Kubla Khan Questions and Answers
Kubla Khan
What is the role of the imagination in “Kubla Khan”?
As other educators have pointed out, Coleridge’s poem is an example of Romatic poetry. As such, its primary function is to evoke an emotional response from its reader, which Coleridge accomplishes...
Kubla Khan
Comment on "Kubla Khan" as a dream poem.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge subtitled "Kubla Khan" as "A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment." In his prefatory note, he describes the circumstances under which he composed it. He had been reading about...
Kubla Khan
Explain the appropriateness of the sound devices used in lines 17 and 25 of "Kubla Khan" in relation to the subject...
In those lines and elsewhere in the poem, we're meant to imagine a strange and lush landscape, an otherworldly one in which the very ground seems to pant exuberantly. For that reason, it's...
Kubla Khan
How is "Kubla Khan" a Romantic poem and what are the romantic elements found in that poem?
A simple answer to how it is a romantic poem is to state the poem is written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He, along with William Wordsworth, is one of the most famous Romantic authors. He and...
Kubla Khan
How can "Kubla Khan" be considered a dream poem?
It is generally believed that Coleridge wrote the poem under the influence of opium. He didn't take this highly addictive drug to inspire some poetic dream vision, but for the more mundane reason...
Kubla Khan
Why is "Kubla Khan" called a fragment?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, like many other artists and writers of his generation, used, and may have been addicted to, laudanum, a solution of opium. Quite possibly under its influence, Coleridge had...
Kubla Khan
Who drank the milk of paradise in "Kubla Khan"? Why should the reader beware?
We assume the narrator is referring to himself. The narrator has had the "milk of paradise." The narrator then points out the all of his observers will "close their eyes 'with holy...
Kubla Khan
In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan," what are some examples of alliteration, consonance, assonance, and...
Alliteration involves the repetition of initial sounds of words. Examples include the name "Kubla Khan," as well as "sunless sea," and "sunny spots." Later examples include "cedarn cover," "miles...
Kubla Khan
what are the allegorical elements in Kubla khan?
Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" is an allegory of the creative process that bubbles up beneath the surface inside those people who have been touched by the deeper creative and imaginative muse of poetic...
Kubla Khan
What does it mean to have fed on “honeydew” and “drunk the milk of paradise" in "Kubla Khan"?
In "Kubla Khan," Coleridge describes two types of imagination. First, there is the ordinary imagination of the average person, who, in the first stanza, conjures up pleasant images of incense,...
Kubla Khan
How does Coleridge use supernatural elements in “Kubla Khan”?
In his poem “Kubla Khan,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge includes supernatural elements to create a mysterious, spooky atmosphere. He begins with an inscription that labels the poem “a vision in a dream.”...
Kubla Khan
What examples of poetic creation, actual and symbolic, are present in "Kubla Khan" and in Coleridge's description of...
Many argue that this is actually a poem about artistic creation, and that the creation of the "pleasure dome" is a thinly-veiled allegory of the creation of art and poetry itself. Note how the poem...
Kubla Khan
What is the significance of the title of the poem ''Kubla Khan''?
The title of the poem, the alliterative name of a Chinese ruler, immediately establishes a connection with the Orient. As Edward Said argued in his book Orientalism, in the eyes of the western...
Kubla Khan
In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan," how regular and appropriate are the rhyme scheme and the meter?
The rhyme scheme of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “Kubla Khan” is highly irregular and unpredictable and follows no obvious pattern. Consider, for example, the first thirty-six lines of the poem,...
Kubla Khan
What are the pictorial qualities in "Kubla Khan," written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
Pictorial qualities, in regard to literature, is otherwise known as imagery. Imagery is the use of the author's language meant to allow a reader to create a mental image of what is being described....
Kubla Khan
What is the meaning of the lines "Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, / Or chaffy grain beneath the...
The poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge was inspired by a dream that the author had after taking opium. When he was writing it down after he awoke, he was interrupted. As a result, he...
Kubla Khan
Explain the context of the following lines from “Kubla Khan”: By woman wailing for her demon-lover! And from...
In his poem “Kubla Khan,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge creates a vivid, haunting verbal portrait of Xanadu, the pleasure palace of the Mongolian leader Kubla Khan. In the poem's second stanza, the...
Kubla Khan
Analyze the theme of poetic creativity in Coleridge's "Kubla Khan."
The "mighty fountain" the narrator of "Kubla Khan" imagines most fully describes the creative process in this poem: And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, As if this earth in fast...
Kubla Khan
What is the main idea of "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
The poem explores a dream-vision of the "Orient." The "Orient," as Edward Said explained in his book Orientalism, is a Western construct in which the West, among other things, projects its own...
Kubla Khan
Imagination in Coleridge's theory is divided into 3 types: Primary, Secondary and Fancy. Discuss them in his poem...
In the Biographia Litteraria, Coleridge split the mind into two parts, which he called the Imagination and the Fancy. He then subdivided the imagination. As he writes: The IMAGINATION then, I...
Kubla Khan
What is the subject matter of the poem "Kubla Khan?"
"Kubla Khan," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is a poem about the summer city of Xanadu (Shangdu). Coleridge was inspired to write the poem after an experience with opium, as well as his reading of...
Kubla Khan
Please explain these oxymoronic expressions used in "Kubla Khan": "sunless sea" and "lifeless ocean."
The numerous oxymorons that Samuel Taylor Coleridge employs in "Kubla Khan" emphasize the distinction between the terrestrial or mundane realms and the sacred realms (both heavenly and infernal)....
Kubla Khan
Can "Kubla Khan" be described as an incoherent poem? Why?
Coleridge’s poem is incomplete, not incoherent. That is, the form of the poem we have is not the complete text Coleridge famously dreamed under the influence of opium in 1797. According to...
Kubla Khan
Discuss the treatment of nature in "Kubla Khan."
You unfortunately asked multiple questions which is against enotes regulations, so I have been forced to edit your question down to focus on the treatment of nature in this unforgettable poem....
Kubla Khan
Many ancient cultures revered poets as seers who had a special relationship with the gods. How does the last stanza...
Note how in the last stanza we are presented with a figure that appears to be all-powerful and given strange abilities. The people feel the need to protect themselves from the poet using a ritual,...
Kubla Khan
What is the main theme in "Kubla Khan"?
There has been lots of critical discussion about the precise "meaning" of this amazing poem. Some have suggests that this poem is all about the act of creation and imagination, as expressed in the...
Kubla Khan
Discuss the role of inspiration in “Kubla Khan.”
If there's a poem that can be said to be inspired, it's Coleridge's "Kubla Khan." He claimed that it was composed one night after an opium-induced dream. He also claimed, somewhat less fancifully,...
Kubla Khan
Please give some examples of simile and metaphor in "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
"Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a poem in which the speaker has a vision primarily of a mystical place called Xanadu, the "pleasure dome" of the ruthless warrior, Kubla Khan. Because the...
Kubla Khan
What are three characteristics of Romantic poetry reflected in "Kubla Khan"?
Coleridge's "Kubla Khan: A Vision," composed in 1797 and first published in 1816, is in the form of a dream vision that Coleridge himself once described as a "psychological curiosity." Some critics...
Kubla Khan
In "Kubla Khan," what images and words appeal to the senses?
"Kubla Khan" is a sensory-rich poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In first stanza, the poem appeals to both sight and feeling by describing a "sunless sea." The reader knows it is not only...
Kubla Khan
In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla Khan," what does the underworld symbolize? Where does one go when one ventures...
There is no direct reference to the underworld in "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. However, the poem does reference "caverns measureless to man" (4), and this image is central to the poem....
Kubla Khan
In your opinion, does "Kubla Khan" celebrate the imagination or caution against its indulgence?
In my opinion, "Kubla Khan" celebrates the imagination, especially the imagination of the poetic genius. The poem takes us on a journey from the ordinary imagination to the powerful, prophetic...
Kubla Khan
What does the underworld symbolize in "Kubla Khan"? Where does one go when one ventures into the dark world beneath?...
The full title of the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is "Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment," named for the nature of its creation. As the story goes, Coleridge was taking an...
Kubla Khan
Explain lines 25-34 of "Kubla Khan".
Lines 25-30 describe the power of the waters of the river that flows through Xanadu. While the opening lines of the poem celebrate Xanadu as a human creation, this passage celebrate the creations...
Kubla Khan
Is "Kubla Khan" a fragmented poem?
I find your question highly insightful, because on the one hand this poem seems to represent a highly vivid yet incomprehensible dream which really defies explanation. Thus one view to take when...
Kubla Khan
In "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, what is being suggested about the relationship of dreams and creation in...
In "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the relationship of dreams and creation in Kubla Khan’s construction of his pleasure dome is founded in Coleridge's theory of the imagination. His...
Kubla Khan
Give an explanation of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan."
This poem was actually the result of an opium-inspired vision of Coleridge that he experienced, then tried to write down, but was interrupted half way through, and forgot the rest. The poem is all...
Kubla Khan
Coleridge explores a fascination with exotic places and things. Write an essay analyzing his view and portrayal of...
Though I can't write the essay for you, I can give you ideas about what you should focus on. First of all, you should note that, while Coleridge is writing a poem about an exotic location, he's...
Kubla Khan
How does Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan" use individualism?
Coleridge's poem expresses a very dreamy, imaginative vision that is characteristic of the Romantic emphasis on individualism and the importance of one person's unique perceptions. Coleridge...
Kubla Khan
There is a rift between inspiration and expression in the poem "Kubla Khan." Discuss.
This is an excellent question to think about in relation to this poem. Of course, as I am sure you are no doubt aware, the vision that this poem was trying to recapture or recreate was a dream that...
Kubla Khan
What are the ways in which Coleridge depicts the relation between the physical world, the mind and the divine in...
Many critics view this poem as an allegory about the process of creating art: just as Kubla Khan creates his pleasure dome and his earthy paradise by imposing his will on nature, reflecting...
Kubla Khan
How can I find the Romantic elements in S. T. Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan"?
One key characteristic of Romantic poetry is the celebration of the imagination. Romantic poetry also often describes the power of the natural world and celebrates the sensual as more vital than...
Kubla Khan
What images shatter the depiction of Xanadu as peaceful and serene?
The first stanza offers us serene images of Xanadu with its "pleasure dome," "gardens bright" and "many an incense-bearing tree," but in stanza two the tone changes as we meet the violence of the...
Kubla Khan
What is the significance of the narrator saying that he would "build that dome in air"?
Marianne Moore famously stated that poetry was composed of 'imaginary gardens with real toads in them`. Like Moore`s imaginary garden or Tennyson`s Palace of Art, the pleasure dome of Kubla Khan...
Kubla Khan
How is Sigmund Freud's "Interpretation of Dream" is related to "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams can be used as a lens to help interpret Samuel Taylor Coleridge's dream poem “Kubla Khan." Freud argues that every single dream people have is “the...
Kubla Khan
Discuss how Coleridge's "Preface" to "Kubla Khan" has influenced interepretation of the poem.
The "Preface" to Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan`has constructed the work as a pure example of Romantic poetry, as a `spontaneous overflowing of emotion.` Although scholarly discovery of manuscripts...
Kubla Khan
How can Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” be read as an allegory for imagination?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's uses of diction and imagery transforms his poem "Kubla Khan" into an allegory for imagination. The first stanza introduces the setting of the poem and concept of the...
Kubla Khan
What is the summary of "Kubla Khan?" explanation
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Kubla Khan
How does Kubla Khan move from being a simple recreation of a vision into an affirmation of the power of imaginative...
"Kubla Khan" falls into three parts. The first thirty lines display a unity that dashes forward as if pouring out of the poet's pen unbidden—just as Coleridge describes his dream as having...
Kubla Khan
Why is Coleridge having little success with his muse in "Kubla Khan"? The idea of muse or a woman who sings...
This poem was not inspired by a muse in the classical sense of the term. In a note explaining the poem, Coleridge wrote that the idea for "Kubla Khan" came to him in a drug-induced...
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