Alliteration. Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds. The title itself, “Kubla Kahn,” is an example of alliteration. As you read, note the instances of alliteration you find in this poem
Image. An image is a word picture—a word or phrase that names something that can be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled. In “Kubla Kahn,” Coleridge uses several images of opposites.
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In a preface to “Kubla Khan,” Coleridge writes that he awoke from a dream with the poem fully formed in his mind. In ill health and taking medication, he had fallen asleep while reading Purchase his Pilgrimage by Samuel Purchase, which contains the line “In Xanadu did Cublai Can build a stately Palace.” Kubla Khan founded the Chinese Mongol Dynasty in the thirteenth century. Coleridge’s poem is a classic rendering of an instance of poetic reverie and inspiration.
If you could imagine a paradise for yourself and include any real or imaginary mystical elements you would choose, how would you describe such a place?
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