Kubla Khan

While there is no one way to interpret “Kubla Khan,” Coleridge offered a glimpse into his mindset with the famous preface to this poem, published in 1816. Coleridge describes writing “Kubla Khan” in 1797 after falling asleep under the influence of medicinal opium, a narcotic substance that can affect mental processes. He claims that during his slumber, he received hundreds of lines of poetry in a vision, then awoke to write them down. He never finished, however, due to someone interrupting him, which swept the unwritten lines from his mind.

What remains is the 54-line “Kubla Khan,” labeled as a fragment of an epic poem Coleridge never wrote. Scholars have long debated the truth of Coleridge’s origin story for this poem. However, the poet’s account does provide insight into the poem’s structure and, indeed, its place in the literary canon as a quintessential poem about creativity. 

Coleridge opens the poem with the important, italicized subtitle: “Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.” The land of Xanadu and its kingly Kubla Khan are the products of the poet’s dream. What follows is something of a fable--as dreams sometimes are--full of magic, intrigue, and striking imagery. 

Dreamlike though the poem may be, Kubla (Kublai) Khan is a historical figure and Xanadu a historical place. The grandson of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, ruled in 13th century China and established a kingdom called Shang-tu, or Xanadu. Coleridge claims to have been reading about Kublai Khan when he fell asleep and dreamed of Xanadu, which he wrote as “Xanadu” and forever captured imaginations with his description. 

This poem also participates in a long Western tradition of exoticizing non-European regions. Coleridge depicts this Asian land as less industrialized, more pagan, and closer to nature than his native Western culture. References like the “pleasure-dome” (Line 2) and the “woman wailing for her demon-lover” (Line 16) accentuate this exaggerated impression. The African musician in the final stanza receives a similar portrayal. 

The speaker describes the natural beauties of Xanadu throughout the poem. A typically Romantic impulse, this elevation of nature reaches an operatic pitch as Coleridge infuses the land with magical elements. “Alph, the sacred river” (Line 3) perhaps receives the most attention.

Coleridge describes this landscape with lilting rhythm and rhyme. Neither sound device occurs in regular patterns throughout the poem, but the first stanza features mostly iambic lines of eight and ten syllables each. End rhyme recurs throughout as well, with repeating sounds in “Khan” (Line 1), “ran” (Line 3), and “man” (Line 4), for example. The resonant sounds all work to mesmeric effect as the rhythm undulates, and the rhyme and alliteration mimic a dreamy song. 

The same water flowing above and below ground also issues a tremendous fountain foretelling doom upon Kubla Khan and his kingdom. The Eden of Xanadu may corrode despite the great care the Khan has taken in its creation. Once abundant, protected, and at peace, it is now sullied with violent portent.

In addition to shifting Xanadu’s tranquility, the fountain also shifts the poem’s tone. From the outset of the second stanza, Coleridge uses exclamation points, varying meter, and charged descriptors like “savage” and “enchanted” (Line 14) to introduce these changes. Moreover, the water seems almost to possess a mind of its own. Whether it lashes out at the Khan’s attempts to subdue it or embodies the poet’s conception of the imagination is up for debate, as this guide’s later sections will explore. 

In the third stanza, the speaker turns his attention to the contents of yet another dream. A young woman from modern-day Ethiopia sings and plays a beautiful song on a dulcimer--a stringed instrument. (While Xanadu has a historical analog, Mount Abora is a fictional place.) The speaker believes if he possessed the musician’s gifts, he would communicate to others the clear picture of the Xanadu he sees in his mind: 

[…] 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 [...]. (Lines 45-48) 

If the first two stanzas are the dreamy events the poet recorded from his unconscious, the third stanza may remark on his inability to communicate those visions to his own satisfaction. 

The poem introduces a third vision with the final description of the poetic speaker. If the speaker possessed the Abyssinian musician’s talents, he believes he would transform into a supernatural being and the object of his readers’ fear. As a ghostly poet, the speaker seems to be at one with the land he just described. Just as Xanadu is holy, now the speaker too inspires “holy dread” (Line 52), since he has both experienced and recreated this heavenly place through poetry.