{"id":309,"date":"2023-03-04T20:49:28","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T20:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/?p=309"},"modified":"2023-03-04T20:55:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T20:55:56","slug":"sensibility-and-nature-in-kubla-khan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/2023\/03\/04\/sensibility-and-nature-in-kubla-khan\/","title":{"rendered":"Sensibility and Nature in Kubla Khan"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s\u00a0Kubla Khan,\u00a0<\/em>the repetition and consistency of certain literary devices work to elucidate a sensual expression of the sublime, and the emotional and physical connection of nature to man. Incorporating devices such as alliteration and assonance, Coleridge utilizes these elements as a way to illustrate the sensual and pleasurable world of Xanadu. For instance, assonance is present in almost half of the entire poem, remaining consistent until what is around halfway through the second stanza. Most notably though, is its presence in the first stanza, as it is present in terms such as “Xanadu”(1), “Kubla Khan”(2), “Alph”(3), “ran”(3), “caverns”(4). In the repetition of these vowel sounds, the poem gives off an “ooh” and “ahh” sound, creating a sensual experience for the reader in interpreting this depiction of Xanadu.<\/p>\n

I found it interesting though, how this repetition of vowel sounds seemingly coincides with alliteration found in the poem, such as “river”(3) and “ran”(3), “measureless”(4) and “man”(4), “sunless”(5) and “sea”(5) and so on. Serving as what is almost a juxtaposition to the repetition of vowel sounds, the repetition of consonants could seemingly represent the natural world of Xanadu in relation to the more sensual and human aspects illuminated through the assonance. In the world of Xanadu, where human pleasure seems to coincide with the natural world, the alliteration present in the poem works to elucidate the beauty of the natural world by incorporating smooth diction in describing the “river” and “sea”.<\/p>\n

Another interesting takeaway I received from the poem is that within the sensual tone illuminated by these two literary devices, the metaphorical language in\u00a0Kubla Khan\u00a0<\/em>evokes a sensual, and even sexual tone to the poem. Aside from the numerous mentions of the concept of “pleasure”, as found in the narrator’s idea of the “pleasure-dome”(2), other instances of metaphorical language evoking a sexual tone include the use of terms such as “deep romantic chasm”(12), “fertile ground”(6), “fast thick pants”(18), and “burst”(20).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s\u00a0Kubla Khan,\u00a0the repetition and consistency of certain literary devices work to elucidate a sensual expression of the sublime, and the emotional and physical connection of nature to man. Incorporating devices such as alliteration and assonance, Coleridge utilizes these elements as a way to illustrate the sensual and pleasurable world of Xanadu. For … Continue reading Sensibility and Nature in Kubla Khan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2023"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}