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HomePoems > Kubla Khan > Sources > Major James Rennell                           

 

 

1. Description of Kashmir

 

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
William Beckford
F. Bernier
James Bruce
Thomas Burnet
William Collins
Herodotus
Athanasius Kircher
Jerome Lobo
Thomas Maurice
John Milton
Pausanias
Samuel Purchas
Seneca
Strabo
Virgil

Mary Wollstonecraft

 

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:

And the landscape of the deep romantic vale of Cashmere and the landscape of the valley of the upper Nile seem to have melted into one another in the dream, and the enchanted territory of the poem becomes "holy land." ...

Coleridge had read these things; and the images which we have just been calling back had sunk into those secret tracts where all that is forgotten waits, keyed to associations at the lightest touch of which the sleeping past may flash up again--like a Venetian thoroughfare--to recollection. 383

Text

The valley or country of Cashmere is celebrated throughout upper Asia for its romantic beauties, for the fertility of its soil. …It is….surrounded by steep mountains, that tower above the regions of snow; and…its soil is composed of the mud deposited by a capital river, which originally formed its waters into a lake…until it opened itself a passage through the mountains….

The author of the Ayin Acbaree dwells with rapture on the beauties of Cashmere…Only light showers fall there: these, however, are in abundance enough to feed some thousands of cascades, which are precipitated into the valley, from every part of the stupendous and romantic bulwark that encircles it. …

In a word, the whole scenery is beautifully picturesque; and a part of the romantic circle of mountains, makes up a portion of every landscape. The pardonable superstition of the sequestered inhabitants, has multiplied the places of worship of Mahadeo (whose image it was that appeared in the cave), of Bishen, and of Brama. All Cashmere is holy land; and miraculous fountains abound….

To sum up the account of Cashmere, in the words of (Abu Fazil), "It is a garden in perpetual spring." --Rennell, 143-145.

 

Word Line # Line Sources for word
Caverns

4

Through caverns measureless to man

 Bartram 5
 Bruce 1
 Kircher 2
 Rennell
 Strabo 2
 Wollstonecraft

 

27

Then reached the caverns measureless to man

 Bartram 5
 Bruce 1
 Kircher 2
 Rennell
 Strabo 2
 Wollstonecraft

Caves

34

From the fountain and the caves

 Bruce 1
 Kircher 2
 Maurice 2
 Milton 4

 Rennell

 

36

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

 Bruce 1
 Kircher 2
 Maurice 2
 Milton 4

 Rennell

 

47

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

 Bruce 1
 Kircher 2
 Maurice 2
 Milton 4
 Rennell

Circle

51

Weave a circle round him thrice,

 Bartram 2
 Maurice 3
 Milton 2
 Rennell

Fertile

6

So twice five miles of fertile ground

 Milton 4
 Purchas 1
 Rennell

Fountain

19

A mighty fountain momently was forced

 Bartram 4
 Bartram 5
 Bartram 6

 Bartram 7

 Bartram 8
 Beckford
 Bernier 2
 Bernier 4
 Bruce 1
 Bruce 2

 Bruce 3

 Burnet 1
 Herodotus
 Maurice 2
 Milton 4
 Pausanias
 Rennell
 Seneca 1
 Virgil
 Wollstonecraft

 

34

From the fountain and the caves

 Bartram 4
 Bartram 5
 Bartram 6

 Bartram 7

 Bartram 8
 Beckford
 Bernier 2
 Bernier 4
 Bruce 1
 Bruce 2

 Bruce 3

 Burnet 1
 Herodotus
 Maurice 2
 Milton 4
 Pausanias
 Rennell
 Seneca 1
 Virgil
 Wollstonecraft

Gardens

8

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills

 Bartram 2
 Bernier 1
 Bernier 2
 Bernier 3
 Milton 4
 Milton 6
 Purchas 3
 Purchas 4
 Rennell

Holy

14

A savage place! As holy and enchanted

 Bartram 2
 Bruce 2
 Bruce 9
 Collins
 Purchas 2
 Rennell

 

52

And close your eyes with holy dread,

 Bartram 2
 Bruce 2
 Bruce 9
 Collins
 Purchas 2
 
Rennell

Miracle 35 It was a miracle of rare device Bernier 3
Rennell
River

3

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

 Bartram 3
 Bartram 6
 Beckford
 Bernier 1
 Bernier 2
 Bernier 3
 Bernier 5

 Bruce 2

 Bruce 4
 Bruce 6

 Burnet 1
 Kircher 1
 
Kircher 3
 
Maurice 1
 Milton 4
 Pausanias
 Rennell
 Seneca 1
 Strabo 1
 Strabo 2

 Virgil

 

24

It flung up momently the sacred river

 Bartram 3
 Bartram 6
 Beckford
 Bernier 1
 Bernier 2
 Bernier 3
 Bernier 5

 Bruce 2

 Bruce 4
 Bruce 6

 Burnet 1
 Kircher 1
 Kircher 3
 
Maurice 1
 Milton 4
 Pausanias
 Rennell
 Seneca 1
 Strabo 1
 Strabo 2

 Virgil

 

26

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran

 Bartram 3
 Bartram 6
 Beckford
 Bernier 1
 Bernier 2
 Bernier 3
 Bernier 5

 Bruce 2

 Bruce 4
 Bruce 6

 Burnet 1

 Kircher 1
 Kircher 3
 
Maurice 1
 Milton 4
 Pausanias
 Rennell
 Seneca 1
 Strabo 1
 Strabo 2

 Virgil

Romantic

12

But oh! That deep romantic chasm which slanted

 Bruce 1
 Rennell
 

Towers

7

With walls and towers were girdled round

 Milton 4
 Rennell

Links to

Fertile ground 6

Gardens 8

deep romantic chasm 12

Holy 14, 52

Fountain 19 34

 

 

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