Kubla Khan & Ozymandias

1) The power of the imagination is often exalted in Romantic poetry. In your opinion, does “Kubla Khan” celebrate the imagination or caution against its indulgence? To whom might Coleridge be writing and for what purpose(s)?

2) Even in the brief space of a sonnet, Shelley suggests a number of narrative frames. How many speakers do you hear in "Ozymandias"? What does each of these voices seem to say to you (or to others) as listeners?

1. I think that "Kubla Khan" celebrates the imagination but also cautions against indulging in it. On page 758, it says that Coleridge wrote "Kubla Khan" after he had taken an opium. Coleridge also added a prose introduction which he called, "a rational account of the poem's origins." When originally writing the poem I think it was completely about both the writer and readers imagination. The original poem was inspired by a dream. Dreams to me as a reader are entirely about a person's imagination. Coleridge's imagination allowed him to have the dream which inspired the poem he created.

2. While reading "Ozymandias" I believe that there was three speakers. The speakers were the Ozymandias, the narrator, and the traveler. The Ozymandias to me tell a negative story. I think they explain the way their city took a turn for the worse. The narrator begins the sonnet and speaks of an "antique land." The narrator to me tells the opposite story of the Ozymandias. Lastly, the traveler explains what he saw. According to him he saw the Ozymandias under harsh rule due to their king. Overall, I believe that the narrator starts the story in a positive way describing the city and by the end the Ozymandias are painting a different picture describing their ruined city.