Poetry

2 Pages 478 Words

The poem I chose to explore based on its imagery is “Kubla Khan” written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. “Kubla Khan” is a mixture of delightful images that Coleridge writes about symbolically. This story portrayed through the imagery encompasses spirituality Coleridge longs to be connected with. Although the motivation to dream up such images can be debated, in the following paragraphs, I will argue that the imagery used has specific spiritual meaning for the paradise Coleridge has created.
In the first stanza, a beautiful landscape is laid down before us. A parallel could be drawn between the imagery of the contradictory landscape and what heaven looks like. Xanadu is the name of this fantastic realm where the Khan (a representation of God) decrees his stately pleasure-dome, where the sacred Alph river (holy water) flows down to the depthless caverns (infinite eternity), and where a fountain breaks through the rocky surface (representing the power of God. This astonishing imagery of the landscape represents a heaven to Coleridge a place which the author wishes to experience.
The first figure or agent in the land of Xanadu, is Khan, a character immediately identified as being important and powerful: ‘In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/ A stately pleasure dome decree’ (ll. 1-2) The Khan appears to be the ultimate warrior for his words shape his utopian reality. It is Khan, who produces such an enchanting paradise in which he protects and roams just as God would.

So twice of 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. (ll. 6-11)
The pleasure dome clearly can be seen has having spiritual and religious importance. The idea being expressed here are in fact the beauty God controls as well as the protection he offers. ...