Concetti Chiave
- The Lyrical Ballads originated from a collaboration between Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, focusing on poems with supernatural elements to evoke genuine emotional responses.
- Coleridge's contribution to the Lyrical Ballads emphasized supernatural or romantic characters, as per the initial agreement with Wordsworth.
- Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan" was inspired by a vivid dream induced by a powerful drug, resulting in a fragmented yet imaginative vision.
- Upon waking from his dream, Coleridge attempted to transcribe the vision, but an interruption caused much of it to be lost, leaving the poem incomplete.
- "Kubla Khan" describes an opulent and mysterious landscape, featuring a pleasure-dome, sacred river, and lush gardens, illustrating the dreamlike quality of Coleridge's vision.
What is the origin of the Lyrical Ballads?
In Biographia Literaria (1817) Samuel Taylor Coleridge explained hot the plan of Lyrical Ballads originated in his and in William Wordsworth's mind. They pointed out that a series of poems "the incidents and agents were to be , in
part at least, supernatural; and the excellence aimed at was to consist in the interesting of the affections by the dramatic truth of such emotions as would naturally accompany such situations , supposing them real" .
He added that "It was agreed that my endeavors should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic".
Coleridge's Dream
In the summer of 1797, while he was working on his contribution to Lyrical Ballads, he also wrote the poem himself explained its genesis. He said that he had had a long dream while under the effect of a powerful drug he had taken as a remedy to a slight indisposition.
As soon as he woke up, he started to write a down what he had seen but was interrupted by a visitor and most of the images he still had in his mind vanished. What remained therefore is a fragment of the original complex vision, which
resulted in the poem composition.
Kubla Khan
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round;
And there 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.
Domande da interrogazione
- What inspired the creation of the Lyrical Ballads according to Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
- How did Coleridge describe the genesis of his poem in the Lyrical Ballads?
- What are some key features of the setting described in "Kubla Khan"?
In "Biographia Literaria" (1817), Coleridge explained that the Lyrical Ballads originated from a plan he and William Wordsworth devised. They aimed to create poems with supernatural incidents and agents, focusing on evoking emotions through dramatic truth.
Coleridge recounted that the genesis of his poem came from a vivid dream induced by a powerful drug taken for a minor ailment. Upon waking, he began writing down the dream's images but was interrupted, resulting in the poem being a fragment of the original vision.
"Kubla Khan" describes a majestic setting in Xanadu, featuring a stately pleasure-dome, the sacred river Alph running through vast caverns, fertile grounds enclosed by walls and towers, bright gardens with sinuous streams, and ancient forests surrounding sunny greenery.
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