The person from Porlock was an unwelcome visitor to

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lak ...

during his composition of the poem ''

Kubla Khan ''Kubla Khan'' () is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to ''Kubla Khan'', the poem ...

'' in 1797. Coleridge claimed to have perceived the entire course of the poem in a dream (possibly an

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which ...

-induced haze), but was interrupted by this visitor from

Porlock Porlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, west of Minehead. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,440. In 2017, Porlock had the highest percentage of elderly population in Britain, with over 40% being of pensionable ag ...

while in the process of writing it. ''Kubla Khan,'' only 54 lines long, was never completed. Thus "person from Porlock", "man from Porlock", or just "Porlock" are

literary allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

s to unwanted intruders who disrupt inspired creativity.

Story

In 1797, Coleridge was living at

Nether Stowey Nether Stowey is a large village in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, South West England. It sits in the foothills of the Quantock Hills (England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), just below Over Stowey. The parish of Nether Stowey c ...

, a village in the foothills of the Quantocks. However, due to ill health, he had "retired to a lonely farm house between Porlock and

Lynton Lynton is a town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district in the county of Devon, England, approximately north-east of Barnstaple and west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers. Governance Ly ...

, on the

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbat ...

confines of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

and

Devonshire Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

".Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ''Christabel, Kubla Khan, and the Pains of Sleep'', 2nd edition, William Bulmer, London, 1816. Reproduced in ''The Complete Poems'', ed. William Keach, Penguin Books, 2004. It is unclear whether the interruption took place at Culbone Parsonage or at Ash Farm. He described the incident in his first publication of the poem, writing about himself in the

third person Third person, or third-person, may refer to: * Third person (grammar), a point of view (in English, ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', and ''they'') ** Illeism, the act of referring to oneself in the third person * Third-person narrative, a perspective i ...

Speculations

If there were an actual person from Porlock, it could have been one of many people, including

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's '' ...

Joseph Cottle Joseph Cottle (1770–1853) was an English publisher and author. Cottle started business in Bristol. He published the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey on generous terms. He then wrote in his ''Early Recollections'' an expos ...

, or

John Thelwall John Thelwall (27 July 1764 – 17 February 1834) was a radical British orator, writer, political reformer, journalist, poet, elocutionist and speech therapist.

. It has been suggested by Elisabeth Schneider (in ''Coleridge, Opium and "Kubla Khan"'',

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' ...

, 1953), among others, that this prologue, as well as the person from Porlock, was fictional and intended as a credible explanation of the poem's seemingly fragmentary state as published. The poet

Stevie Smith Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A play, '' Stevie'' by Hugh Whitemore, ba ...

also suggested this view in one of her own poems, saying "the truth is I think, he was already stuck".

"Thoughts about the Person from Porlock"
/ref> Were the Porlock interruption a fiction, it would parallel the famous "letter from a friend" that interrupts Chapter XIII of Coleridge's ''

Biographia Literaria The ''Biographia Literaria'' is a critical autobiography by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published in 1817 in two volumes. Its working title was 'Autobiographia Literaria'. The formative influences on the work were Wordsworth's theory of poetry, th ...

'' just as he was beginning a 100-page exposition of the nature of the imagination. It was admitted much later that the "friend" was the author himself. In that case, the invented letter solved the problem that Coleridge found little receptiveness for his philosophy in the England of that time.

In other literature

* An important plot point in ''

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' is a humorous detective novel by English writer Douglas Adams, published in 1987. It is described by the author on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic- ...

'' by

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...

involves a time traveller interrupting Coleridge and claiming to be from Porlock. * In Richard S. Prather's ''The Kubla Khan Caper'', a knock at the door prompts

Shell Scott Richard Scott Prather (September 9, 1921 – February 14, 2007) was an American mystery novelist, best known for creating the "Shell Scott" series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring. Biography Prather was born i ...

to say "I'll bet it's the man from Porlock". * Robert Graves's ''The Person from Porlock'' regrets that Coleridge's visitor had not called on more poets. *

A. D. Hope Alec Derwent Hope (21 July 190713 July 2000) was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic. He was referred to in an American journal as "the 20th century's greatest 18th-century ...

's poem ''Persons from Porlock'' uses Porlock as a trope for the vapid mediocrity that is the enemy of poetry. *

's poem "Thoughts About the Person from Porlock" begins as a gentle ribbing of Coleridge and ends in a meditation on loneliness, creativity, and depression. *

Vincent Starrett Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett (; October 26, 1886 – January 5, 1974), known as Vincent Starrett, was a Canadian-born American writer, newspaperman, and bibliophile. Biography Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett was born above his grandfathe ...

, ''Persons from Porlock & Other Interruptions'' (1938) * "The Person from Porlock" is a science fiction story by Raymond F. Jones published in ''Astounding'' magazine in 1947. *

Louis MacNeice Frederick Louis MacNeice (12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet and playwright, and a member of the Auden Group, which also included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis. MacNeice's body of work was widely ...

, ''Persons from Porlock, and other plays for radio'' (1969) * ''

The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole ''The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole, Margaret Hilda Roberts and Susan Lilian Townsend'' is the third book in the Adrian Mole series, written by Sue Townsend. It focuses on the worries and regrets of a teenage (supposed) intellectual. T ...

''; the

diarist A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...

writes "I woke with an epic poem thundering inside my head... I was interrupted once when a visitor called from Matlock". * During the ''

Inspector Morse Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series '' Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...

'' episode "Twilight of the Gods", Morse refers to his sergeant, Lewis, as the Person from Porlock, due to his interrupting Morse's crossword attempts. Lewis retorts "No Sir, Newcastle" in his Geordie accent. * In Arthur Conan Doyle's ''

The Valley of Fear ''The Valley of Fear'' is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the ''Strand Magazin ...

'', Sherlock Holmes makes use of an informant referred to as 'Porlock' to gain information on Professor Moriarty's activities. * In '' The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage'' by Sydney Padua, the story conceives that the person from Porlock was

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace ('' née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the ...

, who interrupted Coleridge deliberately as part of her attempts to fight crime, which she considers poetry to be. * In the TV series ''

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' is an American comedy-drama television series created and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin. The series was about the production of a live comedy series, similar to ''Saturday Night Live''. Produced by Warner Br ...

'', Matt Albie uses the story of the man from Porlock and ''Kubla Khan'' to inspire his writers to a "4 AM Miracle", which is also the name of the episode. * In

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...

's novel ''

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Hum ...

'', "A. Person, Porlock" is a member of the trail of pseudonyms Clare Quilty leaves on motel registries. * In

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

's novel ''

Stranger in a Strange Land ''Stranger in a Strange Land'' is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by ...

'', when a member of staff comes to tell Jubal Harshaw that he has a telephone call, he responds "Anne, you have just interrupted a profound thought. You hail from Porlock." * In

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

's graphic novel ''

The Sandman (Vertigo) ''The Sandman'' is a American comic book, comic book written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. Its artists include Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, Bryan Talbot, and Michael Zulli, with lettering ...

'', a character named Etain forgets a poem shortly after waking up and remarks how lucky Samuel Coleridge was to be able to get down 55 "killer lines" before being distracted by the man from Porlock.

References

{{Samuel Taylor Coleridge 18th-century English people English poetry People from West Somerset (district) People whose existence is disputed Unidentified people Samuel Taylor Coleridge