Kubla Khan - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
/Kubla Khan - Samuel Taylor Coleridge/
A Visionary Fragment of Exotic Splendor
Original Poem (English), line by line:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round;
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced;
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
And ’mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean;
And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight ’twould win me
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” composed in 1797 (though published in 1816), stands as one of the most celebrated examples of Romantic visionary poetry. Coleridge claimed it came to him in an opium-induced reverie, which was interrupted before he could fully record the experience. The poem therefore functions as a ‘fragment’: it opens with a depiction of the majestic, almost otherworldly domain of Kubla Khan—complete with its sacred river Alph, deep caverns, and a sweeping pleasure-dome—and transitions into a second section that centers on a visionary damsel and the creative power of imagination.
At its core, “Kubla Khan” immerses readers in a realm of lush imagery and sublime landscapes. The first part emphasizes the tension between nature’s wild, untamed forces (the ‘deep romantic chasm,’ the ‘ceaseless turmoil’) and the human impulse to impose order (Kubla’s ‘stately pleasure-dome’). Yet, even this grand edifice is depicted in a dreamlike haze, reflecting a delicate balance between artifice and the vastness of the natural world.
The poem’s latter stanzas shift to the poet’s own longing to recover or sustain a transcendent creative vision, inspired by the Abyssinian maid’s song. This portion highlights the Romantic fascination with the interplay between inspiration and loss, and the desire to reclaim moments of intense poetic insight. By concluding with the ominous warning (‘Beware! Beware!’), Coleridge reveals a profound ambivalence toward the imaginative realm—portraying it as both enthralling and perilous. This duality remains central to the poem’s enduring mystique: “Kubla Khan” exemplifies the Romantic belief in imagination as a sublime and sometimes fearsome power. (Approx. 260 words)
Key points
1. The poem originates from a dreamlike vision, offering readers a ‘fragment’ of inspiration.
2. Coleridge explores the tension between human creativity (the pleasure-dome) and nature’s raw power.
3. Imagery of caverns, rivers, and a ‘sunless sea’ underscores the poem’s mystical and surreal atmosphere.
4. The Abyssinian maid symbolizes poetic inspiration, hinting at the elusive nature of artistic genius.
5. “Kubla Khan” remains emblematic of Romantic fascination with the sublime forces of imagination and the limits of expression.
