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.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a leader of the British Romantic movement, was born on October 21, 1772, in Devonshire, England.)
Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is my all time favorite poem. Published in 1816 it remains Coleridge’s one of the most admired poems. The poem is masterpiece as far as the language and imagery goes. Coleridge wrote it after having an opiate induced dream about the great Mongol ruler Kubla Khan and his famous palace in Xanadu. To me this poem remains a literary magic, for I’ve never enjoyed a poem as this. Whenever I read it I am transported back in the history to the magnificent and mythical palace of Kubla Khan. I hope you all enjoy this as much I)
I love this poem
It is a great poem, I know 🙂
I love this poem because it has an air of mystery surrounding it from starting to end.
I love this poem too, its so magical and exotic 🙂
Oh my god what a spectacle you created. I haven’t read the original poem but I am sure going to read now
This original and this is amazing 🙂
Is this your creation or is it the original one?
Shantanu this is original, I just wanted to share as this is my favorite poem.
Got it. This is so so good. Thanks for sharing
You are most welcome 🙂
😊🌸
Love this guy…a brilliant fuck-up! He and WW, what a comical pair. There should be feature length comedies about their adventures 💖💖
Both high on OPIUM!
😊 better than Bill and Ted…Bill and Sam’s excellent adventures on the Continent (with their trusted sidekick Dorothy)
Dorothy Wordsworth 😲heard her name after long time..
She wrote all of her brother’s poetry…🤪🤪
I did my brother’s homework
That was nice of you 👍👍
I am not a fan of Wordsworth, I liked Coleridge better…
STC is more interesting to read about, for sure…I’m more familiar with WW, though I liked STC more when I was young…then I read about how much he had plagarized and that put me off him for a while