Page 54 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

5. As mentioned in the introduction, the poem’s final stanza was written after an interruption
from a man from Porlock. What, after reading the poem, could the man be considered a
metaphor of?

Answers may vary. Example: The speaker’s interruption by the man signifies the
interruption of genius and inspiration. The man may be a metaphor for the interruptions
thrown by the world into the way of creativity and visionary grandeur.

6. In the third stanza, the speaker wishes he could recreate the vision of Xanadu he had. Out
of what does he imagine he would build this place?

The speaker tells the reader he had a dream of “a damsel with a dulcimer” who could play
and sing a song that enchanted him. He believes he could build Xanadu out of the beauty of
this music he once heard.

7. At the end of the poem, why does the speaker believe others would be fearful of the creator
of this “dome in the air”?

Others may be fearful of the creator’s “flashing eyes” and “ his floating hair,” but most
especially they would fear that fact that “he on honey-dew hath fed,” and that he has
“drunk the milk of Paradise.”

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