Write-up

ginger coons 
DART 449
16/Sept/2008 
Prof. Christopher Moore
Assignment #2
Concordia University


Kubla Khan

Reflective Statement


“Kubla Khan” is a profoundly strange poem. More than strange, though, it has, over the last couple hundred years, been a very influential poem. My project makes reference to the person from Porlock who is historically to blame for the fragmented nature of “Kubla Khan.” The person from Porlock, the outside influence on Coleridge's process, is arguably the thing that made “Kubla Khan” what it is.

This is a poem in pieces. It doesn't have a coherent flow or resolved narrative. If we are to believe Coleridge, he did what he could with what remained of his vision. In my opinion, the brokenness of “Kubla Khan” is what has made it so endlessly fascinating. It is this brokenness that makes it ideal for the Internet. “Kubla Khan,” like the Internet, is a mishmash of wonderful pieces. Some are more graphic and stunning than others, some make more sense. As a whole, it actually means very little. This was not a poem made for a traditional narrative structure. After all, just when the whole thing is finally making sense, there's suddenly and Abyssinian maid to confuse things all over again. To me, “Kubla Khan” is perfect for hypertext. Hypertext could give it a way to live and breathe like never before. Hypertext could give “Kubla Khan” the chance to be about the strange and circuitous connections between the very different parts of the poem.

If I'd planned better, or worked at this project longer, I would have done something more dynamic. I would have given “Kubla Khan” the chance to live that I mentioned above. I would have analysed and drawn myself maps of connections presented by the poem. It would have become a truly hypertextual document. It could have explored possible variations more fully, instead of being the start-to-end narrative that it is. Instead of letting “Kubla Khan” live in hypertext, I explored the potential for concrete poetry inherent in the poem. I find this to be a moderately successful outcome. If I had the chance to do it over, though, I would try to do “Kubla Khan” justice by giving it the flow, possibilities, and life that it deserves.