Kubla Khan Poetic Structure, Hypnotic Quality and Cognitive Style: A study in mental, vocal and critical performanceThis book endorses Coleridge's statement: "nothing can permanently please which does not contain in itself the reason why it is so". It conceives 'Kubla Khan' as of a hypnotic poem, in which the "obtrusive rhythms" produce a hypnotic, emotionally heightened response, giving false security to the "Platonic Censor", so that our imagination is left free to explore higher levels of uncertainty. Critics intolerant of uncertainty tend to account for the poem's effect by extraneous background information. The book consists of three parts employing different research methods. Part One is speculative, and discusses three aspects of a complex aesthetic event: the verbal structure of 'Kubla Khan', validity in interpretation, and the influence of the critic's decision style on his critical decisions. The other two parts are empirical. Part Two explores reader response to gestalt qualities of rhyme patterns and hypnotic poems in perspective of decision style and professional training. Part Three submits four recordings of the poem by leading British actors to instrumental investigation. |
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
The Texture and Structure of Kubla Khan | 79 |
Gestalt Qualities in Poetry and the Readers Absorption Style | 115 |
Performing Kubla Khan An Instrumental Study of Four Readings | 143 |
Afterword Integration and Wider Perspectives | 205 |
235 | |
245 | |
The series Human Cognitive Processing | 253 |
Other editions - View all
'Kubla Khan' Poetic Structure, Hypnotic Quality, and Cognitive Style: A ... Reuven Tsur Limited preview - 2006 |
'Kubla Khan' Poetic Structure, Hypnotic Quality, and Cognitive Style: A ... Reuven Tsur No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
absorption abstract aesthetic alliteration ambiguity aspects attitude Beware Bodkin’s caves of ice Chapter characterised closure cognitive Cognitive Poetics cognitive style Coleridge Coleridge’s concrete conflicting contrast creaky voice critic’s decision style critics cues discussion ecstatic effect enjambment experience Figure find findings first flashing eyes floating hair gestalt gestalt theory glottal stop high-absorption subjects hypnotic poems hypnotic poetry hypnotic susceptibility indicate instance interaction interpretation intonation contours intonation units Kubla Khan last stanza Law of Return low-absorption subjects meaning mental performance metre msec Negative Capability one’s onomatopoeia organisation passage pause peak perceived perception phonetic phrase pitch contour pitch extract poetic precategorial present prosodic psychological Quest for Certitude readers reflected response rhyme patterns rhythm rhythmic Richardson sacred river Schneider significant sound patterns specific speech sounds strategies stressed syllables structure suggested symbolic syntactic theory thing-free tone Tsur verse lines vocal voice vowel Waveplot and pitch words Yarlott