Kubla Khan: Key Poetic Devices

Alliteration

Alliteration (uh-LIT-er-AY-shun) refers to the repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of nearby words. Coleridge deploys this technique frequently throughout, creating a subtly antiquated effect that references the poem’s dreamlike quality as well as the thirteenth-century figure named in the title. Readers familiar with the history of English poetry may recall that alliterative verse was highly popular during the medieval period. The Old-English epic Beowulf was written in alliterative verse, as was the Middle-English romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Though “Kubla Khan” is less systematically alliterative than either of those poems, alliteration does appear consistently throughout. Consider the opening lines as an example:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

Each of these five lines concludes with an alliterative pairing, introducing this sonic device as a key aspect of the poem. That isn’t to say that alliteration appears in every line. Indeed, Coleridge also includes passages of cacophonous language that seem deliberately to avoid alliteration. (See “Cacophony,” below.) However, the recurring presence of alliteration does create a lyrical effect that contrasts starkly with the poem’s more cacophonous passages. See lines 17–19 as an example:

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced

After two lines thick with consonants, Coleridge dismounts with a mellifluous line featuring alternating alliteration between M-words and F-words.

Allusion

An allusion (uh-LOO-zhun) is a passing reference to a literary or historical person, place, or event, often made without explicit identification. “Kubla Khan” features several historical and literary allusions. Foremost among them is, of course, the reference to the thirteenth-century figure Kubla Khan. Kubla Khan was born in the Mongol Empire, which had been founded by his famous grandfather, Genghis Khan. When Kubla was still young, the Mongols conquered the Chinese Jin dynasty. Kubla grew up to be a skillful military commander, and he later became the founding emperor of the Yuan dynasty. His summer capital was located in Shangdu, which Coleridge misspells as “Xanadu.” In addition to these historical figures and places, Coleridge also alludes to the biblical book of Exodus in the final lines of the poem (lines 53–54):

For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

These lines reference Exodus 16, where Moses promises the Israelites that God will send nourishing bread and honey-like liquid called “manna.” Another biblical allusion may be detected in the speaker’s description of Kubla Khan’s “pleasure-dome” (line 2). The speculative construction of this dome may be read as a strange version of the heavenly New Jerusalem described by John in the Book of Revelation.

Cacophony

Cacophony (kuh-KAW-fuh-NEE) refers to a sonic effect characterized by dissonance, and it occurs when language sounds rough or harsh. This dissonant effect arises when individual words or groupings of words have a particularly unmusical sound. The best way to discover cacophony in a poem is to read it aloud and see which lines are challenging to say. Examples of cacophony appear frequently throughout “Kubla Khan.” To start, consider lines 12–13. Note especially the frequency of combined consonants, which gives the language a feeling of density:

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

If you read these lines aloud, you’ll likely notice that the language features quite a mouthful of consonants. A few lines later, Coleridge presents another passage where the thickness of the language creates a cacophonous effect (lines 17–19):

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced

The first line here features a great deal of sibilant S sounds, which slows the pace of the language. The second line reaches peak density with the phrase “fast thick pants,” which, when said aloud, forces a short pause between each word. As if to emphasize the cacophony of the previous two lines, the third line transitions into a more liquid language that’s pleasurable to say out loud.

Simile

A simile (SIH-muh-lee) is a figure of speech that explicitly compares two unlike things to each other. As far as figurative language goes, similes are easy to spot, since they typically involve words such as “like” or “as.” The apparent simplicity of similes can sometimes make them seem rhetorically unsophisticated. In “Kubla Khan,” however, the similes Coleridge invents have a striking strangeness that makes them especially notable and effective. As an example, consider lines 14–22, which feature several similes of varying intricacy:

A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail

The first simile in this passage functions to describe the “deep romantic chasm” (line 12) where the River Alph originates. The speaker likens this “savage place” to a “holy and enchanted” space that’s “haunted / By a woman wailing for her demon-lover!” As if this description weren’t unsettling enough, the speaker goes on to describe this savage place as though it were a living entity—“seething” in a way that makes it seem “as if this earth . . . were breathing.” Then there is the description of the chasm as containing “huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,” which suggests the violence of pummeling icy rain. Taken together, these similes bring a disturbing vitality to the icy chasm the speaker is describing, and they establish a sharp contrast with the “pleasure-dome” they otherwise refer to as being “stately” (line 2).

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