Kubla Khan, Or, Not a Romantic Poem. A Fragment Anonymous 11th Grade

In the preface to the second edition of his book Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth, famed romantic poet, wrote down his definition of romanticism and classifications of romantic poetry. To be considered romantic, in Wordsworth’s eyes, a poem had to be the result of an “overflow of emotion, recollected in tranquility” until the relevant emotion exists in the author’s mind at the time of writing (Wordsworth). It should be thought about “long and deeply” so that it has “a worthy purpose”, and so that the feeling that the author recounts gives meaning to the subject of the poem, not the other way around (Wordsworth). Finally, it should dwell upon “ordinary incidents and situations” from “humble and rustic life”, made interesting by “certain colorings of the imagination,” and related in the language of the common man (Wordsworth). Many poems that are considered romantic in the modern day do indeed follow Wordsworth’s guidelines. However, Kubla Khan, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is a notable exception.

If the urban legends surrounding the writing of this poem, perpetuated by Coleridge himself, are to be believed, then it fails Wordsworth's first criteria for romantic poetry. Coleridge isn’t reflecting in tranquility, he is caught up...