Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "Kubla Khan," tends to avoid interpretation. Years of scholarship have approached the poem differently, and many critics have dismissed Coleridge's "Preface" to the poem, stating it is merely an explanation for the poem's incompleteness. This paper looks over several popular interpretations of the poem, but it attempts to establish the the "Preface" has become part of the poem, not only for its description of the conditions the poem was written in, but also for Coleridge's process of creating poetry. Although some of the popular approaches shed light on bits and pieces of the poem, they fail to make sense of the work as a whole. For this reason, it is necessary to adopt a critical approach that places the "Preface" as a crucial part of the poem. The process of writing the poem is also an aspect that affects how the poem is written, or presented.
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Location
3082 JFSB
Start Date
19-3-2015 11:30 AM
End Date
19-3-2015 1:00 PM
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What of "Kubla Khan"?
3082 JFSB
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "Kubla Khan," tends to avoid interpretation. Years of scholarship have approached the poem differently, and many critics have dismissed Coleridge's "Preface" to the poem, stating it is merely an explanation for the poem's incompleteness. This paper looks over several popular interpretations of the poem, but it attempts to establish the the "Preface" has become part of the poem, not only for its description of the conditions the poem was written in, but also for Coleridge's process of creating poetry. Although some of the popular approaches shed light on bits and pieces of the poem, they fail to make sense of the work as a whole. For this reason, it is necessary to adopt a critical approach that places the "Preface" as a crucial part of the poem. The process of writing the poem is also an aspect that affects how the poem is written, or presented.