Kubla Khan - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

[Japanzor]

this is the best reading online

[alezander666]

the ancient legend of the spider woman of the navaho here in arizona is she is come from beneath the earth where she lived,and hopi also i believe(correct me if wrong) came as a race FROM BENEATH THE EARTH,here in our grand canyon,i know,i have pictures of friends who photographed ""UNDERGROUND RIVERS" SHOOTING OUT OF SOLID ROCK,those things will blow your mind,also in mexico crystals the size of giant pillars underground,who knows

[jangofett333]

beautifully done

[garylongden]

My favourite Poem, poorly read by someone who sounds remarkably like Michael Howard.

[jugger99777]

see rush xanadu

[lordloss156]

had to learn this in class

:(

[rajasmasala]

good job. very nice maiden section

[zadokthepoet]

I have yet to hear a recitation that does justice to this masterpiece. Like all of the others, this one fails miserably!

[rajasmasala]

I think you've got to give the reader credit here for interpreting rightly (I think) the actual private, subjective meaning of the poem. Coleridge was a Romantic: however public many aspects of it were, Romantic poetry was also an overt excuse for a sacralizing of private desire/fear.

[daddio7777777]

His eagle eyes saw wide and far

The fading flame, the setting star.

He saw further  than eyes can see,

And in the dying light signed : S.T. C

[daddio7777777]

A seed impregnated his layered mind Deep, unseen, unfelt in blanketed sleep Of starry skies he felt the wind, Of sea currents the motions deep. The seed grew roots in its dark cell, Sucked life from subterranean streams, From subterranean moons one cannot tell And suns that glowed with subterranean beams. He felt the throbbing and jarring Of heaving flesh and spurted fire, The strife, the moans and the warring, And of creation th' ethereal pyre.

[daddio7777777]

And after, that no salami

or creamed coffee

or palmate pot would pass his lips

or straw thru which one sweetly sips;

though buffos would at his door knock

his jaws, now sealed, would clench their lock.

[mackychloe]

if i could travel back in time i would prevent whomever it was that interupted coleridge while writing this poem, apparently hell asleep after taking somekind of remedy, opium? for toothache pains & was distracted & delayed by some numpty & unfortunetly forgot the rest of it.

[daddio7777777]

Ponder over it. That poem is complete. Swim below the surface.

[mackychloe]

dont tell me ponder & swim dude, i know its works as is but coleridge had more to this poem in his mind & i'd like to hear it! understand?

[rajasmasala]

The Romantics had a fragmentary aesthetic: they were rather postmodern, in a sense. Novalis, a strong influence on the English Romantics, wrote his philosophy only in small fragments. There was a belief that the sheer incomplete nature of the fragment would allow it to expand in meaning to encompass an infinity of additional meanings and possibilities. The Romantics were very arrogant and very masculine and whatnot.

[rajasmasala]

What "swim and ponder" means, I think, is float in the sheer luxury of meaning: allow yourself to extrapolate from your personal emotional response to the rhythm, words, images.

A source of emotional effect here is the synthesis of public luxuries of state ( albeit the oriental one, so the Imperium's propriety is not impinged) and private passion in the pairing of public monument and mental response; in this the poet finds a way to express and celebrate an explosion of repressive social binds.

[rajasmasala]

It's been argued by someone somewhere (I read it a year back in a gigantic oxford/cambridge, not sure, summary of English Romanticism, very recent, so the opinion's probably somewhat valid) that the entire business of it being interrupted was an apocryphal put-on by Coleridge, a kind of backstory for the fragmentary poem itself.

[voxinabox]

Yes, I'd read that somewhre as well. The theory being that it was a bit of spin to make the whole thing a bit more enigmatic and mysterious. We may never know what really happened. There are also theories of the poem being some sort of code but I can't remember where I read that. Would pose the question 'What's it all really about?'

[MolliROX]

I have to learn part of this poem for school, so I repeated certain lines over and over and over so I would remember.

Right now, I know up to 'By womaan wailing for her demon lover'

[voxinabox]

Good luck on learning it. Its very satisfying once you learn it all the way through but it took me ages!

[mackychloe]

stick at it! it took me a while to memorize the whole thing (repitition works best) but i cant get near the raven by poe!

[MabusZero]

Stay awile,Poor youth! who scarcely dar'st lift up thine eyes--The stream will soon renew its smoothness, soon the visions will return!

[KashyaCharsi]

I like this poem.

[konotumbal]

out of this world !

[hossthebigdickboss]

i thought his name was coldridge

[jukecannard]

It's a brilliant reading of an iconic poem...so STC might have been a junky but he wrote words Dylan couldn't even imagine!

[kvn8907]

Good vocals, but the eyes were creepy, so I minimized the window to listen to it.

[joestrada89]

this poem was inspired during an opium dream. he was addicted to opium

[claitontesch]

superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[voxinabox]

Glad you like it :)

[afreakiam]

i hate this poem i wanna shoot myself for leting my english teacher talk me into doing my project over it..... :(

[voxinabox]

Ha! I know what you mean :)

[blacksheep02]

Maybe he or she was just trying to make you think about language, history and life in a way which you weren't before. Coleridge manages to say a lot in his poems, and if you understand what he was trying achieve (and arguably did achieve) you might just learn it's influence on other things.

[wisesatyr72]

This poem is inspired by tales of Marco Polo during his youth as the chinese emperor "Kubla Khan's" favorite diplomatic traveler in ancient China.

[slitheen]

I once thought the same...then I read it while stoned on opium and it made a lot more sense, although I wouldn't recccomend that. :)

Failing that, there is a great book called The Road to Xanadu, by...ahh..erm, sorry it has escaped me - but it explains much about the poem, and Coleridge's inspiration for it. It dissects the poem by line, and makes it much easier to understand where the man was coming from when he wrote it.

[firebreathone2]

Can someone please tell me what the essence of this poem is . A brief analysis would be greatly appreciated. I find Coleridge rather difficult to comprehend. (hehe.. rather like John Donne..)

[every1wasdoingit]

Coleridge wrote Kubla Kahn in an opium induced 'dream' and when he woke up he had these vivid images which he had to write down. But he was interrupted, and when he came back he had forgotten so much of the dream.

I think that the poem is about the power of the imagination. He begins describing his dream about Xanadu and Kahn, then moves on to another sort of dream - about the Abyssinian maiden -

[every1wasdoingit]

(continued)-a reference to Paradise Lost- who played beautiful music. He feels like if he could hear the music he could remember his dream and the images of Xanadu and Kahn in the dream.

The poem also is about The Sublime which basically an amazing, all-powerful "essence" in the natural world. The poem describes how Kubla Kahn wanted to create his own paradise in the already natural paradise of Xanadu, but in the end it only ended up getting destroyed by that huge natural force.

:)

[Exhia]

Oh Vox ... this is brilliant! - enjoyed SO much. Thank you :O) so glad I came across you.

[dragonbrat]

Hey Vox! I haven't commented in a while, so here it goes: I like this video, it's well done, but I miss the original. I found it to be more relaxing to listen to without the organ. But this version is nice too. Toodles

[OddRustle]

Excellent job with this vox!

[gstockton]

I really like this one. I do prefer the other one you did for it though. Your face expressions, eye movements added to the piece significantly. Please re-post the other one if you have time. Cheers.

[petiteunice]

I have liked very many. greetings

[loerya99]

Oh please do more like this. It is so beautiful and one of my favorite videos.

[voxinabox]

Well I'm pretty sure I'll be doing some more videos soon :) Glad you liked this one.

[alejandre321]

Outstanding rendition. Your phrasing and tone of delivery is so flawless!! Really outstanding!!!

[Roflmaolinde]

Nice. Have you read "Return to Xanadu" by Don Rosa? This poem is an importent part of the story.

[albuseverus]

I am very much in love with this poem and I like your video a lot!

Could you also post The Pains of Sleep by Coleridge? That would be great!

Anika

[voxinabox]

Thank you Anika. The Pains of Sleep? Well, in anguish and in agony, I probably will do a version of it at some point ;)

Btw... Greetings from your newest subscriber :) I love the concept of your channel and selfishly would love to hear more Engish language content ;)

Vox.

[alejandre321]

Very well presented with not only good visual images but excellent delivery. You have made the poem come alive with your visual and oral interpretation.

[voxinabox]

Thanks for such I kind comment :)

[Natsoboy]

it's been only few months since I have been acquainted with this poem, even when I am from Mongolia. Thank you for posting this!

[voxinabox]

You're welcome, hope you liked it.

[dogpatchdebbie]

I did not catch the original version, but I love this one:)

[pinklantana]

I really like the visuals with this one. Your eyes are a pretty color too! :)

[MannyBei]

Nice comeback...a beautiful message for the new year!

[voxinabox]

Thanks Manny, and Happy New Year to you :)

[ChristopherMast]

Welcome back!

[voxinabox]

Thanks CM. Glad to be back

[mikma]

mikma was here

[KarenPUK]

Ooooh I'm so glad this one is back.

[voxinabox]

:) Thanks Karen.  Hope you like this version.

[KarenPUK]

Oh I doooo - what's not to like? :-)

[kenrg]

As always ... Is this the third version now? But always a pleasure.

[voxinabox]

Yes, third version! Hope you're not getting bored with this ;) The other versions are pretty well lost :( Thanks for your continual viewings :)

[sarrycrey]

Ohhh it's back! And better than ever I might add. I love the note on the side as I never knew the story behind your fave bit of poetry :) SOme of the story reminds me of Pilgrim's Progress which I read as a child. You took great care with all of these and I am going to watch the Hollow Men one next though I am a chicken when it comes to scary things you Vox man you lol...happy day to you and thank you for starting mine of so lovely :)

Sarry

[voxinabox]

Thanks SC. You are too kind :) I hope you don't get too scared with the 'nightmare' vid :)

[LilCav68]

:0)