Coleridge and Shelley

1. In "Kubla-Klan", I think the author is cautioning against imagination's indulgence. When the poem first starts off, he talks about this beautiful paradise with imagery to make the reader think that the poem is going to be about this wonderful imaginative place. But the poem quickly takes a turn to the total opposite by the end of the poem. He then talks about this place in the total opposite way by saying its "savage" and saying it has "caves of ice". By the end of the poem the author is telling the reading to beware and then he says "and close your eyes with holy dread, for he on honeydew hath fed, and drunk the milk of paradise." To me this says that the author is warning the reader to watch out what for what you imagine could be a paradise because in reality it might not be as great as you thought it would be. I believe Coleridge is writing this to everyone who has ever wished they had something other then what they have already. It kind of goes with that saying "be careful what you wish for". I think the purpose of this story was to warn people to be happy with what they have and to stop wishing they had more because sometimes it isn't as great as you would have imagined. 

2. When I read Ozymandias, I heard three speakers with in the poem. The three speakers I am referring to are the narrator, the traveler, and Ozymandias. The narrator reveals what a traveler said to him about a broken statue he saw in the desert. This then brings on what the third speaker, Ozymandias, says "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" This statement I believe is very important to what this poem is trying to say to the listeners. This quote that Ozymandias once says suggest that this man was once a great leader and had eventually fallen in his rein of power. Seeing that the statue is broken when the traveler describes it in this poem, this could suggest that the leader had fallen or been taken over by another. I think this poem is trying to tell the leader to not be over-proud and obnoxious about all that you do because one day it might come back around and hurt you. This I think serves as a political lesson of abuse of power from leaders and how eventually all powerful leaders will fall.