Customer Reviews

The Completion of Kubla Khan

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The nerve of Julio Delatorre! Is nothing sacred? This could well be your reaction upon finding that someone has completed a poem the famous Samuel Taylor Coleridge left unfinished some 200 years ago. But, whatever your reaction, I strongly urge you to set such thoughts aside and enjoy this work for what it is, an extraordinary literary creation from begining to end.

Who could have known where Coleridge was going with his poem? At the time even he couldn't remember, having dreamed the epic in its entirety, only to lose the thread early in the writing due to an interruption. As a result, we were left with a mere fragment of less than a hundred lines. The completed poem is well over 300 lines and the reader will be hard-pressed to know where Delatorre picked up and Coleridge left off.

All of that aside, I find the work to be tremendously moving. I particularly enjoy reading it aloud and I must admit I have not yet been able to get through it without a severe emotional upheaval; the beauty and power of it makes me weep - every time.

And then, to complement in kind the richness of the verse, there are the exquisite illustrations by the singular master of the genre, Frank Frazetta.

However this work came to be, whether through magic, raw skill, or some other explanation, or all of the above, what is obvious is that we are left with a sublime treasure that "bolts forward with hurricane energy" to its profound and startling conclusion.

I do recommend that the glossary of uncommon words in the back of the book be perused prior to reading, for enhanced enjoyment and understanding of the poem.

I bought this book based on some of the earlier Amazon.com glowing reviews. I'm not going to say that they were wrong, because appreciation of poetry is subjective. I will offer up, however, that I had a different impression entirely. Delatorre's additional verses have a monotonous regularity of rhythm (as opposed to the sensuous variation of meter in Coleridge's verse) and seem wholey devoted to moralistic sermonizing. This "completion" of Coleridge's poem is not in the least a fulfillment of the almost painfully beautiful images that make up the original Kubla Khan.

My original rating of this book was a "3" because it was not what I had expected, but I changed it to a "4" out of respect for the author. The completion of the poem itself seemed out of sync with the original, but obviously it WOULD have been, since the authors were separated by nearly two centuries. I suppose that, having been enthralled with "Kubla Khan" since my freshman year in college, that I would have been hard on any author who attempted to complete such an exquisite poem as this one. I found that Delatorre's opinion about what happened AFTER the poem's original ending was far different from my opinion. I guess I expected something more fantastic and/or supernatural. I would say, though, that Delatorre's preface was both humble and inspirational and made the book worth keeping and his completion worth reading again.

The story diversifies wildly and all sorts of other materiel is brought in that is not mentioned in the original 54 lines - also Coleridge stated that the poem should be 200-300 lines long in total. It goes way over this number considerably so cannot be deemed an accurate ending to Coleridge's famed work.

For a suggested conclusion to 'Kubla Khan' that only deals with Coleridge's subject matter of the first 54 lines and weaves them into a coherent, "mystical and magical conclusion" read 'Sunrise Over Avalon' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Russell Lee Hawkins. This has been reviewed by a University professor who is the Dean of an Honours College and a world leading expert on Coleridge. I have posted the professors Foreword to the book as the review along with quotes by HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, The Right Honourable The Lord Coleridge and others. Hawkins has also finished off another of Coleridge's unfinished fragment, namely 'The Dark Ladie' - adding a further 300 verses to the original 15. It also contains original works by him - which are somewhat controversial - and is very good value for money.

The books are great but here's my problem... I ordered 2 copies and both were LOOSE inside the box with a ripped shrink wrapped board in the bottom. I'm sure the books were SUPPOSED to be in the shrink wrap.

Whether they were bashed around enough by UPS to dislodge them or if no care was taken when they were packaged for shipping in the first place, I don't know. The box doesn't look overly mishandled so I can guess where the blame lies.

Fortunately the books arrived in good condition but it could have been a very different story.