‘Ancestral Voices Prophesying War’: An Ecocritical Reading of S. T. Coleridge’s Kubla Khan

ABSTRACT Ecocriticism, is a relatively new field of literary studies, but its significance is widespread. Where other fields of literary studies mainly focus on man's relationship with society, ecocriticism has stretched the boundary to include the entire ecosphere in its periphery. With the increase in the number of natural disasters in the last few decades, rethinking man's relationship with nature has become extremely important. It has also been acknowledged that, man's exploitation of nature, for his own benefits is to a great extent responsible for such disasters. Jonathan Bate, one of the major voices, when it comes to analyzing and locating ecological concerns in poetry, is of the opinion that, all educated people are or should be aware of the ecological disasters, that mankind is likely to face in the near future, but it has resulted in little effective action. The role of literature in this context is extremely significant, as it does not merely work at the level of awareness, but at the level of consciousness. Ecocriticism, attempts to study literary texts in a way that reveals the ecological concerns of the respective authors and, for obvious reasons, scholars of the field have found rich material in nineteenth century, Romantic poetry. Romantic poets in general, focus on man's relationship with nature and how by ignoring it, man digs his own grave. This paper traces how S. T. Coleridge's Kubla Khan, depicts the alienation of man from nature and warns the readers about the drastic consequences that, such alienation can lead to.