Lexy
Benjamin
Ms.
Wilson
Brit
Lit B
May
10, 2013
Romantic Period
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was on poet from the
romantic period who was considered a “true poet”, but that was only for short
spurts. Many people believed Coleridge to be a genius, without a question. He
was home schooled foe the classical education then in 1792 he attended the
Cambridge University. In 1794 he left without a degree, which he continued
writing, got married and started a new friendship.
The friendship, with William Wordsworth started when
they went to study in Germany. In 1798 Wordsworth and Coleridge published
“Lyrical ballads, with other poems”. Coleridge wrote his best poems because of
their friendship. It was helpful that Wordsworth was considered “the best poet
of the age”. Coleridge cherished their friendship so much he followed
Wordsworth back to his roots/family. While with Wordsworth, Coleridge started
and tried new things.
Coleridge was a philosopher in his time. He gave
speeches on Shakespeare and worked on his own philosophy along with criticism.
During these great achievements, he had a time of pain. He began an addiction
to opium which affected his magnificent mind. He put himself in the care of a
doctor and during this time Coleridge was having dreams. One of them turned
into the poem: “Kubla Khan”.
The poem “Kubla Khan” uses literary devices, such as
alliteration, imagery and sound effects. “…sunless sea…” is an example of both
alliteration and sound effects. Another
example of sound effects is “…thick pants were breathing…” this is also an
example of personification. It is very interesting the word choice that
Coleridge chooses in line 6 “So twice five miles of fertile ground…” Why
doesn’t Coleridge just say 10 miles? Is this meant for the reader to think
about what he is saying in the poem? When he says “…tumult to a lifeless
ocean…” it’s believed to mean that there are no waves rolling over in the
ocean.
What is your thesis statement? What is the purpose? What are you trying to prove?
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to say his friendship had an influence on his work then create a thesis around that. But you need to have a firm ground on what you are writing about. You also need to focus on how the words in the poem created meaning... You can still have it about his life but have more textual evidence proving that what is written in the poem parallels his life.