'Kubla Khan'

This is what happens when you dine on honeydew ... (The Bus 2.35)

Welcome aboard The Bus!

The Stop

Completed in 1797 and published in 1816, ‘Kubla Khan’ is a poem written by the English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Subtitled ‘Or a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment.,’ the poem – according to Coleridge’s preface – came to him one night during an opium-induced dream:¹ ‘The Author continued for about three hours in a profound sleep … during which time he … could not have composed less than from two to three hundred lines.’’ Upon awakening, he was able to remember the entirety of the dream-poem and set about ‘instantly and eagerly’ writing it down. Unfortunately, soon after he began his transcription a ‘person on business from Porlock’ arrived, interrupting him for about an hour after which – to his dismay – the remainder of the poem had ‘passed away like the images on the surface of a stream into which a stone has been cast.’²

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1795

Coleridge was born in 1772 in Ottery St Mary, Devonshire, the tenth child of the Rev. John Coleridge – vicar and headmaster of the local grammar school – and Anne, his second wife. Surrounded by books, the youngest Coleridge was a constant reader and loved – to an almost morbid fascination – romances, fairy tales and exotic Eastern stories. These filled him with a sense of being part of ‘the Great’ and ‘the Whole’ and led him to regard ‘experience’ to be a ‘matter of whole and integrated response, not of particular sensation.’ This integration would inform his intellectual development and he dedicated much of his life and career to its pursuits. 

His father died when he was nine, and Coleridge was sent to Christ’s Hospital in London to complete his secondary education in Hebrew, Latin, Greek and English composition. While at school he continued to read voraciously and deepened his interest in mythology, philosophy and literary criticism. At 19 he entered Jesus College, Cambridge where he became caught up in the radical politics and philosophical idealism sweeping through academia in the early days of the French Revolution. In his third year at Cambridge, financial difficulties³ caused him to flee the school for London and enlist as a dragoon⁴ under the assumed name Silas Tomkyn Comberbache. Despite being completely unsuited to the lifestyle, he remained in the military for a few months until discovered by his friends and brothers – who bought him out from service and paid off his debts. Though he returned to Cambridge, he never received a degree.

Following a failed utopian experience and marriage to a woman he didn’t love,⁵ Coleridge experienced an ‘extraordinary’ flowering of his intellect. Having become friends with William Wordsworth in 1795, the two poets ‘entered upon one of the most influential creative periods of English literature.’ Wordsworth – who was in a deep depression⁶ – was rescued by Coleridge’s ‘intellectual ebullience and his belief in the existence of a powerful ‘life consciousness’ in all individuals.’ Together, the men produced Lyrical Ballads (1798), a collection of poems that essentially began the English Romantic movement.⁷

For Coleridge, the essence of literature was its ability to unite emotion and thought through the imagination. He believed poetry had a unique capacity for integrating the universal and the particular, the objective and the subjective, and the generic and the individual - and ‘Kubla Khan’ is a perfect example of his belief in action. Because of its ‘exotic imagery and rhythmic chant,’ many critics initially believed it was merely a ‘meaningless reverie.’ However, when studied with respect to Coleridge’s psychological and philosophical interests, the poem’s ‘complex structure of meaning’ reveals it to be a profound exploration of the ‘nature of human genius’ - and the fickle, fleeting nature of inspiration.⁸ Of course, all of this is irrelevant without the poem itself, so if you’re interested this link will take you straight to it: 'Kubla Khan'.

The Detour

Today’s Detour is to a short (2:45) animated video - A Shaman’s Tale - that tells the (very) trippy journey of a Peruvian shaman’s voyage to the depths of outer (inner?) space. Worth it for the animation alone. 

A Shaman's Tale

The Recommendation

Today’s recommendation is one of the best books I’ve ever read about the craft of writing: Stephen King’s On Writing (2000). Subtitled ‘A Memoir of the Craft,’ the book is part memoir/autobiography and part masterclass on the tools required to be a writer. King grounds his book in the childhood and later memories and experiences which inform his writing and offers considered advice on the practicalities of writing. It’s a great read - and inspirational to anyone who enjoys sitting down and putting pen to paper, or tapping plastic keys and watching letters appear on a virtual page. Highly, highly recommended.

From the back: Part memoir, part masterclass by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have.

King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999 - and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery.

Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain anyone who reads it - fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

Remember: You can buy On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft at Amazon, but you can also get it from your local new or used bookstore - or check it out from the library. And those options are better for everyone.

The Sounds

Today’s playlist starts with Rush’s ‘Xanadu’ - probably one of only two rock tracks to quote from ‘Kubla Khan,’⁹ and due to its prog-rock nature, I felt it appropriate to remain with that genre for today’s selections.¹⁰ Genesis,¹¹ Yes, King Crimson and Kansas … what’s not to love? In order: ‘Xanadu’ (Rush, 1977), ‘I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)’ (Genesis, 1973), ‘Roundabout’ (Yes, 1971), ‘Carry on Wayward Son’ (Kansas, 1976) and ‘The Court of the Crimson King’ (King Crimson, 1969). Enjoy!

The Thought

Today’s Thought is from Coleridge. In his Biographia Literaria (1817) - an odd mixture of autobiography, criticism, literary theory, philosophy and theology - he used this phrase to explain how a modern, enlightened reader is able to appreciate works which are clearly fantastical and untrue. Coleridge realised that as long as a writer infused a ‘human interest and a semblance of truth’ into a fantastic tale, the reader will suspend judgment about the narrative’s implausibility. In other words, while we might know rationally that what we are watching or reading is untrue or impossible, we choose to believe the opposite so the story works, a process Coleridge named the:

‘suspension of disbelief’

If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:

And that’s the end of this stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!

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Until the next stop …

1. Coleridge’s opium addiction is well-known and the result of the medical use of the drug at the time. He - like countless patients - had been prescribed laudanum (opium dissolved in alcohol) to treat an illness, a prescription which led to a life-long dependency.

2. Whether a ‘person on business from Porlock’ actually interrupted him, was an invention to explain why he couldn’t finish the poem, or was an elaborate metaphor designed to compliment the poem’s theme about the nature of artistic inspiration is unclear. Regardless, since its publication ‘Kubla Khan’ - and the story of its composition - has been one of the most popular examples of Romantic poetry. I’ve liked Coleridge since first reading ‘Kubla Khan’ in middle school, but a recent need to teach his poems has led me far deeper into his life and work than I’ve been before - and he’s fascinating. Sources for today’s Stop include: Coleridge (Britannica) and Coleridge (Poetry Foundation).

3. Thought to have been the result of ‘debauchery, drunkenness and gambling.’

4. The dragoons were horse-mounted soldiers who carried a gun who’s flame was said to resemble the fire from a dragon’s mouth.

5. With the poet Robert Southey, Coleridge made plans to found a utopian community in Pennsylvania based on the principles of what they called Pantisocracy - a system in which every member of society rules equally. Their plans fell apart and Coleridge was left married to Sara Fricker, who he had wed as part of the experiment.

6. In 1790 Wordsworth went on a long walking tour through revolutionary France, got caught up in the ‘passionate enthusiasm’ following the fall of the Bastille and subsequently became a republican sympathiser. He fell in love with a Frenchwoman, Annette Vallon, but a necessary return to England in December 1792 before their baby was born meant he was cut off from them when war broke out between England and France. For more information, see: William Wordsworth (Britannica).

7. In the first edition of the book, there were 19 poems by Wordsworth and 4 by Coleridge. ‘Kubla Khan’ is not in this collection, but ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ appears first.

8. The first two stanzas explore the dual sides of what Coleridge refers to as the ‘commanding genius:’ its ‘creative aspirations in time of peace’ symbolised by the pleasure dome and gardens in the first, and its ‘destructive power in times of turbulence’ symbolised by the wailing woman, the violently destructive fountain, and the ancient voices prophesying war in the second. In the final stanza, Coleridge writes about the ‘state of ‘absolute genius’ in which - if he could once again be inspired - he would become ‘endowed with the creative, divine power of a sun god.’

9. The other one is also by Rush - ‘Animate’ (1993). And I say probably, because inevitably Coleridge has inspired countless high school/college band lyrics that never saw the light of day. In fact, if the unnamed high school rock band I was in had lasted more than two rehearsals in the Methodist church’s fellowship hall, I can imagine we might have been one of these.

10. A genre that is on the list or a future Bus Stop. You might be pleased to know that the playlist - currently clocking in at a respectably prog 39:12 was originally 1:35:15. Which, prog-fan or not, would test almost everyone’s patience. It certainly did mine - and I like prog rock.

11. As in proper Peter Gabriel-fronted Genesis (not that there’s anything wrong with Phil Collins-fronted Genesis, it’s just not as prog).