Kubla Khan
B Y SAM UE L TA YLOR C OLER ID GE
Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
Introduces us to Kubla Khan and the setting of the poem
these lines tell us
A stately pleasure-dome decree: Coleridge is
talking
Kubla Khan had a beautiful palace built about a real
person
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran and
place.
The speaker introduces us to the geography of Xanadu
He starts with the river Alph- which students believe is these
asso- ciations
A reference to the river Alpheus (in Greece) that was made
make alph
Famous In classical literature. Stand out
The word Alph makes us think
Of alpha which is the beginning of the Greek alphabet,
And a symbol of Beginnings.
Coleridge has already begun to step away from history
And he begins to turn the story into his own creation
Through caverns measureless to man
Gives us a feel of the landscape- the landscape
Is both huge and unknowable.
Down to a sunless sea.
Scary imagery that casts a shadow over the frst few
Lines, reinforces the idea that this landscape is imaginary
As where else would you only see a sunless sea?
Shortness of this line makes it stand out, makes the
Image slightly lonelier, it also makes the line a dead end
A stopping place just as the sea is to the river.
B Y SAM UE L TA YLOR C OLER ID GE
Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
Introduces us to Kubla Khan and the setting of the poem
these lines tell us
A stately pleasure-dome decree: Coleridge is
talking
Kubla Khan had a beautiful palace built about a real
person
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran and
place.
The speaker introduces us to the geography of Xanadu
He starts with the river Alph- which students believe is these
asso- ciations
A reference to the river Alpheus (in Greece) that was made
make alph
Famous In classical literature. Stand out
The word Alph makes us think
Of alpha which is the beginning of the Greek alphabet,
And a symbol of Beginnings.
Coleridge has already begun to step away from history
And he begins to turn the story into his own creation
Through caverns measureless to man
Gives us a feel of the landscape- the landscape
Is both huge and unknowable.
Down to a sunless sea.
Scary imagery that casts a shadow over the frst few
Lines, reinforces the idea that this landscape is imaginary
As where else would you only see a sunless sea?
Shortness of this line makes it stand out, makes the
Image slightly lonelier, it also makes the line a dead end
A stopping place just as the sea is to the river.
