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Home > Poems > Kubla Khan > Sources > Major James Rennell |
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Major
James Rennell
In his History of Hindostan Thomas
Maurice mentions a Major Rennell in his Preliminary Chapter, and, as the
Note Books show, Coleridge tends to follow footnotes wherever they lead.
Coleridge
made an entry, "Major Rennell," along with other notes on Maurice, so Lowes
presumes that Coleridge meant to read Rennell, "and probably did."
(p. 383)
Major Rennell was "one of the most distinguished geographers of his day,"
according to one commentator, Matthis, who praises his "keen, decisive
labors." (Lowes p. 472).
Lowes argues: "We know Coleridge's habit of verifying references, and the
memorandum is conclusive evidence of his intentions in the present case."
(p. 382)
If Coleridge did read Rennell, he may have come across the following description of
Kashmir, making it seem like a holy land, because of the romantic beauty of
the fertile valley, encircled with steep mountains, with a river opening a
path through it, and a garden in perpetual spring, with surprising
fountains.
As described by Rennell, this
constellation of pictures may have appealed to Coleridge, if he read the
text, reinforcing similar descriptions of Kashmir in Maurice, and other
writers' descriptions of the source of the Nile.
Major James Rennell. Memoir of a Map of Hindoustan (London, 1793) |
Other sources
William Bartram |
1. Description of Kashmir Kashmir was romantic, no doubt about it, fertile, with a river down the middle, encircled by mountains, a holy land with miraculous fountains At least, that's the way Rennell describes it. Lowes adds:
Text
Links to Fertile ground 6 Gardens 8 deep romantic chasm 12 Holy 14, 52 Fountain 19 34
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