The Kubla Khan

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote this strange and powerful poem in 1797 after waking up from a dream. In the dream he had a vision of a pleasure palace built by the Mongolian Khan in Xanadu. Xanadu was the capital of the Mongols after they conquered North West China.

He describes rivers and fountains, and dark caverns. Then he veers off into another dream of an maid carrying a dulcimer (stringed instrument). She is from Abyssinia in the horn of Africa – quite unconnected geographically.

So this is a strange poem, but it is extremely musical. Don’t worry if you can’t follow the meaning, just listen to the sounds. Look out for the alliteration using the same sounds at the start of words “measureless to man” , “sunless sea” , “ceaseless turmoil seething”, “symphony and song”. ….

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.

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 e’er 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 chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail: 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: 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 ice!

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. 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! And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! 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.

Read by Natasha

See  Natasha Review: The Kublah Kahn, Language & Imagery