As with "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold, Coleridge's Kubla Khan anticipates an euphoric grandness that cannot be attained. Coleridge was apparently inspired by a line from
Purchas his Pilgrimage during an opium-induced vision. Kublai Khan was the founder of the Mongol Dynasty in China in the 13th century (Norton Anthology of English Lit., 1596).
Coleridge wrote his poem in
iambic tetrameter. His rhyme scheme seems loosely based upon
couplets, but with a high degree of alteration. These are organized into four distinct stanzas, which I neglected to indicate in my post. I'll clarify now:
Stanza 1 begins on line 1: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan . . ."
Stanza 2 begins on line 12: "But oh! that deep romantic chasm . . ."
Stanza 3 begins on line 31: "The shadow of the dome . . ."
Stanza 4 begins on line 37: "A damsel with a dulcimer . . ."
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Stanza 1 exemplifies the technique of alliteration: "Kubla Khan"; "dome decree"; "river ran"; measureless to man"; "sunless sea"; and "sunny spots." These tiny details of the poem's
euphony acclimate the reader to this new world of Xanadu. The coherence of sounds imitates the coherence of nature, and assures us that although Xanadu is foreign, the building of the "pleasure-dome" is somehow important for us. The content of the stanza mirrors its technique, as Kubla Khan makes his decree, and we imagine various artisans constructing an enormous structure, something like a national monument or a royal palace. Throughout this first stanza, we sense that, like the pleasure-dome, the poem itself is building, picking up steam with every line. As readers, we respond to that momentum, anticipating the lines as each propels us toward the next.
The second stanza presents a complication to the building of Kubla's pleasure-dome, which jars us from the momentum of the first. Coleridge alerts us to this hiatus with a sequence of exclamations. "But oh!" is perhaps the most jarring. We learn that a chasm, a dreadful holy place, has flung up rocks and changed the path of Alph, the sacred river. All this geological hullabaloo is understood as a sign of impending war. Also notice the erotic undertones in this stanza, which reminds us that the earth's seismic activity is an act of procreation. Thus far, Coleridge masterfully provides us with the beginning of a great poem, but as you know from reading his note, he was interrupted and could not finish the 300 or so lines he wrote in his vision.
While the first and second stanzas indicate that Coleridge is building toward something great, I read the third stanza as a moment when Coleridge's recollection of the vision had faded, but during which he refused to give it up. Though the stanza remains pleasing to the ear, it lacks the coherence of the first two stanzas, it is significantly shorter, and it ends abruptly. Yet the lines are important, for in them we discover the process of Coleridge's struggling to remember, and we are reminded of the transience of our own finite memories and thoughts.
The last stanza is perhaps the most memorable of the entire poem, which is perhaps ironic because it is a lament. In it we sense the longing and regret that Coleridge must have felt when he tried to recollect his original vision. We are also made aware of the need to not only invoke the muse, but to surround her with protection from foreign invasions. The last lines, then, refer to the poet, whose work paradoxically requires physical isolation to make spiritual kinship possible. "Kubla Khan" thus serves as an excellent poem for introducing the concept of poetic inspiration.