"Kubla Khan, or a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment. " is a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which takes its title from the Mongol and Chinese emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty. Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 21 October 1772 &ndash 25 July 1834) was an English Poet, Critic and philosopher The Mongol Empire ( Mongolyn Ezent Güren or mn Их Mонгол улс Ikh Mongol Uls; 1206–1368 was the largest contiguous Empire China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Chinese sovereign is the ruler of a particular period in ancient China. Early years Kublai Khan studied Chinese culture and became enamoured of it The Yuan Dynasty ( Pinyin: Yuáncháo Dai Ön Ulus (Дай Юан Улс was a ruling Dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Coleridge claimed he wrote the poem in the autumn of 1797 at a farmhouse near Exmoor, England, but it may have been composed on one of a number of other visits to the farm. Exmoor is a National Park situated on the Bristol Channel coast of south west England It also may have been revised a number of times before it was first published in 1816.
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Structure and theme
The poem's opening lines are often quoted, and it introduces the name Xanadu (or Shangdu, the summer palace of Kublai Khan):
- 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. Xanadu, also Zanadu, Shangdu, or Shang-tu ( was the Summer capital of Kublai Khan 's
Coleridge claimed that the poem was inspired by an opium-induced dream (implicit in the poem's subtitle A Vision in a Dream) but that the composition was interrupted by a person from Porlock. Opium is a Narcotic formed from the Latex (ie sap released by lacerating (or "scoring" the immature seed pods of opium poppies ( The Person from Porlock was an unwelcome visitor to Samuel Taylor Coleridge who called by during his composition of the oriental poem Kubla Khan. Some have speculated that the vivid imagery of the poem stems from a waking hallucination albeit, most likely, opium-induced. A hallucination, in the broadest sense is a Perception in the absence of a stimulus. Additionally a quotation from William Bartram[1] is believed to have been a source of the poem. William Bartram ( April 20, 1739 — July 22, 1823) was an American naturalist, the son of John Bartram. There is widespread speculation on the poem's meaning, some suggesting the author is merely portraying his vision while others insist on a theme or purpose. Others believe it is a poem stressing the beauty of creation, and some read sexual allusions throughout. Creation according to Genesis refers to the Hebrew narrative of the creation of the heavens and the earth as told in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis
However, it is important to remember that inspiration for this poem also comes from Marco Polo's description of Shangdu and Kublai Khan from his book Il Milione, which was included in Samuel Purchas' Pilgrimage, Vol. Marco Polo ( September 15 1254 – January 9 1324 at earliest but no later than June 1325 was a Venetian trader and explorer Xanadu, also Zanadu, Shangdu, or Shang-tu ( was the Summer capital of Kublai Khan 's The Travels of Marco Polo is the usual English title of Marco Polo 's travel book nicknamed Il Milione ( The Million Samuel Purchas (1575? - 1626 was an English travel writer a near-contemporary of Richard Hakluyt. XI, 231.
When he declared himself emperor the historical Kublai claimed he had the Mandate of Heaven, a traditional Chinese concept of rule by divine permission, and therefore gained absolute control over an entire nation. The Mandate of Heaven (天命 Pīnyīn: Tiānmìng is a traditional Chinese philosophical concept concerning the legitimacy of rulers Between warring and distributing the wealth his grandfather Genghis Khan had won, Kublai spent his summers in Xandu (better known now as Shangdu, or Xanadu) and had his subjects build him a home suitable for a son of God. Genghis Khan ( or;, Chinggis Khaan, ʧiŋgɪs χaːŋ Činggis Qaɣan; 1162–1227 born (meaning "ironworker" was the Mongol founder
This story is described in the first two lines of the poem, “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/A stately pleasure-dome decree” (1-2). The end of the third paragraph gives us another close-up view of Kubla. At his home Kublai had, on hand, some ten thousand horses, which he used as a means of displaying his power. Only he and those to whom he gave explicit permission (for committing miscellaneous acts of valour) were allowed to drink their milk. Hence the closing image of “the milk of Paradise. ” (54)
- For he on honey-dew hath fed,
- And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Musical adaptations
In 1954 the Australian composer Robert Hughes wrote a three-movement ballet suite Xanadu, inspired by the poem. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Ballet is a formalized form of Dance with its origins in the French court further developed in France and Russia as a Concert dance
See also
- Alph River and Xanadu Hills, geographic features in Antarctica named from the poem
References
External links
- Full text of the poem
- Explicated for an undergraduate class
- "Kubla Khan" and the Embodied Mind, a detailed analysis of the poem
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