Kubla Khan

or a vision in a dream

 

 

 

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Ancestral voices prophesying war !
Through caverns measureless to man
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Down to a sunless sea.
Floated midway on the waves;
So twice five miles of fertile ground
Where was heard the mingled measure

With walls and towers were girdled round :
It was a miracle of rare device,
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
From the fountain and the caves.
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
A damsel with a dulcimer
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
In a vision once I saw :
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
It was an Abyssinian maid,

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !

And on her dulcimer she played,
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
Singing of Mount Abora.
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
Could I revive within me
By woman wailing for her demon-lover !
Her symphony and song,
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
That with music loud and long,
A mighty fountain momently was forced :
I would build that dome in air,

Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst

That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,

And all who heard should see them there,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware!
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Weave a circle round him thrice,
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
And close your eyes with holy dread,
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And drunk the milk of Paradise

 

 

I would like to focus my essay on the romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I am going to make reference to one of his poems called Kubla Khan (1797), written as a result of an opium dream. This poem called my attention because I have read it several times and actually I am still not sure what the poem is about.

Although Kubla Khan has not a defined theme, the aspects that attracted my attention were its exotic imagery and symbolism, rich vocabulary and rhythms. Besides, something which recalls my attention is the fact that, it is said the dream of Xanadu was a vision and, I consider very important the way in which Coleridge was able to capture such a vision in words, in particular in the first part of the poem. Words demand a full range of connotations to reach such metaphysical vision. In this sense Coleridge’s work is charged with psychodelic magic.

We have to bear in mind that Coleridge was a romantic poet and the romantics gave tremendous importance to everything that had to do with Nature, Beauty and Truth.

According to my way of thinking Kubla Khan gives a concrete expression to the ideal forms of Truth and Beauty, especially in the first part of the poem, in which, he describes a kind of natural paradise which is in perfect harmony with that romantic Eternal Beauty (lines 6-15).

Furthermore, I would like to say that Coleridge is describing a paradise, but he is also criticising the action carried out by men, because men are breaking the paradise building in it walls and towers (lines 6-7 and 31-32).

As I have said above, one of the things which attracted my attention was the symbolism of the text. I feel the described “fountain” (line 19) represents a sexual metaphor with strong emotions, filled with the seeds for a new life, spewing out all over everything.

Moreover, I consider that the “damsel with her dulcimer” who appears in line 37 is a symbol too. I understand her as a kind of muse trying to inspire the poet with her nice performance. The music, and the woman again gains deeper traits that Coleridge will bring into his beautiful poem.

It is quite obvious that the second part of the poem begins with the appearance of this “damsel”, as well as we can observe a change in the poem, and now I am going to explain that. As I said before, it is very difficult to capture a vision only with words, and an example of this is found in lines 37 – 54, where the vision of Kubla's Xanadu is replaced by that damsel singing of Mount Abora. It is an experience more acoustic than visual and therefore less susceptible of description by mere words, so for this reason I believe that Coleridge introduces the “damsel” as a kind of muse.

The story of the composition of this poem is known worldwide. Coleridge was under opium effects and when these ones were over; he probably had to look for another source of inspiration and, perhaps, for this reason the “damsel” appeared and the vision experience was replaced by the acoustic one.

I would like to remark as I have said at the beginning of this essay the importance of the vocabulary in this poem.

There are some words through this poem which can remind us of the paradise described in the Bible, the Eden. As an example of that, we can find in line 3 the word “Alph” (as the name of the sacred river). Alph could be associated with Alpha, which is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and according to mythological speculations; it means the beginning of life and language. In line 39 we have the word Abyssinian. Abyssinian is the national name of the people who live in Abyssinia, and in this place is where classical culture had located the “Eden”. According to the catholic tradition, the Garden of Eden is the beginning of life, so the words Alph and Abyssinian are closely related in this poem.

In line 36 the words also play an important role. We have the contrasting images of “a sunny pleasure-dome” which can connote warmth and brightness and the “caves of ice” which can connote cold and darkness.

In order to conclude with this review I would like to include that we have to keep in mind that mystery and ambiguity, verisimilitude and suggestiveness, are essential ingredients in Kubla Khan.