Kubla Khan- Coleridge

Kubla Khan by Coleridge is very different from Blake. When I first read it, there was a lot of confusion. I took it stanza by stanza. The poem is supposed to be a vision he had in his dream. The way Coleridge expresses this poem does seem to have a melodious dream like state, which is created by the rhyme scheme. After reading some background on the poem, he writes in a tetrameter, which is common in poetry and gives it a chanting feeling.

The diction used in this poem is elegant and descriptive. It really helps bring out the imagination such as from lines 6- 11 stanza,

“So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.”

the setting is made clear and the reader feels as if he/she is almost there with the Kubla Khan. The whole poem is very fantastical which is on surprise because dreams tend to be filled with supernatural elements. Reason why I say that the poem hold those traits it because in line 30, “Ancestral voices prophesying war!” shows that the King hears the calling of spirits and the woman who is wailing for her demon-lover. That line about the demon-lover gave me the chills and left an impression. Personally, I took that two ways one her lover is demonic being that he was aggressive and bellicose and the other was that she was in love with a real demon from Hell, a red imp creature.  She is not the only woman that is mention in the poem unless the pronoun she refers to her. But I think there a few more women in the poem such as the Abyssinian maid who I believe is a muse that is why she is singing in the poem to that is an allusion to possible Greek mythology.

There is juxtaposition in the poem such as in line 14, “A savage place! as Holy and enchanted” and in line 36, “A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!” those juxtapositions really make it mysterious and the reader can tell without any background information that this is all happening in another realm.

Coleridge was an opium addict and the poem and his dreams definitely reflect his current conditions. Throughout his poem is he telling a story that gets interrupted the poem was suppose to be 200 to 300 lines but it stops at 54.

At the end of the poem going back to the woman crying out for her demon lover there I believe she is calling for Kubla Khan because “his” is used and “His flashing eyes, his floating hair” which reminds mean of a creature from the horror movies. On the contrary Coleridge might talk be talking about himself especially since he was on drugs.

The poem evokes all of the senses and emphasizes the imagination which I believe was also a huge characteristic of romantic writers. This poem was very different from Blake’s in the sense that Coleridge focused on a different romantic idea. There is still a lot I have to understand about this poem and about Romanticism. After finding out that this poem was not finished I am curious to know what else Coleridge was going to write. 

Blake- Songs of Innocence, Experience

 The Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience contrast and complement one another. The two Songs illustrate different realms that in a sense coexist with one another. That is how they are able to be alike yet different. In the Songs of Innocence much like the title the poems under this section speak about innocence particularly innocence of the youth, peace, and love. Songs of Experience on the other hand are poems about corruption, death and destruction. Those are the two existences in the world.

In the Songs of Innocence the poem called the Lamb is about a little lamb and how the innocence that animal posses is like that of a child, “For he calls himself a Lamb./ He is meek, & mild;/ He becomes a little child. / I a child & thou a lamb,” the parallel here reinforces the fact that all creatures have innocence. There is also another subject in the poem and that is identified with the pronoun He. I believe he to be Jesus because in the Bible Jesus is the Lamb, the Lamb of God. God has blessed the world with the lamb, “Little lamb, God bless thee!/ Little lamb, God bless thee!” which ultimately the reader can conclude that because the Lamb is innocent, then God has bless the world with innocence. In the Bible is said that God made man in his likeness. Now when Adam and Eve committed the original sin, the two feel from God grace and that is what leads to experience.

In the corresponding poem called the Tyger the tone of the poem is very different from the Lamb and there is also a different feeling a different emotion that stirs. When I first read the Tyger I felt the heat that was coming from the Tyger’s eyes and the smell of metal. The ambiance of this poem is much more chaotic and destructive compared to the atmosphere of the Lamb, which was calm and tranquil. In this poem Blake is trying to show the reader that ominous events and dangerous animals are created by the same God that created the Lamb, “Did he smile his work to see? /Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” That line backs up that claim that there is also balance, when there is good there must also be evil. I think tying this back to the idea of experience that, that was what Adam and Eve learned when they fell from God’s grace that because God gave them free will there was the creation of balance. We as humans are born with some say a blank slate and who we become are due to the positive and negatives that influence our lives.

The other two poems the Chimney Sweeper and the Chimney Sweep from my opinion explain the difference of innocence and experience a little better. The Chimney Sweeper is a poem about a child who was sold and because the child was young and innocent it was easy to take advantage of him. But it seems that he is one of the older boys among the sweepers so he sets up to comfort Tom and Tom dreams of brighter days, “And by came an Angel who had a bright key,/ and he open’d the coffins & set them free;”. This in itself shows that innocence hold hope, the Sweepers have faith in God and that with continued belief will come down to say them. Again God is bought into the poem and God is synonymous with hope and beauty much like The Lamb.

Similarly The Chimney Sweep is aligned with the Tyger and the view of God from a negative view in that the parents abandon the child to go to church, “They are both gone up to the church to pray.”. Even more so to further emphasize that from such events the child has learned “ And because I am Happy & dance & sing,/ they think they have done me no injury,/ And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King,” how to move from innocence to experience.

The two environments exist in everyday life, innocence and experience. Often times people when they are in their youth are perceived as naïve or innocent but with more knowledge and time the innocence develops into experience. Experience is sometimes synonymous with maturity and for one to be seem as mature one needs to have many experiences. For example in the working word, an employer is often times more likely to invest and hire someone who is more experience and has a solid track record. However, because life is funny there are always exceptions. Such as those individuals who are lucky and given opportunities because of their skill which was harvested by their love for what they do. Similarly in relationships older adults usually offer better advice because they have wisdom due to experience. What pops up in my mind are the young couples who have been together for a few months and claim that they love each other. Those couples have little experience and are still raw to the dating scene, so to them infatuation is seen as love. Any one older looking in can see blatantly that it is not love but infatuation because they have the experience to tell the difference that the young folks do not.

Innocence and experience are connected but separate at the same time. Connected in the sense that they are related to one another. They are also separate in that innocence and the movement away from it will not always lead to experience. This is why it is so complex. Experience is bred from Innocence through the process of life. The themes that Blake address and makes evident for the readers are timeless. 

Auguries of Innocence-William Blake

William Blake in this poem Auguries of Innocence is trying to tell the reader that humans through their actions are destroying nature. By thinking that through their actions, they are either bettering the world or perfecting it for the next generation to come, which can be seen in our time with technological innovation. However, this is not the case. The action of humans are actually foreshadowing like the title says the ruin of innocence, the simple life, the nature in which we need if we would ultimately want to survive. Humans think they are high and mighty and invincible, we do not often take a step back and look at the damage that we are doing. We never take the time to really humble ourselves and think maybe what we are doing is actually hurting those around us. This is not just in a physical sense but also in a spiritual emotional sense. But one can also argue that, that is human nature to have such great value in self-interest. Also Blake points out that human life is full of paradox, and oppositions which at times don’t make much sense.

                Blake knows all about human nature and that explains the reason why he is so full of frustration pain, anger and hopelessness for humanity. Sometimes its so obvious for ourselves to see what  the other party is doing wrong that we question why the other party is so oblivious to it. I think that is what Blake is feelings. He says in his poem “A dog starv’d at his master’s gate Predicts the ruin of the state.” And “AEach outcry of the hunted hare A fibre from the brain does tear.” Blake through these juxtapositions makes his point very clear.

                Blake also had a very strong faith which he also adds to the poem. He tell the reader to not worry because judgments day will come and those who deserve it will get what is owe to them. In these lines that concept is illustrated “For the last judgment draweth nigh.” With humanity destroying nature and the world judgment day occurs to balance the destruction by fixing it. Then there is hope or possibility for balance and creation. Going back to the title it can be taken in two ways as we discussed in class. Innocence can be destroyed or be reborn.  This gives thought to the idea of juxtaposition and paradox in a sense.

                Lines 51 to 61 exemplifies those ideas of paradox that are part of human life. I agree with Blake I believe that in life there is joy and pain. One cannot exist without the other like day and night, and evil and good. I know it is corny but it is truth. I think things are the way they are because of balance like the ying and the yang. Blake writes “Man was made for joy and woe; And when this is rightly  know, Thro’ the world we safely go.” I took these few lines that Blake wrote as if humans are aware of both sadness and happiness in life we would be better equipped with facing the world. If we live naively, we will more times than not get hurt. Also he says “Joy and woe are woven fine, A clothing for the soul divine.” Joe and woe are NEEDED for the soul, its good for the soul to have both.  I think the fine line in which contrast exist makes humans tick and is what makes life exciting, like the principle of not knowing. If everyone could tell their future, what fun would that be? Happiness and pain would not exist.

                In class we discussed the topic of love and how it is a great pain and a great joy, sometimes both at the same time and sometimes we feel one way instead of the other. My mom always said the reason a baby cries when he or she is born is because the baby knows from that moment on it has to live a life of suffering. What my mom said is the truth. As a person grows older and moves on in the systematic process of life, life becomes more burdensome, more stressful and more annoying quite frankly. However, it is the person’s duty to balance out these negatives so that life can be full of joy. Proven through studies humans tend to remember the negatives more often and stronger than they do the positive. It was as if we were already set up for failure. However the moment of happiness are there and we those we are the important things we should dwell on.

                Blake at the end of poem puts it all in God’s hand and says “We are led to believe a lie When we see not thro’ the eye, Which was born in a night to perish in a night, When the soul slept in beams of light. God appears, and God is light, To those poor souls who dwell in night; But does a human form display To those who dwell in realms of day.” That by believing and God and living in light the answers will come.  Now I believe in God and I agree with Blake that when you are in doubt put your faith in God and God will provide. However this is not true for everyone. Blake ends the poem by giving the reader hope, and it does not necessarily need to be in God it can be the reader her/himself.

                Auguries of Innocence really touches base on a lot of different topics and portrays them very in a complex matter. There is a lot to be analyzed in the poem.