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.

Structure of the poem

There are three parts in the poem. First 36 lines describe the pleasure palace of Kubla Khan, an emperor in ancient China. It has three stanzas of 10, 20, and 6 lines respectively. It is on the nature and quality of that art which reflects life and its strange, unintelligible complexities. The second and third parts are in one stanza, second coving 5 lines and third the remaining 13 lines. In the second part poet is referring to an Abyssinian singing girl whom he had seen in a vision. It is about art that transcends life. The third and final part creates the picture of an inspired poet who can bring about a revolution in the world, a yogi who can change the meaning of life. Here is the art that change life and world.

Summary

The poem describes Xanadu, palace of Kubla Khab, a Mongol emperor and the grandson of Genghis Khan. The speaker describes the setting of palace which he called “pleasure dome”. The construction of the palace on “twice five miles of fertile ground” is described. It is surrounded by walls and towers within which are ancient forests and ornate gardens “bright with sinuous rills.”

The speaker tells us about the canyon through which the river flows. He makes it into a spooky, haunted place, where he describes a woman wailing for her lover. The speaker describes Kubla Khan who is listening to this noisy river and thinking about war. All of a sudden , the speaker moves away from this landscape and tells us about another vision he had, where he saw a woman playing an instrument and singing. The memory of her song fills Kubla Khan with longing. He imagines himself singng and it creates a vision of Xanadu.

The poem becomes more personal and mysterious towards the end. In the final stanza  speaker recounts a vision once he had of an Abyssinian maid. He says that if he could revive her music within himself, he would build a pleasure dome and all who would see it would be frightened of his flashing eyes.  His observers would close their eyes “with holy dread,/ For he on honey-dew hath fed,/ And drunk the milk of Paradise.”

Critical analysis

Kubla Khan is the perfect example of what might be called the purely magical stain in Coleridge’s poetry. Kubla Khan" is one of those three poems which have kept the name of Coleridge in the forefront of the greatest English poets -- the other two being "The Ancient Mariner" and "Christabel", and all of the three having been written in 1797 and 1798 dealing with "persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic.". All these three poems were composed when intimate friendship existed between Coleridge and Wordsworth. "Kubla Khan" is considered one of the most famous examples of Romanticism in English poetry.

While Coleridge himself referred to “Kubla Khan” as a fragment, the vivid images contained in the poem have garnered extensive critical attention through the years, and it has long been acknowledged as a verse representation of Coleridge's theories of the imagination and creation. Although it was not published until 1816, scholars agree that the work was composed between 1797 and 1800. At the time of its publication, Coleridge subtitled it “A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment” and added a prefatory note explaining its unusual origin. The poet remarked that after taking some opium for medication, he grew drowsy while reading a passage from Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage, concerning the court of Kubla Khan. In his semi-conscious state, Coleridge composed a few hundred lines of poetry, and when he awoke, immediately began writing the verses down. Unfortunately, a visitor interrupted him, and when the poet had a chance to return to his writing, the images had fled, leaving him with only vague recollections and the remaining 54 lines of his unfinished poem. While a number of critics have since challenged Coleridge's version of the poem's composition, critical scholarship on “Kubla Khan” has frequently focused on the fragmentary nature and dreamlike imagery of the work, which is considered demonstrative of Romantic poetic theory.

“Kubla Khan” is written in iambic tetrameter and alternating rhyme schemes. The first stanza is written in tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAABCCDEDE, alternating between staggered rhymes and couplets. The second stanza written in tetrameter and follows roughly the same rhyming pattern- ABAABCCDDFFGGHIIHJJ. The third stanza is written in tetrameter and rhymes ABABCC. The fourth stanza continues the tetrameter of the third and rhymes ABCCBDEDEFGFFFGHHG.

In the poem language is used to convey images from Coleridge's imagination. This is done with the use of vocabulary, imagery, structure, use of contrasts, rhythm and sound devices such as alliteration and assonance. In the poem, imagery is also very important to convey imagination to the reader. There are images of paradise throughout the poem that are combined with references to darker, more evil places. The use of supernatural takes its reader away from the everyday life and activities. Pleasure dome is bright with sunlight with caves of ice. This is only possible by the interference of supernatural power. Coleridge’s picture of a woman waiting for her demon-lover is clear and impressive as a painting. Coleridge makes the description perfect at every stage by a very apt simile. The sacred river runs through woods and dale like a maze. All the pictures in the poem are vivid. They stimulate interest, produce admiration and fill us with awe.