Page 53 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“Kubla Khan”
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, pages 30-32

Vocabulary
sinuous – twisting
cedarn – cedar
chaffy – teasingly
dulcimer – an hourglass shaped instrument

1. With what meter and rhyme schemes does Coleridge achieve musical and rhythmic sound?

The poem is written in iambic tetrameter. The first stanza has a rhyme scheme of
A/B/A/A/B/C/C/D/E/D/E. The second stanza has a rhyme scheme of
A/B/A/A/B/C/C/D/D/F/F/G/G/H/I/I/H/J/J, expanding upon the scheme from the previous
stanza. The third stanza has a scheme of A/B/A/B/C/C, while the fourth has a scheme of
A/B/C/C/B/D/E/D/E/F/G/F/F/F/G/H/H/G.

2. How does the fourth stanza differ in content from the poem’s first three stanzas?

In the first three stanzas, the speaker is explaining a vision of Xanadu to readers. In the
poem’s concluding stanza, he is stating the poem’s theme as a whole.

3. “Five miles meandering with a mazy motion” is an example of what literary device?

The repetition of the ‘m’ sound is called alliteration.

4. According to the introduction to Coleridge’s poetry, what may have aided him in making
this poem so fantastical?

According to the introduction, Coleridge had a longtime addiction to narcotics. Coleridge
admitted this poem was inspired by an opium dream, which may explain some of its strange
and nonsensical content.

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