The Use of Supernatural in ‘Kubla

Khan’

“There is a peculiar ambivalence in Kubla

Khan allowing the widest divergences of

critical interpretation,” says T.S. Eliot.Prepared by: Maulik B. Bhatt,

M. A. Part – I, Sem. – II,

Dept. of English,

Bhavnagar University,

Bhavnagar.

7th of March, 2011.

• Coleridge – The Supreme Poet of Supernatural

• Characteristics of Supernatural in his Poems:

i. Supernatural in his poems – given the air of natural – combines the natural

and supernatural

The effect of this skillful blending – not weird or uncanny – but a world in

which strange things may happen in mischievous manner – brings about

the suspension of disbelief

ii. Unlike the Gothic Romances of the 18th century – Refined (refinement in

the treatment of supernatural incidents and characters), Subjective and

Psychic handling of supernatural in line with subjective experience

Coleridge himself, in the 1816 Preface to the prescribed poem, terms it “a

psychological curiosity.”

iii. Supernatural – A Symbol of Mystery of Life

“A known place, called the living present has no wonder or mystery.

It is the distant that is romantic and produces a sense of mystery and wonder.”

- Coleridge

-We can imagine only what this fragment might have been.

iv. The Supernatural of Coleridge – his claim to be recognized as a Romantic

Poet

Acknowledgement…

My sincere thanks to Dilip Sir, Devarshi Sir,

Ruchira Mam and Jay Sir for giving us the

opportunity every now and then to speak in

the class which has prepared us for our

presentation.

My special thanks to Jay Sir for I could

never understand this poem in my UG days

and he COULD CON VINCE ME.