The reason we are being asked to memorize Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” (besides it being one of the most sublime and astonishing poems of all time) is surely in part due to the back-story surrounding the production of the poem. For those who are not familiar, the poem came to Coleridge in an opium-induced sleep after reading accounts of Xanadu (the summer residence of Kublai Khan located in China) from Samuel Purchas (an English clergyman, who based his own accounts upon those of Marco Polo centuries earlier[i]). Upon awakening, Coleridge began to furiously write down the lines that had appeared to him in his dream, confident that he had 200-300 lines worth of material. Unfortunately, his task was interrupted by a knock at the door—a man from Porlock on business—which caused him to forget much of the poem, and leave it at the 54 lines that we have today.
Thus, a “Person from Porlock” or “Man from Porlock” or just “Porlock” has become a literary illusion to unwanted intruders. For example, in Nabokov’s Lolita, Humbert Humbert checks into a motel under A.Person, Porlock, England [ii].
Of course, many criticisms postulate that Coleridge’s story is an absolute fabrication, that the “Person from Porlock” was really just a symbol or device used by Coleridge to allow or explain the fragmentary nature of the poem. In a similar instance, the “letter from a friend” that interrupts his Chapter XIII of Biographia Literaria was later confessed to be the author himself[iii]. Kind of like “the dog ate my homework” excuse on a much larger scale, yes?
Assuming the account to be true, what sort of mnemonic firings might have been occurring in Coleridge’s brain? How did he so vividly recall those 50 lines in the first place? I wonder if there really is a science behind it all, or if some things merely materialize with concentration. I’m sure we’ve all had those “Aha” moments followed by a burst of frenzied writing as you try to preserve the exact thought as it occurred so clearly in your head, while simultaneously waving off your roommate whose come in on business about “those dirty dishes you left in the sink, again”.
All I can hope is that my own interruptions and failures in memory might result in something so exceptional as “Kubla Khan”.
[i] The similarity between Purchas’ description and Coleridge’s poem can even be glimpsed in the first lines:
From Purchas his Pilgrimage: In Xandu did Cublai Can build a stately Pallace
From “Kubla Khan”:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
[ii] “Person from Porlock”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_from_Porlock
[iii] Ibid.
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