Kubla Khan Response

I cannot decide if Kubla Khan could be about how some parts of nature are good and some parts are bad or if it is more about religion, God vs. the Devil. It could be about nature being good and bad because in some parts it talks about trees and the sea, which seem like they are good, then it talks about shadows and ice, which seem like they are bad. The reason I think this is because of how Coleridge describes the different scenes of nature is very detailed it is like I am standing there looking at everything. It is also like he is painting a picture with words to tell a blind person what is around them so that they can see their surroundings which makes it seem very real. But then it talks about a woman, Coleridge narrates this section, and he sees himself in the poem, which could be like God, then more towards the end of the poem it talks about a man and how we should beware of him with, “His flashing eyes, his floating hair!” which could be like the Devil. Also when it says, “By woman wailing for her demon-lover!” could also be like the Devil because of the demon part. When it says, “For he on honey-dew hath fed, and drunk the milk of Paradise,” which could be like Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit. Or maybe the nature and religion go hand in hand like Shovel and Pail from Blue’s Clues and I am just not quite getting the connection between the two of them.

Overall I thought that this was an interesting poem to read since it does not make sense to me I was made to think more and look deeper into it to try and find the meaning. Compared to Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner I think I like this one more because it is more of a visual poem and it is not extremely long so I stayed more focused on what was being said instead of just trying to read it to be done with it.

Samuel Coleridge's Life

           Samuel T. Coleridge was born in 1772 in Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire. He was the youngest out of 10 kids and his parents, John Coleridge and Ann Bowdon, loved him very much. Coleridge liked his childhood and started reading books as early as six years old. Coleridge went off to Christ’s Hospital School, which was in London, after his dad died. After being at school for awhile he left in 1793 to join the 15^th Light Dragoons because he had a large amount of debt that needed to get paid off and he was leaving behind a bad relationship. When Coleridge joined the 15^th Light Dragoons he enlisted under a different name, Silias Tomkin Comberbache. But soon after he enlisted he found that he did not fit in and people started saying that he was insane.

            In 1795 he married Sara Fricker even though he didn’t love her. His collection of Poems on Various Subjects was published in 1796 and in 1797 Poems was published. Also in 1797 he met William Wordsworth and Wordsworth’s wife, Dorothy, and became very good friends with them. After becoming friends with Wordsworth they both wrote the Lyrical Ballads that started with “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. It is said that this ballad was based on Captain James Cook’s voyage from 1772 to 1775. Coleridge was given 150 pounds from Josiah and Thomas Wedgewood which started his career. From 1798 to 1799 Wordsworth, Dorothy, and Coleridge went to Germany where Coleridge studied at Gottingen University. In 1799 Coleridge met Sara Hutchinson and fell in love with her.

            Coleridge had become addicted to opium because that would take away his neuralgic and rheumatic pains. In 1804 he took a trip to Malta to find a better way to deal with his problems instead of being on opium. He stayed in Malta for awhile and then returned to England. Sara Hutchinson and Coleridge wrote and edited the magazine The Friend in 1809 to 1810. In 1808-1818 he gave a few lectures in London. Coleridge’s friendship he had with Wordsworth became very unsteady in 1810; unfortunately they never completely rekindled their once great friendship. Not that long after Wordsworth and Coleridge’s friendship dwindled down to nothing Coleridge was thinking of suicide. In 1816 Christabel and Kubla Khan were published. Coleridge died on July 25, 1834 in Highgate, which is near London.

Science vs Nature

“To sentence a man of true genius to the drudgery of a school is to put a racehorse on a treadmill,” is a quote by Samuel T. Coleridge. This quote shows how the Romantic poets, not just Coleridge, thought that science over nature would never let people reach their full potential. Meaning that if you put an extremely smart man in a school then he would never be allowed to expand his knowledge past the curriculum in which he was appointed to. He could never reach his full potential as a person, in knowledge, just like if someone was to put a racehorse on a treadmill. If someone was to put a racehorse on a treadmill then it will only be able to go as fast as the treadmill would let it, never being able to reach the speed it is capable of, making the horse useless. But if the horse were to be taken the off the treadmill and just let it run on its own then it would be able to reach astronomical speeds, which would fulfill what it was made for and reach its full potential as a racehorse. If the man was not sentenced to go to school then he would be able to explore and understand things at a much more deeper level without having the school’s curriculum holding him back or pulling him down.  Also he would reach his full potential as a person and be able to contribute to society more than other people could because he has gotten to the point where he can use his knowledge to become more helpful.

This quote can also show how Coleridge thought that science was less important compared to nature. The racehorse represents nature and the treadmill represents science, if the racehorse is never put on the treadmill, in other words nature is not involved with science, then it can run at a higher pace than its fellow competitors. To relate this to the man and school is simple, the man is like the racehorse and the school is like the treadmill. If the man is not involved with school then he can explore things at his own pace to get a better and deeper understanding of things.

The Best of Blake

The Best of Blake by Becca Gaulke, Kendal Kern, and Pang Thao was the blog I decided to take a deeper look at instead of just browsing through it like I did with the rest of the blogs. What I found the most interesting was how their blog had a nice background and a good layout which made the blog easy to read. I liked how the posts didn’t seem boring enough that I felt like falling asleep or scrolling to the bottom of the page right away to see if it was even going to be worth my time. I also like that when one of them would talk about a quote they didn’t just put the quote and start writing they made the quote slide across the screen which made it easier to read and it caught my eye; it was like a big arrow that said read me! Also the quotes that they have on there are kind of catchy and interesting to think about. Also the quotes are very relatable to real life. Becca talked about a quote by Blake, “Do what you will, this world’s a fiction and is made up of contradiction,” and it really got my attention the most because her interpretation of it is really good. Also I feel that, after reading her interpretation, it describes Blake very well, which would help someone who doesn’t know anything about him understand what he was all about. Although none of them talked about one video that they put up it was still entertaining to watch. The video was a poem animation of “The Tiger” which was both interesting and creepy. It was interesting to see a picture of Blake recite his own poem even long after he has been dead. But yet it was also creepy because it reminded me of something that would be considered “evil” out of a Disney movie like Snow White or something. I would recommend this blog to someone who doesn’t know anything about Romanticism because it has a nice layout that could appeal to that person’s tastes and it is very informative.

My Prose Poem

Brutus is my name.

Brutus is strong, brave, determined, fearless, protective, and fierce.

Brutus would fight you until death.

Brutus would chase you down if you tried to do anything to his family.

Brutus would tear you to pieces without thinking twice.

Brutus is the alpha male.

Brutus is the perfect police dog.

But Brutus wasn’t me. I didn’t fit the Brutus standards; I didn’t fit the Brutus bill.

My owner’s didn’t know this about me; they didn’t even care, they got rid of me two months later.

I was never going to have a proper family.

No one would ever want me if my owner’s didn’t want me.

I heard a car and poked my head out the door to see a short woman and a tall man.

They took me home that night and gave me a new name, Jayke.

Jayke is my name now.

Jayke is sweet, unique, fun, loving, playful, and loyal.

Jayke would kill you with love.

Jayke would scare you with kindness.

Jayke would sit on you like a lap dog.

Jayke is the omega wolf.

Jayke is the perfect best friend.

Jayke was me and Jayke was who I would always be. I fit the Jayke standards and I fit the Jayke bill.

My family was the tall man, the short woman, and their child, who I met the next day.

The child and I are the best of friends. I couldn’t think of my life without her and her family.

I’m thankful to have such a wonderful family who takes care of me and who loves me. They are my true owners.

I finally found where I belong.

Years of love and attention go by. We have our laughs and our adventures but I am getting very old now.

Too old to keep going, I can barely walk, I only get up when I need to, I’m deaf in one ear, and I ache all over, I’m dying.

The child that I grew up with has gotten much older and so have her parents, now they have to decide what is to become of me. I trust them to make the best choice for me, I know I’m ready to leave but are they ready?

I wake up one day and get showered with more love than what I thought they could give. I get steak and we play fetch and I got to wake up the grown child just like in the old days.

Then we take a drive, we go to a place with many other people and animals. We go into a room with another human and that other person pokes a needle into my leg.

I look at my family and they look back at me. They tell me how I’m a good boy and they love me. I think of all our great moments, like when I tried to play with a dead squirrel and all of our trips to the beach.

I think of how if I could talk for just this last minute that I would tell them how much I loved them, how I’ve been lucky that they have been my family, I would tell them how it doesn’t hurt, and to keep being a great family to other dogs because they deserve your love.

Soon everything fades to black.

I can no longer see my family anymore; I can’t see our house, my bed, the backyard, or the blue sky.

I am going to a place that they can’t go, where I will wait for them like any other loyal, loving dog.

Even in death a dog never loses his loyalty to his family.