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| − | [[Image:Kublai.jpg|right|240px]]
| + | A place where nobody dared to go |
| | + | The love that we came to know |
| | + | They call it Xanadu |
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| − | '''Kublai Khan''' (1215-1294) was a famous [[Mongol]] military leader. Kublai Khan founded the [[Yuan dynasty]]. He was the Emperor when [[Marco Polo]] made his journey to [[China]]. Kublai Khan promoted [[Buddhism]] and ended mandatory education in the teachings of [[Confucius]]. He allowed freedom of religion.
| + | And now |
| | + | Open your eyes and see |
| | + | What we have made is real |
| | + | We are in Xanadu |
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| − | ''Warning: some biographical discussion of drug use follows. Parents should be advised.'' | + | A million lights are dancing |
| | + | And there you are |
| | + | A shooting star |
| | + | An everlasting world |
| | + | And you're here with me |
| | + | Eternally |
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| − | ==Poem==
| + | Xanadu, Xanadu, |
| | + | (now we are here) |
| | + | In Xanadu |
| | + | Xanadu, Xanadu, |
| | + | (now we are here) |
| | + | In Xanadu |
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| − | ''Kubla Khan'' (a variant spelling) is also the title and subject of a famous lyric poem by [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], which opens:
| + | Xanadu, your neon lights will shine |
| | + | For you, Xanadu |
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| − | {{cquote|In Xanadu did Kubla Khan<br/>
| + | The love |
| − | A stately pleasure-dome decree<br/>
| + | The echoes of long ago |
| − | Where Alph, the sacred river, ran<br/>
| + | You needed the world to know |
| − | Through caverns measureless to man<br/>
| + | They are in Xanadu |
| − | Down to a sunless sea.}}
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| − | The poem begins in [[iamb|iambic]] [[poetic meter|tetrameter]], before "escalating" to [[iambic pentameter]]. Coleridge describes the "Dome of Pleasure" in iambic pentameter for some time, before the poem resumes in tetrameter, following this stanza: | + | The dream |
| | + | That came through a million years |
| | + | That lived on through all the tears |
| | + | It came to Xanadu |
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| − | {{cquote|The shadow of the dome of pleasure<br/>
| + | A million lights are dancing |
| − | Floated midway on the waves<br/>
| + | And there you are |
| − | Where was heard the mingled measure<br/>
| + | A shooting star |
| − | Of the fountains and the caves.}}
| + | An everlasting world |
| | + | And you're here with me |
| | + | Eternally |
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| − | Thereafter the poem discusses the author's attempts to re-live the experience of the pleasure dome:
| + | Xanadu, Xanadu, |
| | + | (now we are here) |
| | + | In Xanadu |
| | + | Xanadu, Xanadu, |
| | + | (now we are here) |
| | + | In Xanadu |
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| − | {{cquote|I would build that dome in air.<br/>
| + | Now that I'm here |
| − | That sunny dome! Those caves of ice!<br/>
| + | Now that you're near in Xanadu |
| − | And all who heard would see them there<br/>
| + | Now that I'm here |
| − | And all would cry, Beware! Beware!<br/>
| + | Now that you're near in Xanadu |
| − | His flashing eyes! His floating hair!<br/>
| + | Xanadu... |
| − | Weave a circle round him thrice<br/>
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| − | And close your eyes in holy dread<br/>
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| − | For he on honeydew hath fed<br/>
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| − | And drunk the milk of paradise.}}
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| − | The poem cuts thus off abruptly in a tone of yearning frustration. Poetic analysts suggest that the poem is an analogue to the creative process; the author struggles to get into the writer's ideal writing state, enters it, succeeds for a time, and ultimately fails, only to repeat the process again, hoping to achieve the strange and hypnotic beauty that defines true creativity (the "Pleasure Dome"). At the end, the author yearns to become a mythological, supreme creator... but can do no more than yearn.
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| − | ==Alternate Explanation==
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| − | Coleridge, who often used opium<ref>http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/coleridg.htm</ref>, said that he conceived of the poem and a good deal of its structure in an opium dream. When he awoke, he realized that he had composed some 500+ lines of poetry! He rushed to write it down, but claims that, while he was writing it, he was interrupted by "a person on business from Porlock." When he got back to his work, he was horrified to find that all the beautiful lines he had in his head were now completely forgotten. This "explanation" is Coleridge's attempt of giving a mythical explanation to the tetrameter-pentameter-tetrameter structure of the poem: the pentameter section (being more complicated) was inspired by his opium dream, while the sections in tetrameter were his attempts to frame and recall the dream.
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| − | This explanation ought to be disfavored, as it is likely Coleridge's attempt to ironically, cynically, and controversially link creativity with [[drug abuse]]. Coleridge was renowned for his sardonic wit, and this is but one more example.
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| − | ==External links==
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| − | *[http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Kubla_Khan.html Text of Coleridge's poem]
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| − | [[Category:Military]]
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| − | [[Category:Poetry]]
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