Poetry of Coleridge and Shelley

1. Enacting social change and political change was the main idea for most literate in the Romantic period. For instance, Kubla Khan was written to endorse social change. Coleridge wrote this poem to caution readers against the pleasure of thinking for themselves and thinking outside the box. Because of the author’s trip on opium it was safe to say his sanity was not fully intact. There is a range of views in the poem. For example, "with walls and towers were girdled round", " by woman wailing for her demon lover", and " a sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice". The author’s thoughts jump from one topic to another. The author’s mind has very eclectic thoughts, which just results to his writing into unruliness. His writing could have been a warning to readers in the dangers and confusion of using your imagination. It is great to have imagination but you have to know where to draw the line between imagination and reality. The author clearly had no boundaries, which confused his imagination with reality.

2. There are three voices being heard in the poem, which are narrator, the traveler, and the king, Ozymandias. The three voices give the listeners three different perspectives on the situations occurring the poem. The narrator might not have experienced the traveler’s journey, but that is a perspective looking from the outside in. The king’s voice informs listeners about his character. For example, Line 10-11 " My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!". This shows listeners how egotistical and prideful he was. At the end of the poem it talks about how the statue fell. When statue disintegrate it was symbolizing for the downfall of his empire. The empire downfall was due to the King being hubris.