(Coleridge and the “visitor from Porlock”)
Where was I? … Ah, yes! … Kubla Khan…
Xanadu… something and song…
The River Alf… a pleasure dome…
I wish that fellow had never come…
Caverns measureless to man…
Where a sacred river ran…
Abyssinian maid… Mount Abora…
Where on earth did that come from?!
I should have said I wasn’t home.
Caves of ice… A mighty fountain…
It’s strange how opium affects the brain.
I hope he doesn’t come again.
A dulcimer and caves of ice…
And drinking milk from paradise…
All very nice, but then? Then what?!
I should have kept the front door locked.
Then what? I haven’t got a clue!
Damn holy dread and honey dew!
Damn that fellow and damn Porlock!
Damn waning moon and Xanadu!
Damn demon lover! Damn the lot!
Half a poem won’t earn much money.
Ah well! Dot and Bill
might find it funny.
Who (or what) is Porlock, please?
While writing Kubla Khan, after dreaming the poem under the influence of opium, Coleridge was allegedly interrupted by a visitor from the town of Porlock in Somerset. And then he couldn’t remember the rest.
There’s a suspicion, however, that he invented the “visitor from Porlock” as an excuse for not being able to finish the poem!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_from_Porlock
Best wishes
PS: Dot and Bill are Coleridge’s friends, Dorothy and William Wordsworth.