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    The poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which was written after an opium-induced dream, contains many supernatural elements. The very first line "a vision in a dream, a fragment" suggests that it is a vision and not reality so the things mentioned in the poem will not be real. The poet saysRead more

    The poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which was written after an opium-induced dream, contains many supernatural elements. The very first line “a vision in a dream, a fragment” suggests that it is a vision and not reality so the things mentioned in the poem will not be real.

    • The poet says that River Alph flows which is scared. Thus it is related to some divine power.
    • Next, there are “caverns measureless to man” that flow “down to a sunless sea.”
    • There is a “deep romantic chasm with ceaseless (never-ending) turmoil”
    • There is a “holy and enchanted” place where a “woman” wailed “for her demon lover”.
    • There are “ancestral voices prophesying war”
    • Finally, the poet talks about some paradise.

    Read summary of Kubla Khan

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    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Kubla Khan written by ST Coleridge is all about imaginations. To explain the romantic elements in the poem, we must know that the preceding age i.e. the Neoclassical Age was considered to be the age of reason. Imaginations were replaced by reality. The Romantics totally rejected the rationality andRead more

    Kubla Khan written by ST Coleridge is all about imaginations. To explain the romantic elements in the poem, we must know that the preceding age i.e. the Neoclassical Age was considered to be the age of reason. Imaginations were replaced by reality.

    The Romantics totally rejected the rationality and logic in literature and particularly in poetry. They rather focused on imaginations and creativity and for that nature was the only solution. Hence they took up the maxims “Art for the art’s sake” and “Return back to nature“.

    Kubla Khan as a Romantic Poem is all about the nature and its appreciation. The poem consists of four stanzas and after each stanza, the level of imaginations and creativity goes deeper and ultimately, there is the willing suspension of disbelief.

    In the first stanza, the poet appreciates the man-made beauty of City of Xanadu. In the next stanza, he moves to the beauty of divine creativity. In the third stanza, he creates and artefact by combining the Creativity of Kubla Khan and that of Nature- an act of pure imaginations.

    In the final stanza, he talks about “a damsel with dulcimer” who is an African. Her music is quite charming. The poet says that by combining all the creativities (in imaginations) he will drink “the milk of paradise”.

    Thus the poem is full of imaginations and what the poet experiences is because of his willing suspension of disbelief.

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    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    The final stanza of the poem Kubla Khan by ST Coleridge is about the willing suspension of disbelief. The poet sees in the dream, a damsel (a virgin girl) with dulcimer (a musical instrument) who belongs to Abyssinia (She is Black) and is playing for Mount Abora.  According to the poet, the symphonyRead more

    The final stanza of the poem Kubla Khan by ST Coleridge is about the willing suspension of disbelief. The poet sees in the dream, a damsel (a virgin girl) with dulcimer (a musical instrument) who belongs to Abyssinia (She is Black) and is playing for Mount Abora. 

    According to the poet, the symphony and song of her musical instrument are so charming that he desires to revive it in himself. And using it he would be able to build Kubla Khan’s dome in the air (i.e.in imaginations) that will have those caves of ice.

    Those who would see him building imaginations will cry that he has drunk the milk of paradise i.e. he has achieved the supreme happiness that an ordinary person cannot achieve. The lines are quite symbolic as they depict the power of imaginations and how a poet can achieve anything in them.

    Read the summary of the poem Kubla Khan here.

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