Play By Pablo Neruda
Every Day You Play By Pablo Neruda

Introduction

            “Every day You Play” is a beautiful and one of the most famous poems by ‘Pablo Neruda’, who is considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. It describes the overwhelming love a speaker has for the lover. The poet praises his lover for accepting him with all his faults. The poet himself is so aware of his negative traits. This person is a part of every element of the world and empowers him to face the struggles of everyday life. There have been times in their relationship, especially at the beginning, in which things were not perfect.

About ‘Pablo Neruda’

            Pablo Neruda the poet of ‘Every day you play’ belonged to a group of Spanish poets. He won lots of hearts by virtue of his poetry. He is known as a poet when he was 13 years old. He wrote in a variety of styles, including – surrealist poems, historical epics, a prose autobiography, and passionate love poems. Neruda was known for his great love affairs in addition he had three wives.

            Neruda is considered the national poet of Chile and his works have been popular and influential worldwide. For poetry, he has awarded the Nobel Prize in 1971. Among his world-famous poem included – Don’t Be Far Off, When I Die, Die Slowly, Here I Love You, and Walking Around.

Structure Of The Poem

            The poem is composed of eight stanzas that are divided into six sets of four lines, one set of five lines, and one set of six lines. It does not follow any specific rhyme or scheme. There are many images in the poem. The pictures that the poet uses to describe an intense love affair.

Themes of the poem “Every day You Play”

            Love, Sexuality, and the Loss of Love ones are the Key themes of this poem.

Analysis Of The Poem “Every Day You Play”

            The poet begins the poem by detailing the good qualities of love and more specifically of his lover. Each day, the poet holds the head of his lover between his hands like a bunch of flowers. Apparently, he took at the face of the woman he loves and hold her close to him. The speaker declares that he does in fact Love this person. There is nobody he states like this person. He wants to take his lover and lay her among yellow flowers that are strung like clusters. The poet sees her name written in smoke among the southern stars at night.

 In the third stanza, a major transition occurs. A sudden storm comes up with the wind beating and banging against his window. The sky is compared with a net full of fish that are difficult to see. The image of the rain taking off the clothes of the woman probably implies that the wet clothing reveals the body almost as much as taking off clothes and probably is more sensual.

 Neither the birds nor the poet can fight the wind. When the storm blows, the dark leaves spin; and the wind breaks the boats free that were moored. The storm can throw everything it doesn’t matter. He can stand up against it for the person he loves.

            The speaker asks the lover to hold tight to him. He enjoys being with this someone and wants would not run away. He wishes that she depends on him when she is frightened and curled around him when she needs to. At one time, the speaker saw a strange shadow that once ran through his lover’s eyes, everything is not been perfect between the two. In the past, there might have been something that came between them. The wind sadly kills the butterflies by tearing their wings off. He tells her that he loves her, because of his strong emotional tie to the lover. He compares her mouth to a plum that he would like to eat into.

            The speaker recalls a moment when they were not as content as they are now. Many times, the two of them have awakened to the morning sun shining on their eyes. Over their heads, the ceiling fans give a light breeze. Speaker compares his lover with the mother of pearls means he says he protects his lover always as the shells protect the pearls. He describes how he will bring happy flowers for his lover, such as bluebells, and dark hazels, and will be accompanied by a basket of kisses means a lot of kisses are care. The final line of the poem is one of the best-known of Neruda’s Oeuvre.

“I want to do with you
 what spring does with
 the cherry trees.”

            The Cherry trees bloom in the spring for about a week or two, then the blossoms are gone and give way to the buds that will become the luscious cherries, like that the poet will plant a seed in spring then she will (which means his lover) blossom with the baby.

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