It’s not very often that you see people writing a masterpiece when they are on drugs. Then there was Samuel Taylor Coleridge who wrote his most appreciated poem, “Kubla Khan” under the influence of opium, a drug. Moreover, he dreamt or more like hallucinated the poem when he was on drugs and wrote about it as soon as he woke up. This poem contributing to romantics literature has elements of beauty, pleasure, and nature. The name “Kubla Khan” refers to a Chinese Emperor where he described his palace and life in this poem. This poem caught the attention of many critics and was interpreted in many ways.
The poem starts with a Mongolian leader named Kubla Khan who orders his servant to construct a pleasure dome for him along the river of Alph. Then the poet uses imagery to construct a view with his words, describing the magnificent caves leading to an underground ocean. Kubla Khan wants a wonderful place where he can enjoy himself among the forests of huge trees and clear water flowing through stems. But mostly every beautiful thing is associated with something dangerous, something violent. For instance, the poet mentioned the beautiful steam which met at a certain point forming a savage river. A river which is haunted, where a woman cries for her demon lover. It’s all dark in here and the roaring geysers add up to its harshness. And caves where the river water enters, Kubla Khan can hear voices. Voices of his ancestors warning him about the upcoming war. The poem took a turn from a bright sunny view to a dark echoing terror.
Then the poet suddenly shifts from Kubla Khan to a song sung by an ‘Abyssinian maid’. He praises her song and wishes to create a palace of his own with her melodious song. He said he would build a place like Kubla Khan, here in the sky. And the people will listen to that song and look up to the sky and see the beautiful place I constructed. And they would declare considering my situation “Be careful! Look at his wild eyes and crazy hair!”
This poem of Samuel Coleridge is purely based on his imagination, art, and the beauty of nature. Not only he refers to the beauty of nature but also the violence and brutality it brings with itself. He used similes, metaphors, and personification to convey the whole theme of beauty and danger within nature that also what he interpreted from his opium-influenced dream.