Kubla KhanIn 1798, a poet named Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the poem called “KublaKhan”. In his preface, he stated that he had dreamt the poem, and wrote itdown just as it was “preserved”. The speaker also stated that the poem ismerely a fragment, it is not complete.
“With the exception of about eight orten scattered lines and images” that had been lost in the transition betweensleep and being awake. In the first stanza, it seemed that the speaker wastalking of a far away land, Xanadu. Kubla Khan was the leader of this land. Thisland had a sacred river running through it. It had many spots of greenery aroundit with forests that were almost “ancient”.
In lines one and two it says,”In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure dome decree”. What could thatmean? It could perhaps imply that Kubla Khan is a leader of some type, and helives in a “stately” palace. The speaker used the word dome instead ofpalace. Perhaps in his dream he saw a dome as big or a stately as a palace, andthat is where Kubla Khan lived. In the second stanza, the speaker goes on todescribe the land of Xanadu.
He says that there is a cedar forest that ishaunted by a “woman wailing for her demon-lover. ” “A mighty fountainmomently was forced. . . .
. . Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail. .
. . . .
Itflung up momently the sacred river. . . . . .
And ?mid this tumult Kubla heard fromfar Ancestral voices prophesying war!” It seems, in lines 17-31, that therecould possibly be a war started. It is never said why the war was started or ifthere in fact is really a war, but after that sequence of lines the speaker goesinto another rant. He said that there was a “sunny pleasure-dome with caves ofice. ” It is not understood what the voice is trying to get across to thereader in this line.
It is known that ice does not exist in the sun, at leastnot for long, so does this mean that there is not really a dome at all? Aftertalking about the dome, the mask speaks of a damsel in the pleasure dome. Thedamsel was playing the dulcimer. The persona also says how the damsel could winhis heart by playing the instrument. After those few off-set lines, the speakergoes on to say that he would build the dome in the sky, and that all that heardabout it would see it there and yell “beware, beware!” To whom they wouldyell this is unclear. The last couple of lines seem to be talking about KublaKhan. .
. . “His flashing eyes, his floating hair. . .
” He must have been a sightto see. The voice also says that he “drank the milk of paradise. ” That couldpotentially mean that he lived a life of luxury and was a very mighty leader. Inresearch done with help of the World Wide Web, it was found that SamuelColeridge was addicted to a drug much like today’s Acid. Could that signifythat Mr.
Coleridge might have been on a “trip” when he wrote this poem, andthat is why it remained unfinished and a fragment? Or quite possibly, it couldbe that Mr. Coleridge was just dreaming of the wonderful world of Kubla Khan.
