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.
A Simple Interpretation:
The preceding stanza was a description of the dimensions and surroundings of Kubla's great palace, presumably signified by the "pleasure dome;" twice five miles can be assumed to mean something like ten square miles, and within the palace would be dense forests pocked with sunny spots of greenery. The most obscure line from this stanza is probably Down to a sunless sea, which can be translated to mean the Dead Sea. Lifelessness, as a result of high salt content, becomes symbolic darkness.
An Abstract Interpretation:
Right off, Coleridge mentions the exotic-sounding names Xanadu and Alph; this sets one of the major themes of the poem. During Coleridge's time, the eastern lands were great source of mystique to the Europeans--they were an enormous, essentially undiscovered realm representing a contrast to the western "order" and "reason." The west is order, the east is chaos; knowledge, and mystery, safety and danger, etc. Indeed, the character Kubla Khan himself is obviously of Asian descent (he is mongoloid), and the images brought forth have an eastern feel to them: incense-bearing tree, etc. These sentiments were lent the name Orientalism, meaning obviously "of or dealing with the Orient." Hasty dismissals of Orientalism as a phenomenon rooted in nineteenth century racism and social darwinism should be confronted with examples of Orientalism in today's culture. You'll find it in, of course, kung-fu movies; part of the appeal of the genre is the mysticism, the "fighting secrets of the East."
The poem physically describes a walled garden. One can venture further and say that it is a description of the Garden of Eden, which was rumored during this period to be located somewhere in Ethiopia; obviously, the Garden of Eden was walled in, and whatever caverns contained therein would naturally be "measureless to man."
However, the phrase "measureless to man" takes on added significance as the poem progresses, and lends that signifigance to the whole of the piece. . .
Two
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 a 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 momentarily was forced :
Amid whose swift half-imbittered 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 momentarily the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the scared 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 !
A Simple Interpretation:
The second stanza refers to the anger, excitement and turbulence of Kubla's chosen place. Coleridge describes the place as "savage" but also "holy and enchanted", and is seemingly mixing contrasting adjectives. But a great deal of the power of the poem's power comes with the combination of both holiness and tranquil beauty and at the same time wild turbulence and intense emotions. It represents the quality of dreams; the unpredictable, sometimes hellish state that comes in the safety of sleep. That is what Coleridge brands in Xanadu, where all emotions are present in the extreme. While Kubla surveys the land, a volcano explodes from a chasm and bursts out fragments of rock that tumble down the hillside. The river is lifted and churned by the volcano and rushes all the way down to the lifeless ocean. While nature appears almost to fight with itslelf, Kubla hears voices prophesying war.
An Abstract Interpretation:
Forgive me--I'm reading Freud.
If you don't see sexual undertones in Kubla Khan, you are probably not reading it carefully enough, and with a mind too free from the recesses of the gutters. The second stanza suggests, among other things, the mystique man associates with woman, the virgin-whore complex (savage and enchanted); and even the act of sex itself. It's a strange interpretation, but the shoe fits. Many of the euphamisms are so obvious that they are hardly worth even mentioning (e.g. deep romantic chasm which slanted / Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover), but, lest I be marked with the brand of pervert and doomed to an existence in the intellectual brothels, I will defend my claims.
Coleridge describes the "deep romantic chasm" (say without giggling) as a savage and holy place. Again, this the virgin-whore complex, coupled with the European attitude of the east. The holy lands are in the east, but its people were considered savage. The contradictions mirror those in the physical description to signify also the east's association with nature and femaleness. The woman is a mystery, and woman's passivity is represented in nature. This is where the phrase "measureless to man" comes into play again--Europe is man, Asia is woman. Europe does not know about Asia, but is intrigued despite himself.
Coleridge intentionally confuses the reader with his use of the word "pants." He is not saying that the earth is wearing pants. That is just silly. What he is saying, rather, is that the earth is breathing in "fast thick pants." Reading the lines following the breathing earth draw forth an obvious conclusion.
The ancestral voices prophesying war might have something to do with pregnancy. War would symbolize pregnancy, and the ancestral voices' prophecy of it would symbolize an assertion of genetic lineage.
Three and Four
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 Abyssian 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 a 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.
A Simple Interpretation:
The third stanza presents still more conflicting images. The shadow of the palace lies on the water. Though the palace is beneath the sun, its shadow is cool. The caves in the rocks are filled with ice while the shore is alive with warmth.
The fourth stanza speaks of a damsel with a dulcimer, which is a stringed instrument that, like virtually all stringed instruments, is a product of Asian engineering. The damsel plays the instument so beautifully that all passions are brought forth from the scenes before; if Kubla Khan, hearing her wild tunes, would build the "sunny dome" and "caves of ice." He would achieve things unfathomable by mortals, and be feared and revered for all eternity.
An Abstract Interpretation:
This final lines of Kubla Khan are an introspective glance at the nature of the piece's creation. Coleridge associates himself with Kubla Khan, and the damsel's music becomes the dream in which the poem came to him. Remember, he composed these lines from memories of an opium dream, and was cut short by an interruption by an acquaintance. It seems that these last lines might have been put together after the interruption, as something of an excuse. "Sorry guys, I can't remember the rest of it. It would be awesome if I could though, huh?" If Kubla could harness the damsel's music, he would be immortal; if Coleridge could remember his dream, he would have produced an even more amazing poem. He would have duplicated in verse (air) the pleasure-dome, the caves of ice, and the Dead Sea. He expresses envy for Kubla Khan, for Kubla Khan has heard the damsel's music, "fed on the honey-dew" and "drunk the milk of paradise."
The mystique of the east appears again, as Abyssian is an antiquated term for Etheopian. This time, however, Coleridge ties the apprehension and the unknown to the piece itself, asserting its origin from the invisible realm of the dream. Strangeness gave rise to the poem, as the Etheopian damsel played the wild music. Inspiration is derived from nature, the mysterious female.
A Final Note:
Please, read the poem in depth and observe your own reactions to it. There are many, many interpretaions of Kubla Khan--the above was only mine, offered humbly for the judgement of the family. Additionally, at the risk of sparking a GTKY node, I implore others to add their own insights below. It would be a shame if mine sat stagnant.
Sources:
Kubla Khan, Samuel Coleridge
My notes, taken from lectures.
CST Approved