Q5 of 11 Page 105

Which are the lines that refer to magical elements?

In Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, imagination is controlled by thought and study through refined, sustained, psychological techniques of mystery, fear, and awe.

The atmosphere of supernatural mystery is created through the description of the pleasure dome and its surrounding environment. The poetic inspiration has something supernatural in it as is depicted in the words- “And all should cry, Beware!/ Beware!/ His flashing eyes, his floating hair!/ weave a circle round him thrice/ and/ Close eyes with holy dread for/ him on/ Honey- drew hath fed and/ drunk the/ Milk of Paradise.” These lines set a mysterious yet fearful note in the poem.


Kubla Khan is a poem that transforms the general, monotonous world into a world of awe and enchantment: “Through caverns measureless to man/ Down to a sunless sea.” Again the lines, “Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree” create an intense magical world.


“But oh! That deep romantic chasm which/ slanted”- uphold the image of a world which is in some sort of trance or spell cast by some unknown power.


The description of the dome is innately beautiful and captivates the reader with its magnificent charm- “It was a miracle of rare device,/ A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice.”


Further, the fascinating hold in the mariner’s gaze and the sudden revival of the mysterious skeleton, woman and the mate, the abrupt sinking of the ship and the conversation of the polar spirits between themselves- all impose upon the reader a magical experience.


More from this chapter

All 11 →