A summary of Part X (Section5) in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Coleridgeâs Poetry. Through caverns measureless to man. A stately pleasure dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Coleridgeâs Poetry and what it means. The speaker seems fascinated by the symbol of Kubla Khan's "pleasure-dome" and repeats the imagery at different points throughout the poem. The âCrewe manuscriptâ of âKubla Khanâ, in Coleridgeâs handwriting, was made before the publication date of the poem (1816), and shows several differences from the published version. Coleridge's Poems Summary and Analysis of "Kubla Khan" (1798) Buy Study Guide. Next, we have somewhat subtle Biblical references in Kubla Khan. We are content to give in to the charm . Kubla Khan. The unnamed speaker of the poem tells of how a man named Kubla Khan traveled to the land of Xanadu. The vision embodied in Kubla Khan was inspired by the perusal of the travel book, Purchas His Pilgrimage. Coleridge creates a calm and reasonable environment in the first stanza of the poem with âstately pleasure-dome decree[s]â and a âsacred riverâ flowing through âforests ancient as the hillsâ (670). âKubla Khanâ is like a fantasy novel in terms of the grandness and opulence of its imagery and the sense of war and the clash of empires that lurks at the margins of the poem (Kublai Khan, Genghis Khanâs grandson, was a great Mongol leader and Emperor of China in the thirteenth century). Samuel Taylor Coleridge - 1772-1834. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan. Generally, as we read Kubla Khan, we do not ask reportorial questions about who, what, why, when, and where. View images from this item (2) Usage terms Public Domain. Or a Vision in a Dream. One is hail, which evokes images of hail upon Egypt when Moses sought to lead the people of Israel out of captivity (Exodus 9:23). A Fragment. In Xanadu, Kubla found a fascinating pleasure-dome that was âa miracle of rare deviceâ because the dome was made of caves of ice and located in a sunny area. Written by Daljit Nagra. Summary. Down to a sunless sea. The dome can be seen as symbolizing the act of creating a poem itself. Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Daljit ⦠Like the spell woven at the end of the poem, the text keeps circling around and around and around, recreating a vision that ⦠See what Kubla Khan (kubla_k) has discovered on Pinterest, the world's biggest collection of ideas. The changing diction in the stanzas of Kubla Khan really brings out the dreamy mood of the poem. If the river is the flow of consciousnessâa classic poetic tropeâthe riverâs underground flow becomes a metaphor for the unconscious, the source of the creative imagination. See in text (Kubla Khan) The image of the âcaverns measureless to manâ connects the Alphean myth to one of the poemâs central themes. A dream changes mood on a dime and the word choice of this poem reflects that variability. Samuel Taylor Coleridge said that he wrote âKubla Khanâ in the fall of 1797, but it was not published until he read it to George Gordon, Lord Byron in 1816, when Byron insisted that it go into print immediately.It is a powerful, legendary and mysterious poem, composed during an opium dream, admittedly a fragment. The whole poem is pervaded by an atmosphere of dream and remains in the form of a vision. Coleridge composed his poem, 'Kubla Khan', in a state of semi-conscious trance either in the autumn of 1797 or the spring of 1798 and published in 1816.