The Secrets of Kubla Khan

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The Secrets of Kubla Khan

• Revealed. . .

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Circumstances of Composition

• In the summer of the year 1797, the Author, then
  in ill health, had retired to a lonely farm-house
  between Porlock and Linton, on the Exmoor
  confines of Somerset and Devonshire. In
  consequence of a slight indisposition, an anodyne
  had been prescribed, from the effects of which he
  fell asleep in his chair at the moment that he
  was reading the following sentence, or words of
  the same substance, in Purchas's Pilgrimage
  Here the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be
  built, and a stately garden thereunto. And thus
  ten miles of fertile ground were inclosed with a
  wall.'' The Author continued for about three
  hours in a profound sleep, at least of the
  external senses, during which time he has the
  most vivid confidence, that he could not have
  composed less than from two to three hundred
  lines if that indeed can be called composition
  in which all the images rose up before him as
  things, with a parallel production of the
  correspondent expressions, without any sensation
  or consciousness of effort. On awakening he
  appeared to himself to have a distinct
  recollection of the whole, and taking his pen,
  ink, and paper, instantly and eagerly wrote down
  the lines that are here preserved. At this moment
  he was unfortunately called out by a person on
  business from Porlock, and detained by him above
  an hour, and on his return to his room, found, to
  his no small surprise and mortification, that
  though he still retained some vague and dim
  recollection of the general purport of the
  vision, yet, with the exception of some eight or
  ten scattered lines and images, all the rest had
  passed away like the images on the surface of a
  stream into which a stone has been cast, but,
  alas! without the after restoration of the
  latter!

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• Here the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be
  built, and a stately garden thereunto. And thus
  ten miles of fertile ground were inclosed with a
  wall.''

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Dreams langauge is a symbolic language. Things
are not necessarily what they seem, but stand for
other things. Here are the key symbols from
Kubla Khan. Try to fashion them into a
coherent interpretation.
SYMBOL INTERPRETATION
The Garden
Alph
Wailing Woman
Demon Lover
Mighty Fountain
Violent Expulsion
Lifeless Ocean
Ancestral Voices
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A minister's son, Coleridge for a time
considered joining the clergy himself. He was
also very involved in the tumultuous political
events of his time. The initial suggestion of
the Garden of Eden morphs into a dystopian future.
SYMBOL INTERPRETATION
The Garden Paradise, Eden
Alph Adam, the Human Race, history
Wailing Woman Eve
Demon Lover The Serpent
Mighty Fountain Knowledge
Violent Expulsion The expulsion from the Garden
Lifeless Ocean The Future of Humanity
Ancestral Voices Coleridges Fears Doubts
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The Romantic writers were great supporters of
the revolution in France. Coleridge watches that
brilliant beginning turn into the Terror, and
the rise of Napoleon.
SYMBOL INTERPRETATION
The Garden The Enlightenment
Romantic Chasm France, the revolution
Wailing Woman Marianne
Demon Lover The masses
Violent Expulsion The guillotine, the Terror
Alph Blood
Lifeless Ocean The French Republic
Ancestral Voices WiIl it spread to Britain?
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Coleridge finally decided on a career in
writing, but he was not always sure of his own
abilities. He had a tempestuous relationship
(personally and professionally) with William
Wordsworth.
SYMBOL INTERPRETATION
The Garden Dove Cottage, the early relationship
Romantic Chasm Rift between STC WW
Wailing Woman Sarah Coleridge/Hutchinson
Demon Lover Opium
Violent Expulsion The imagined break
Alph Inspiration, the artistic muse
Lifeless Ocean Future works
Ancestral Voices Critics
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Sigmund Freud pioneered the modern idea of dream
analysis. If you know anything about Freud, you
know that he felt that, deep down, it was all
about sex. (See Oedipus complex, Freudian
imagery.)
SYMBOL INTERPRETATION
The Garden The female, the womb
Romantic Chasm Freudian symbol for the female
Wailing Woman Sara Coleridge
Mighty Fountain Freudian symbol for the male
Violent Expulsion Consummation
Alph The beginnings of life (male)
Lifeless Ocean A barren womb
Ancestral Voices Ancestral voices