Lyr Add: Kubla Khan (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Subject: Lyr Add: Kubla Khan (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
From: Monologue John
Date: 30 Sep 24 - 03:20 PM

KUBLA KHAN
Samuel Taylor Coleridge - 1772-1834
Or a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment

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.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
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,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And ’mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

    The shadow of the dome of pleasure
       Floated midway on the waves;
       Where was heard the mingled measure
       From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
       A damsel with a dulcimer
       In a vision once I saw;
       It was an Abyssinian maid,
       And on her dulcimer she played,
       Singing of Mount Abora.
       Could I revive within me
       Her symphony and song,
       To such a deep delight ’twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Oct 24 - 11:42 AM

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree:
Then Alf, the Council planning man
Said "Oi! According to my plan
That dome must cease to be!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Oct 24 - 12:19 PM

Just spat my cup of tea all over my keyboard!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kubla Khan (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Oct 24 - 02:52 PM

Poor Coleridge was interrupted from his chemically powered writing, and by the time he got rid of his visitor, he had lost his trail of thought.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kubla Khan (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
From: Lighter
Date: 05 Oct 24 - 06:04 PM

From Henry Beard's perfectly hilarious "Poetry for Cats" (1994):

                  Kubla Kat
                         by Samuel Taylor Coleriddge's cat

In Xanadu did Kubla Kat
A splendid sofa-bed decree
With silken cushions soft and fat,
A perfect feline habitat
   Set on a gilt settee.
And twice ten yards of fine brocade
The golden ottoman arrayed;
And there were pillows packed with airy down
Hand-plucked from sacred swans in Thessaly;
And lace draped from a massive silver crown
Adorned the ornate rosewood canopy.

And ah! that seat effused a potent lotion
Pressed from the leaves of rare hypnotic herbs,
Sweet source of wondrous dreams that naught disturbs.
O magic mint! Sublime and blissful potion!
   The fragrance of that place of slumber
   Floated on the balmy breeze
   Drawing kittens without number;
   Persians, Manx, and Siamese.
It was a miracle of opulence,
A shining sofa-bed with catnip scents!

    A songbird with a small guitar
    In a vision I once did note....


That should give you some idea. Buy the book and read the rest yourself. And don't miss "The Love Song of J. Morris Housecat," by T.S. Eliot's cat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kubla Khan (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Oct 24 - 07:10 PM

This is a delightful thread!!