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The Person from Porlock
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The Person from Porlock Inspiration What Inspires Us To Is The Topic Of The Seventh Virtual Symposium The Person from Porlock by Bill In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. I think that "Kubla Khan" is one of the loveliest poems in the English language. It was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797. He subtitled it "Or, a vision in a dream. A fragment." Coleridge was an opium user- he had pretty poor health all his life and it's been suggested that he may have been bipolar. Some diagnosticians will swear that it's true- maybe they're right. I'm not a stickler about such things. It's enough for me to know that he was somewhat troubled from time to time, and that perhaps because of these troubles he left us some magnificent things to read. At any rate Coleridge treated his ailments with laudanum and became addicted to opium. In the summer of 1797 Coleridge was sickly and retreated to a farmhouse between Linton and Porlock to rest. Porlock is a small coastal village in Somerset. There one day the author fell asleep in his chair while reading "Purchas's Pilgimes" (sp) a sort of travelogue of the mental excursions of Samuel Purchas. Not a traveller himself, Purchas had collected the writings of other voyagers- a sort of eighteenth century Michelin Guide. In this book Purchas told of "Cublai Can" who had commanded to be built a magnificent palace in "Xaindu". Coleridge recalled that he had fallen asleep in his chair while reading- "At least a sleep of the external senses"- which sounds very like an opium dream to those of us who have had them. When he came to himself, the poem "Kubla Khan" was in his head and he immediately set at writing it down while it was still fresh in his mind. Before he was able to finish there came a knock at his door by someone later described by Coleridge to be "a person from Porlock." He was kept more than an hour by this unwanted visitor and found when he returned to "Kubla Khan" that it had vanished from his head, and he was unable to bring it back. He tried to round it out from the snippets that remained in his memory, but the muse had flown, not to return again. This was Coleridge's explanation for why "Kubla Khan' was so short a poem. He had of course been entreated to finish it- it is tantalizingly brief, and I am one reader among so many who yearn to read more. But the author declared that it was no use. His inspiration had been lost and he couldn't get it back again. Coleridge's story of the person from Porlock has been doubted. It's been suggested that he simply lost his vision- that the inspiration evaporated and that he concocted this invention to explain his failure of imagination. This seems presumptuous to me. The poem was Coleridge's. The muse was his, the inspiration was his and the genius was his. Reading the lines of "Kubla Khan" they seem to me to be inspired, and I know whereof he speaks. I haven't dreamt anything so grand or so soaring as "Kubla Khan", but I have emerged from an opium dream speaking to someone who wasn't there, carrying on a conversation that no one heard me having, telling a story that was entirely a mental construct, the product of a half waking opium inspired reverie. And I've seen the puzzled looks of those around me, as if to say "What on earth are you talking about?" And in fact that question has been asked of me- what on earth are you talking about? They bring you back to earth, a little bit, maybe not permanently, but long enough that the reverie fades, and when you again lapse into the land of "Forty Thousand Headmen" the landscape and characters have morphed into something else, and you can't get back again. You try to find the entrance again to those "caverns measureless to man" but it's as if they have sailed in orbit round to the far side of the sun, and it's now dark to you. It's like waking from any dream, any "normal" dream, that you've become attached to. That magickal place where you had been was so full of wonder that you are loathe to leave it, and this is why many of us write those dreams down, just as Coleridge did write "Kubla Khan", and then had it torn from him by that person from Porlock. It must have been wrenching for him to lose Xanadu. "Kubla Khan" is brilliant and beautiful and it is all Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It may have been drawn from him by opium. It might have been channeled through him, enabled by the poppy to act as medium, but the words and the inspiration are his. And I believe his explanation of how his muse was shredded that day in the summer of 1797. It's happened to me, so I know. My own dreams were not so grand, and I was not so inspired as Coleridge, and I wrote nothing down, but I have felt that anguish of being yanked into a dreary world not of my making from a better, brighter and mystical one of my own. That sunny dome! those caves of ice! And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise. Become a member now and get a free tote bag. |
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I love Coleridge but wasn't aware of the extend of his opium use. This poem, however short, is absolutely marvelous! I love this post! Visit my blog It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World of NaughtyInSO, leave a comment, become a watcher. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LIVE AND LET LIVE Be happy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I love Coleridge but wasn't aware of the extend of his opium use. This poem, however short, is absolutely marvelous! I love this post! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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You Sir, have just inspired a post! I had never read it before, but I just now found it. I like the writing style. Not like Seuss at all.  Seuss is no slouch!I have an affinity for damaged people and damaged writers. They've been somewhere and have stories to tell. Fierce stories. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Very interesting. I believe him, It seems that you can never find the way back to the places that fascinate your mind the most. As you say when you try it always is different and unsatisfying. Vive La Difference
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Very interesting. I believe him, It seems that you can never find the way back to the places that fascinate your mind the most. As you say when you try it always is different and unsatisfying. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Whenever I've got stoned, I've had some magical inspirations. But on waking up the next day those inspirations always remain forgotten which is probably just as well given the drivel I thought and talked the night before!  
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Whenever I've got stoned, I've had some magical inspirations. But on waking up the next day those inspirations always remain forgotten which is probably just as well given the drivel I thought and talked the night before! The genius of Coleridge's muse, whether he was channeling another entity as my wife wrote about in her post, or whether it came from his own meat/brain, was choosing Coleridge as the scribe. if you wanted your story told, you could do a hell of a lot worse than choosing Coleridge to tell it. Who knows what brilliant pieces I might have written if I had set down my dreams with his talent for expressing an idea. If only I could write so beautifully. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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What a great tale! Thank you for sharing! "To Be Consumed" Blog : I want to be your drug of painful withdrawals.
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What a great tale! Thank you for sharing! Coleridge was da bomb! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Oh, do read! It's inspiring. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Wow this is awesome.. Now you have me looking for this one! Inspired by you KZ hugsssssss V Become a blog watcher sweet_vm
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It's both infuriating and tragic and the person from Porlock just doesn't get it- why would he? It's OUR reverie, and he very likely never goes there himself. We seem temperamental and distant and mean. There are two people here who write. It can't possibly work, and yet it does. A room of one's own is invaluable. You need your space. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Wow this is awesome.. Now you have me looking for this one! Inspired by you KZ hugsssssss V Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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This is a wonderful post! And it's beyond wonderful to meet someone else here who loves poetry as much as I do! Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Other women cloy The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry Where most she satisfies. For vilest things Become themselves in her, that the holy priests Bless her when she is riggish. ~~ from Antony & Cleopatra
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I happen to love that poem. But like Lewis Carroll who probably was doing some interesting drugs while writing "Alice in Wonderland", Coleridge and his mighty poem were written until the influence. I remember reading an interview with the lovely and drug addicted Billie Holiday who said that she was inspired when she was high. She sang better and she had better inspiration into a song. On the other hand, I know plenty of artists that were prolific and not on drugs, witness Isaac Assimov. So go figure. Great post and loved reading it, kk The observant make the best lovers, I may not do right, but I do write, I have bliss, joy, and happiness in my life, Kitkat Come check out my blog KItkat1415 check out this post by me Adventures In Body Grooming #39 April Topic Link: What Lies Beneath If April Showers Oh Bloody Hell What Kind Of Weather Turns Me On Bloggers Symposium 40
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This is a wonderful post! And it's beyond wonderful to meet someone else here who loves poetry as much as I do! Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I happen to love that poem. But like Lewis Carroll who probably was doing some interesting drugs while writing "Alice in Wonderland", Coleridge and his mighty poem were written until the influence. I remember reading an interview with the lovely and drug addicted Billie Holiday who said that she was inspired when she was high. She sang better and she had better inspiration into a song. On the other hand, I know plenty of artists that were prolific and not on drugs, witness Isaac Assimov. So go figure. Great post and loved reading it, kk My own problem with better inspiration through chemistry is that I seldom wrote it down before losing it, and often, as spunky commented, it appeared to be drivel and not at all profound in a sober state. A writer who trusts his muse and has skill with language and faith in that skill can work miracles. Then there are people who, as you correctly observed, are able to tap that inner source of inspiration at need. They see and hear what most of us are unaware of. I think much of that sense has been trained out of us. The savants who remain may appear to be troubled, but they are consummate artists. I am always delighted when you come to visit, KItkat. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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great read good Sir! I had not given the mystery of how inspiration happens much thought until now... very nice how you brought that angle up. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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I think that's a positive way to look at it! It's been observed before that often people with issues will write about them, as a way of explaining themselves as well as exploring it themselves. Without the outlet of writing a lot of angst would go unrelieved. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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This is a beautiful tribute to a wordsmith... and you managed to work in a refefence to one of my favorite songs from Traffic, one of my favorite bands. The myth of the impaired writer is an interesting one: On the one hand, there is some truth to (and here I need to go Freudian on you) relaxing the influence of the superego. (For the non-Freudians: Picture the superego as a gate between the id, which holds the unfiltered impulses, and the ego, which is how we manifest or conduct ourselves in so-called polite society.) Certainly F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kerouac (whom you mention), William S. Burroughs, and Hunter S. Thompson all felt so... the trick is knowing the fine line between inspiration and impairment. Unfortunately, folks often don't know where that line is... and it does have an annoying tendency to move. Oddly enough, in a throwaway promotional line presidential candidate McManiac got it right... you can sit around on your ass waiting for inspiration to strike, or you can actually invest in the persperation. (Blogging's a good start, for what its worth.) You may have already seen this, but if not: I suspect if you go to the biblioboard site and add the following, you may be pleased... curation/samuel-taylor-coleridge/draft-of-samuel-taylor-coleridges-poem-kubla-khan/ Stop in, read, and offer comments at my "swinging as seen in the media" blog, "Confessions of a Lifestyle Man" humorlife, which is also the home of the monthly virtual symposium. New post: The Virtual Symposium Returns Lets Pick A Topic
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I have seen that! And that is very cool, to see his handwriting! When doing family research it was always a thrill for me to see even the signatures of my kin. I agree with your point about impaired writers- some are, most aren't. I don't put myself in that category, at least until eleven or twelve P.M. at the earliest. When it starts approaching two o'clock my impairment is often getting up a head of steam up and turns into The Little Train that Thought It Could, If It Could Just Manage to Stand Up.That's where you notice that the line between impairment and inspiration is weaving. It's kind of like a drunk test for artists and writers, I might venture to suggest. I also agree that most of writing for most writers is the practice of a hard earned craft. You find a style that works for you in the trade and then you ply that trade. At least, it appears that way to me. But I am inspired by a writer as artist like Coleridge or Kerouac, and wonder at what they create, and how they got there and where they found it. I don't seem to be able to go there- my wife can and does occasionally, and I'm more than a little envious. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Write on!  Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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Xanadu is my fav movie of all time ... i never realized it came from a poem...thanks for sharing. Lets Create together. http://LesbianPersonals.com/blog/jadesmith69 we can fantasize forever. J
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Xanadu is my fav movie of all time ... i never realized it came from a poem...thanks for sharing. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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