Kubla Khan Samuel Taylor Coleridge ‘This poem was inspired by a passage about Kubla Khan (66 ble kar’, the founcler of the Mongol dynasty in China in the thirteenth century. in Samuel Purchas's Purchas Hts Pilgrimage (1613) “Here the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be built, and a stately garden thereunto, And th fen miles of fertile ground were inclosed with a walt Coleridge claims to have fallen asleep while reading this passage due (0 the effects of medication he was taking for fan iltness at the time (1797). Three hours later, he awoke from a dream, finding his mind was filled with two to three ‘hundred lines of poetry, which were an elaboration of the description he had read immediately before drifting off to ‘Sleep. Coleridge immediately began to write down the lines that filed his head, but when he was interrupted by a visitor, he forgot the Hines that he had not yet transcribed. ‘As a resulé, he was unable to complete the poem. In Xanadu’ did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran ‘Through caverns measureless to man Down toa 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 eer 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 chafly grain beneath the thresher's lal And ‘mid these dancing rocks at once and ever Ie ung 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 ce!c A damsel with a dulcimer’ _ Ina vision once I saw: Twas an Abyssinian? maid 40 Andon her dulelmer she played Singing of Mount Abora’ (cent seve witnine Her symphony and song. | __Tosuch'a dep delight would win me, [4s That with music loud and long ould ud tht dome ai sunny dome! those eaves of le! ‘And all who heard should see them there ‘And al should ery. Beware! Beware! soils fashing eyes. his Noaing ha! Weave a circle round him thrice. | And close your eyes with holy dread, | For he on honeydew hath fed, LL And drum de milk of Paradis 4A. andi 2a di: A indefinite area in China, = 2, Alghs Prony derive irr the Urerk ries Apes, the waters of ‘device: Des, ‘nusta instrument with metal thet as ellved in Greek mt. pine witha sree 1 eimai 296 ‘Erma fountain in Sey, Tring snich prodce se 13. is Brooks thwarts Arvoss ‘@, Abyonteapoca: Frobably Mourns Amara an Abyssinia. 15. Cedurn cover Covering of coda ees THINKING ABOUT THE SELECTION do you thirk Coleridge is Recalling making here about the power of magination? 7. (a) Find one example each of Colerge suse = 1 What was the size of tne palatial estate that "gf aiteration and assonanice. (0) Explain now Kubla Khan ordaved built? each example enhances the meaning ot 2 What, according to the second stanza, was mood ot the wonte forced up trough “that deep tomanic g(a) Do you fo! thal Coleridge's i chase"? and “music” combine to make 5 What did Kubla Khan hear inthe noise made fe forthe teaser? (0) Surber by the river emptying ito the ocean? with quotations from the poem, (@) Accorcing to the last stanza, what did the Speaker once see in a vision? (0) What part of that vision does the speaker wish he’ could agination sion seem rae Applying arama 9. Oo you think people should be governed 5. Using your own words. what does the speaker mare by thait emotions or their reason? Do ‘ay would happen to him and “all who hearc” you thnk there should be a balance between ithe were abie to revive his vison? the two? Explain your answer