Kubla Khan, a Poem Full of Imagination

The poet might also be talking about the human subconscious, or the human imagination. temperament and the subconscious or the imagination are wild, compared to the "stately" yard of the pleasure-dome which was created by Kubla Khan "with w each(prenominal)s and towers . . . girded round" (7).

Coleridge is saying that the palace is extensive of synthetical things which protect people from the frightening parts of nature or the subconscious which are out situation the dome. But to Coleridge nature is exciting and wild and inspires his imagination in a demeanor that the man-made pleasure-dome can non.

Nature is full of "ceaseless turmoil seethe" and there is a volcano-like force there also (17-22). The poet sees the " massive fragments vaulted like rebounding hail" as "dancing rocks" (21; 23). in that respect are frightening things in nature, but the poet finds mainly triumph and pleasure, rather than fear. in that location is a "sacred river" which is "flung up" (24). This river is deeper than the river of the pleasure-dome which "ran/ . . . pot to a sunless sea" (3; 5). But this deeper river seems to be a force for war: "And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far/ patrimonial voices prophesying war!" (29-30). Then, however, there appears the symbol of "A damsel with a dulcimer" (37). The poet says that

if he were able to bring back the damsel's song, "I would ground that dome in air,/ That sunny dome! those caves of ice!" (46-47).

o, there is a light side and a dark side to nature and to the human mind. By the time the poem moves down to its final lines, the poet shows that he is exalt by the parts which hold some danger or thrill, rather than the safety of the stately pleasure-dome.

The poet seems to be mixing in different states of consciousness (or unconsciousness) just as nature mixes in different forces, both light and dark, joyful and frightening. There is a surface reality to the world and to the consciousness. Then there is a deeper nature and subconsciousness which inspire the poet far more than the surface. The poet sees that the dangers of nature in its darker side can give greater riches than the man-made pleasure-dome. He knows that the "damsel with a dulcimer" will not be found in the man-made world, but only in nature, only in the world of the imagination and the subconscious. He longs not for the man-made dome but for a "dome in air" which could be created "with music loud and long" (45-46). There are dangers in nature, however, and dangers in the subconscious where inspiration lives: "And all should cry, Beware! Beware!/ His flashing eyes, his floating hair!/ twist a circle round him thrice,/ And close your eyes with saintly dread,/ For he on honey-dew has fed,/
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