Kubla Khan and the Imagination

During the Romantic Era, the imagination was one of several focal points common to all Romantic writers. But just what is the imagination, exactly? To some, it is our ability to create in our minds what does not exist. It allows us the see what cannot be seen only conceived in the mind’s eye. For the Romantic writers, the definition that best served their purposes was that the imagination “enables humans to reconcile differences and opposites in the world of appearances.” Samuel T. Coleridge called it “intellectual intuition.”

Samuel T. Coleridge’s well known poem, “Kubla Khan” is a prime example of how important the imagination was the Romantic writers and to their work. The entire poem is based on a vision Coleridge had during an opium trance. After he awoke from his drugged state, he began to write down what he had seen. He was interrupted and forgot the vision before he could write all of it down. The poem is a reflection of the vision, and of his desire to remember the supposed two to three hundred lines of poetry he meant to write down. This is readily seen in the following lines:

                A damsel with a dulcimer

                In a vision I once saw:

                It was an Abyssinian maid.

                And on her dulcimer she played,

                Singing of Mount Abora.

                Could I revive within me

                Her symphony and song,

                To such deep delight ‘twould win me

                That with music loud and long,

                I would build that dome within the air!

The lines, “A damsel with a dulcimer/ In a vision I once saw” refer directly to Coleridge’s opium-influenced dream. The song of Mount Abora, “And on her dulcimer she played/ Singing of Mount Abora” also refer to the vision whereas “Could I revive within me/ her symphony and song” imply Coleridge’s desire to remember the vision so that “[he] [c]ould build that dome within the air.”

                It is in the fifth and final stanza of the poem in which Coleridge changes his haunting and dreamlike tone to wistful longing and makes clear his intentions. For the Romantic writers, the imagination brought together the real and unreal, as part of the synthesis of thesis and antithesis, to create what cannot be seen. By writing down what he saw in his hallucination, Coleridge would have solidified the pleasure dome of ice caves. This would have created a physical, geographical location for us to experience in our own minds. Had he been able to remember the topographical details, he could have shared this “miraculous” place with us, his readers.

                This idea that the imagination creates for us what cannot exist is the main idea of Coleridge’s message. As one of the “fathers’’ of Romanticism, Coleridge emphasized this belief that imagination was as important if not more important than reason, what had previously been so highly valued in the Enlightenment period. The Romantic idea was to lead with feelings and senses rather than reason; to live through the imagination rather than reality. In “Kubla Khan,” Coleridge pushes this belief to the extremes much like any other Romantic writers did with their ideas. Living and thinking in the extremes was characteristic of Romanticism. As a way to reach an extreme’s fullest potential, many writers used alcohol and hallucinogenic drugs to reach the heights of an emotion not readily attainable in a sober state. This is why “Kubla Khan” is so full of fantastical ideas. The lines

                                And all who heard should see theme there

                                And all should cry: “Beware! Beware!

                                His flashing eyes, his floating hair

                                Weave a circle around him thrice

                                And close your eyes in holy dread:

                                For he on honeydew hath fed,

                                And drunk the milk of Paradise!”

I feel also relate to Coleridge’s drug use. These lines can loosely interpreted as Coleridge’s vision would have been so great and strange that people might have seen him as a wizard or a person of dark magic. They also might have thought he was crazy, not unlike many people think that Lewis Carroll, another opium addict, was crazy, too. This comes from the mention of weaving of a circle around him and the flashing eyes and floating hair. The implication of drug use might come from “For on honeydew he hath fed/ And drunk the milk of Paradise!” Paradise could mean the “high” from the opium.

                In summary, Coleridge’s point, besides lamenting over his failing to remember this miraculous vision, is to stress the role and significance of the imagination for an individual and the consequences it holds for society. If we can share all of what our imagination has to offer with society, society can benefit. It can expose the world to another alternate universe where chaos is order and order does not exist, nothing is what we expect and the impossible is more than just conceivable, it is achievable.

Assignment 2

In William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, Blake suggests contrasting ideas that result from innocence and experience, the elimination of innocence. Poems from Songs of Innocence such as The Chimney Sweeper and The Divine Image have counter parts from Songs of Experience, The Chimney Sweep and The Divine Image, respectively. Each pair of poems presents a different view of one topic.

In The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence, Blake explains that the lot of the little chimney sweeper was a hard one, “So your chimney’s I sweep and in soot I sleep…” It was very hard work but religion promised happiness and rest in the ever-after, “And the Angel told Tom if he’d be a good boy/ He’d have God for his father, and never want joy.” This line follows the general Christian belief that even if life is full of hardship now, the afterlife with God will make up for it. Even Karl Marx called religion the “opium of the people.” It inspired people to keep hustling and bustling through their humdrum lives. This is clearly shown through the line, “So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.” This line represents the idea that many people believed to be true; that God would provide if not now, then in the afterlife.

In the Chimney Sweep from Songs of Experience, Blake shows the reality of the situation. No matter how long, hard, or religiously you pray, it does not make life actually better. Your faith may sustain you and give you hope but it is more of a psychological trick of the mind not unlike the placebo effect. In this poem, even though the chimney sweep kept happy despite his hard life, his parents subjected him to an even hard life of ashes and soot. This is implied in the lines, “And because I’m happy and dance and sing/ They think they have done me no injury.” The parents of the little chimney sweep do not recognize the hardship being placed upon their child because he still dances and sings. They go to Church “And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King/ Who make up a heaven of our misery.” This implies that the heaven that these people are supposed to believe in comes from the misery in which they live.

The Divine Image from Songs of Innocence starts off by explaining that when things aren’t going the way we would like, we pray. We pray for Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love, among other things. These things are God. Blake says, “For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love/ Is God, our father dear…” In short, these virtues are the essence of God. These things are Man, too, “And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love/ Is man, his child and care…” These virtues are found in mankind because the belief is that we are created in God’s image and likeness. Here, Blake may be alluding specifically to God made Man, Jesus. Then Blake says that these four virtues are in the human makeup, too, when he says, “For Mercy has a human heart…” This can be interpreted two ways, either that mercy is a human creation or that while mercy is an inherent part of what it means to be “humane” it also is subject to the mentality a person carries. Then Blake says, “Pity has a human face.” We find ourselves pitying other when we look into the faces of those less fortunate that we, and if we have mercy in our hearts. Blake furthers this analogy with, “And Love, the human form divine.” Here, Blake could be referring to our calling to love others; to show it to those miserable cretins who lack love in their lives. He finishes this particular analogy with, “And Peace, the human dress.” This can be loosely interpreted as peace can be equated to our appearance, or body language. If we present ourselves in an open manner and in a positive light, peace will follow. God is the origin of these virtues that we can find in mankind, no matter whom or where we are because, “In heathen, turk, or jew, /Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell/ There God is dwelling, too.” This comes right from the Christian belief that God‘s spirit is in each and every one of us.

The Divine Image from Songs of Experience is a much shorter poem than its counterpart but is no less profound. Those vices, Cruelty, Jealousy, Terror, and Secrecy, which contrast with Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love, are also part of the human makeup. This new way of looking at the topic begins when Blake says, “Cruelty has a human heart.” Just as mercy dwells in the heart, so does, its antithesis, cruelty. Blake also says, “And Jealousy a human face.” We experience jealousy when we look into the face of someone more fortunate than we. Blake furthers the analog with “Terror the Human Form Divine.” This can be translated as the terror you feel in your heart (which is prone to drop into your stomach in the face of sheer dread) can be symbolized in one person, (i.e. For German Jews in the 1930s, Hitler was a terror). Although peace can be derived from openness in dress, dress also can hides which is indicated in the line, “And Secrecy the Human Dress.” It is what we fail to show that keeps us from one another. Blake also associates strong imagery with these four ideas and all allude to an inferno. These words are ones such as “fiery Forge,” “forged Iron,” “Furnace seal’d,” and “hungry Gorge.”

Innocence can sometimes be synonymous with ignorance. When you don’t know any better, things are easy; simple. Experience opens our eyes. It widens the tunnel we see our lives through. It broadens our horizons. Experience can eradicate innocence. If we allow innocence to be synonymous with purity, experience defiles us. It soils our clean and clear cut view of the world and the people whom we share it with.

As children, we are relatively innocent. We act out of selfish cause-and-effect logic. We never mean to harm anyone. Decisions are black and white. As far as moral complexities are concerned, one thing is good the other is bad. Life is easy.

On the contrary, as we grow up and experience more of life, we lose our innocence. We are able to see the far reaching effects of our actions and other’s actions and how they affect us. Lines cross, become blurry, or simply disappear. We become aware of the vast expanse of gray between the black and white of a situation. Moral complexities are very present and leave you with complexes. Nothing is really as it seems.

Response to Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

In Auguries of Innocence, by William Blake, Blake tries to persuade his audience that less complicated, natural arts, beings, and objects, hold more worth than those things man adorns with great esteem, or importance. For example, Blake claims that "the poor man's farthing is worth more/ than all the gold on Afric's shore...when gold and gems adorn the plow/ to peaceful arts shall envy bow." He also implies that human imposition on nature is a moral wrong. "A horse misused upon the road/ calls to heaven for human blood. Each outcry of the hunted hare/ a fibre from the brain does tear."

To remedy these "wrongs," Blake suggests we leave nature be; we should revert back to a state of being, appreciation, and feeling, rather than thinking, questioning, and doing. Blake implies the moral consequences associated with his suggestion at his mention of the doom of the ever-looming judgment day: "kill not the butterfly/ for the last judgment day draweth nigh."

In the larger scheme of the poem, we see that every couplet is a paradox. In fact, the entire poem is a series of paradoxal images and ideas that come together to create a picture of the human condition. This idea of theses and antitheses coming together into a synthesis comes from the Hegelianistic school of thought, which is one of Blake's main influences (http://www.rlwclarke.net/Courses/LITS2002/2001-2002/LN02Blake.htm). This idea is highlighted in lines 51-61 through Blake's examples of the prince and beggar being equally unimportant to a miser, a truth told to hurt is worse than a lie, which is a principal moral wrong, and most importantly, through the example of the presence of joy and woe. The general idea that Blake seeks to convey is that joy and pain are fundamental parts of the human experience his claim also implicates that you cannot have one without the other; one defines the other.

Personally, I can only qualify Blake's claim that every instance of life is a balance of pain and joy. It is true that every being of the human race has felt some degree of joy, be it contentment or ecstasy, just as every being has known some kind of pain; be it a loss, great or small, or true misery. Not every occurrence in life is an absolute joy or an absolute pain. In fact, where an event falls on a scale between joy and pain is highly subjective. For the Pollyannas in the world, every cloud has a bright silver lining. For the Eeyores, a cloud is a cloud and is often indicative of rain.

In my own life, I can choose what will ruin my day and what will not. I can also choose what will make my day and what will not. The effects of the paradoxes in life are all about attitude. This is why I only qualify Blake’s claim. The degrees of each instance in life are so subjective, that it is nearly impossible to defend it.  In the religious world, some beliefs state that all life is pain and suffering. Therefore, we must do good deeds, love one another, forgive one another, take care of our bodies, our souls, our minds, and our lands so that one day we will be unified with that which we have come to call joy, either in Heaven with a Christian God or in Nirvana with the Buddha. Also, something that is a "joy' to me may be a "pain" to someone else. If this series of events continues where I am happy and another person is not, then pain is not a part of my experience and joy is not a part of the unfortunate person’s experience.

As children, we are taught that certain things are bad or painful and others are good and joyful. What if someone grew up under a rock? What then? They would not know the difference between joy and pain, would they? So, for them, pain and joy would not be a fundamental part of life. They would experience things and respond with primal instincts, not so much with sophisticated emotions, such as joy or woe.

Life is a paradox. Life is also a choice of how you respond to the paradoxes of being human. You can love someone and you can hate loving someone. A loss can send you into a spiraling abyss with n promise of return or you can pick yourself up and move on. What makes life and its extreme contradictions manageable is our ability to find our own balance for ourselves between joy and woe.