1. Explain with critical comments any two of the following passages with reference to their contexts:

(a) Where was heard the mingled measure

From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

Answer:-

Despite having been published in 1816, “Kubla Khan” by S. T. Coleridge is a timeless love poem with great aesthetic charm. At first, the poem was meant to depict a fantastic palace belonging to a Chinese emperor, Kubla Khan, of whom the poet had heard. The poet’s success is mostly due to the attractive imagery he uses and the way he vividly describes that palace.

“Kubla Khan,” a Visionary Work: The poem examines art and romance used to build a world of dreams. The concept of beauty throughout the poem. Although Coleridge knows that the palace is a dreamland, he successfully applies the willing suspension of disbelief. By portraying the entrancing and captivating beauty of a dream, he has enchanted readers and inspired them.

Some of the major topics of “Kubla Khan” include: -> The actuality of the poet’s imagined castle is conveyed in several ways, just as one would expect of a poet in love with the romance of his craft. The second subject portrays the value of man in the natural world through the eyes of Kubla Khan. Coleridge also explores two additional theme ideas: the durability of art and the concept of time.

Comments:                                                    “Where was heard the mingled measure

From the fountain and the caves.”

• The rhyme and metre of the poem are also influenced by all this mixing.
• I feel these examples work well. They do use rhyme. The last words in each line are: pleasure, waves, measure, and caves, and they are in a predictable pattern: ABAB.
• However, this contrasts with the rest of the poem, which contains a multitude of rhyme systems. Furthermore, these four lines have different syllable counts.
• In this poetry, you will find that there is a type of music, but it is odd and irregular, or, as they say, a “mingled measure.”
• You should know that Coleridge was rather serious here, but it does not mean he was not also joking about a bit.

     “It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!”

• Above two sentences introduce the same contrast-related fixation that we encountered with the palace and the river.
• While the speaker made no such assertions in the introduction, he immediately followed up by emphasising the differences in temperature and climate between the dome and the caverns.
• Contrary to the caves, the dome is entirely natural, earthbound, and symmetrical; furthermore, it’s bright and cold, whereas the caverns are underneath and freezing.
• The opposing ideas in the poem collide and then form a strange harmony.
• We may use these two sentences to describe some long-ago adventure or trek to a country of wonder.

MEG-01 Assignment Question Paper