'In Xanady did Kubla Khan (KANDL)
A stately pleasure dome decree, (KDLSR)
Where Alph the sacred river ran, (KANDLSR)
Through caverns measureless to man, (KANLSR)
Down to a sunless sea.' {6} (NDLS)
Here I have put the analysis of the main group alongside the lines;
and the more it is looked at, the more interesting it will seem.
But there are further niceties. In lines two and four, the current
S is most delicately varied with Z. In line three, the current
flat A is twice varied with the open A, already suggested in line
two, and both times ('where' and 'sacred') in conjunction with the
current R. In the same line F and V (a harmony in themselves, even
when shorn of their comrade P) are admirably contrasted. And in
line four there is a marked subsidiary M, which again was announced
in line two. I stop from weariness, for more might yet be said.
My next example was recently quoted from Shakespeare as an example
of the poet's colour sense. Now, I do not think literature has
anything to do with colour, or poets anyway the better of such a
sense; and I instantly attacked this passage, since 'purple' was
the word that had so pleased the writer of the article, to see if
there might not be some literary reason for its use.
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