"Kubla Khan" is considered to be one of the greatest poems by the English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who said he wrote the strange and hallucinatory poem shortly after waking up from an opium-influenced dream in 1797. In the first part of the poem, the speaker envisions the landscape surrounding the Mongol ruler and Chinese emperor Kubla Khan’s summer palace, called "Xanadu," describing it as a place of beauty, pleasure, and violence. The speaker suggests that these qualities are all deeply intertwined and, in the final stanza, announces a desire to build a "pleasure palace" of the speaker's own through song. The poem is one of Coleridge's most famous, and has been interpreted in many different ways. Overall, though, it's possible to think of it as speaking to the creative ambitions of poetry itself—as well as to its limitations.
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The Full Text of “Kubla Khan”
Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.
1In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
2A stately pleasure-dome decree:
3Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
4Through caverns measureless to man
5 Down to a sunless sea.
6So twice five miles of fertile ground
7With walls and towers were girdled round;
8And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
9Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
10And here were forests ancient as the hills,
11Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
12But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
13Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
14A savage place! as holy and enchanted
15As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
16By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
17And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
18As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
19A mighty fountain momently was forced:
20Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
21Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
22Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
23And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
24It flung up momently the sacred river.
25Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
26Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
27Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
28And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean;
29And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
30Ancestral voices prophesying war!
31 The shadow of the dome of pleasure
32 Floated midway on the waves;
33 Where was heard the mingled measure
34 From the fountain and the caves.
35It was a miracle of rare device,
36A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
37 A damsel with a dulcimer
38 In a vision once I saw:
39 It was an Abyssinian maid
40 And on her dulcimer she played,
41 Singing of Mount Abora.
42 Could I revive within me
43 Her symphony and song,
44 To such a deep delight ’twould win me,
45That with music loud and long,
46I would build that dome in air,
47That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
48And all who heard should see them there,
49And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
50His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
51Weave a circle round him thrice,
52And close your eyes with holy dread
53For he on honey-dew hath fed,
54And drunk the milk of Paradise.
The Full Text of “Kubla Khan”
Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.
1In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
2A stately pleasure-dome decree:
3Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
4Through caverns measureless to man
5 Down to a sunless sea.
6So twice five miles of fertile ground
7With walls and towers were girdled round;
8And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
9Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
10And here were forests ancient as the hills,
11Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
12But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
13Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
14A savage place! as holy and enchanted
15As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
16By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
17And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
18As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
19A mighty fountain momently was forced:
20Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
21Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
22Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
23And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
24It flung up momently the sacred river.
25Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
26Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
27Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
28And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean;
29And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
30Ancestral voices prophesying war!
31 The shadow of the dome of pleasure
32 Floated midway on the waves;
33 Where was heard the mingled measure
34 From the fountain and the caves.
35It was a miracle of rare device,
36A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
37 A damsel with a dulcimer
38 In a vision once I saw:
39 It was an Abyssinian maid
40 And on her dulcimer she played,
41 Singing of Mount Abora.
42 Could I revive within me
43 Her symphony and song,
44 To such a deep delight ’twould win me,
45That with music loud and long,
46I would build that dome in air,
47That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
48And all who heard should see them there,
49And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
50His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
51Weave a circle round him thrice,
52And close your eyes with holy dread
53For he on honey-dew hath fed,
54And drunk the milk of Paradise.
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“Kubla Khan” Summary
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“Kubla Khan” Themes
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Pleasure and Violence
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Creativity and Reason
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The Limits of Creativity
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Kubla Khan”
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Before Line 1, Lines 1-5
Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.
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. -
Lines 6-11
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. -
Lines 12-16
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! -
Lines 17-22
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: -
Lines 23-28
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; -
Lines 29-30
And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war! -
Lines 31-36
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! -
Lines 37-41
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. -
Lines 42-47
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! -
Lines 48-50
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair! -
Lines 51-54
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.
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“Kubla Khan” Symbols
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The River Alph
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Gardens
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Sunless Sea
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Deep Romantic Chasm
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Fountain
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Ancestral Voices
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Honey-Dew
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“Kubla Khan” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Enjambment
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End-Stopped Line
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Caesura
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Consonance
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Chiasmus
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Simile
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Metaphor
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Parallelism
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Antithesis
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Allusion
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Personification
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Epizeuxis
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Extended Metaphor
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“Kubla Khan” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Xanadu
- Kubla Khan
- Pleasure-dome
- Alph
- Girdled
- Sinuous
- Rills
- Incense-bearing
- Chasm
- Athwart
- Cedarn
- E'er
- Pants
- Half-Intermitted
- Chaffy
- Flail
- Momently
- Mazy
- Dale
- ’mid
- Ancestral
- Prophesying
- Measure
- Device
- Damsel
- Dulcimer
- Abyssinian
- Maid
- Abora
- 'Twould
- Flashing
- Thrice
- Dread
- Honey-Dew and Milk of Paradise
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Kubla Khan”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Kubla Khan” Speaker
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“Kubla Khan” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Kubla Khan”
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More “Kubla Khan” Resources
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External Resources
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Kubla Khan Read Aloud — Actor Benedict Cumberbatch reads "Kubla Khan" aloud.
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The Romantics — An introduction to British Romantic poetry, from the British Library.
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Coleridge's Life — A detailed biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from the Poetry Foundation.
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The Inspiration for "Kubla Khan" — A brief article on Coleridge's main source for "Kubla Khan," with images of the original text.
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Kubla Khan's Preface — The full text of Coleridge's poem along with its preface.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Samuel Coleridge
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