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An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block

by Cha Li 1  and  Qian Zhao 2,* orcid
1
Nanjing Polytechnic Institute, Nanjing, China
2
Anhui Business College, Wuhu, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
MI  1(2):13; https://doi.org/10.71290/mi01020001
Received: 11 June 2025 / Accepted: 10 July 2025 / Published Online: 15 July 2025
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Abstract

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s celebrated yet incomplete poem Kubla Khan has received mixed reviews, but it remains a quintessential example of Romantic poetry. This article adopts Writer’s Block Theory to explore Coleridge’s writing block, especially during the process of creating Kubla Khan. It argues that Coleridge’s writing block is attributed to a combination of external and internal factors. The external causes are related to the turbulent historical context and his personal struggles, while the internal ones include physiological/affective causes and motivational/cognitive causes. Then the article discusses the representations of Coleridge’s block by analyzing symbolism employed in Kubla Khan as well as the tension between the preface and the poem. Finally, it challenges the notion that writer’s block is entirely negative, arguing how constraints motivated Coleridge to innovate and expand the limits of poetic expression.

Keywords: Writer’s Block; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Kubla Khan; inspiration;
Copyright: © 2025 by Li and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Cite This Paper
APA Style
Li, C., & Zhao, Q. (2025). An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block. Methodology Insight, 1(2), 13. doi:10.71290/mi01020001
ACS Style
Li, C.; Zhao, Q. An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block. Methodology Insight, 2025, 1, 13. doi:10.71290/mi01020001
AMA Style
Li C., Zhao Q.. An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block. Methodology Insight; 2025, 1(2):13. doi:10.71290/mi01020001
Chicago/Turabian Style
Li, Cha; Zhao, Qian 2025. "An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block" Methodology Insight 1, no.2:13. doi:10.71290/mi01020001

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APA Style
Li, C., & Zhao, Q. (2025). An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block. Methodology Insight, 1(2), 13. doi:10.71290/mi01020001
ACS Style
Li, C.; Zhao, Q. An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block. Methodology Insight, 2025, 1, 13. doi:10.71290/mi01020001
AMA Style
Li C., Zhao Q.. An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block. Methodology Insight; 2025, 1(2):13. doi:10.71290/mi01020001
Chicago/Turabian Style
Li, Cha; Zhao, Qian 2025. "An Ambiguous Manifestation of Draining Inspiration-Exploring Coleridge’s Writing Block" Methodology Insight 1, no.2:13. doi:10.71290/mi01020001

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