Essay Example on God, Creation, & Evil: Kubla Khan & the Tiger

"Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge work that answer a question that dates back to the beginning of philosophy; can God create something evil? The benevolent, all-loving God is known to be the creator of all things, but since it is evil in reality, this question arises.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The images in both poems introduce an object made by a higher power that inspires curiosity but is simultaneously dangerous. The tiger is looked at with interest because it is a creature of beauty, but also one that can cause great harm. The words used to describe the tiger themselves carry a similar duality; "Burning" carries a negative connotation while "bright" carries the opposite. This is done intentionally to solidify the concept of dangerous beauty further. Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" creates a similar effect when it depicts what seems like a paradise only to reveal later that it is "A savage place" (14). When Coleridge describes the land as fertile and blossoming, it seems inviting, but it soon becomes evident that the land is hazardous. This idea of dangerous beauty is present in both poems to introduce and further concrete the concept that objects can have opposing characteristics.

The religious aspect is brought into both poems through allusion to present the idea of a danger made by a higher power. Coleridge's allusion is subtle. The first two stanzas of "Kubla Khan" allude to the Garden of Eden. While the description of paradise in itself suggests this, a more substantial piece of evidence can be seen in the last line when Coleridge writes "And drunk the milk of Paradise". "Paradise" has been capitalized to show that the land is a specific paradise, one of significance. This is alluding to the Garden of Eden and suggests that God's hand played a part in creating the deceptive paradise that is brought to life in "Kubla Khan". Both poems use allusion to question if God can create evil.

Coleridge asks the same question using similar literary devices. The paradise in "Kubla Khan" can be interpreted as a volcano, and while it can be a beautiful creation from a higher power, it can cause great destruction. Higher power also made the tiger that Blake describes, and while it is described as beautiful, it is capable of destruction as well. God is looked up to as the source of all creation but is not actively credited with creating evil. Coleridge and Blake take a step away from the traditional to prove that God can create evil.

Works Cited

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, and Thierry Bourquin. Kubla Khan. Queensland Braille Writing Association. 1910.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Kubla Khan, Or, A Vision in a Dream. D. Gatti, 2000.

Huhn, Peter, and Jens Kiefer. The narratological analysis of lyric poetry: studies in English poetry from the 16th to the 20th century. Vol. 7. Walter de Gruyter, 2011.

Leask, Nigel. "Kubla Khan and orientalism: The road to Xanadu revisited." Romanticism 4.1 (1998): 1-21.