From Cummingsstudyguide Type of Work and Publication Year .......Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla Khan"is a lyric poem centering on the author's response to a dream.According to the author's introduction to the poem,he had the dream in the summer of 1797 and composed the poem after waking up.(The author's grandson,Ernest Harley Coleridge,maintained that his grandfather wrote the poem in 1798 but mistakenly recorded 1797 as the year of composition.)Coleridge published the poem in 1816. Background and Point of View .......In the introduction to "Kubla Khan,"Samuel Taylor Coleridge says he received inspiration for the poem while sojourning at a farmhouse in southwestern England in the summer of 1797.Here is what happened.Feeling a"slight indisposition,"he says,he took a prescribed medicine containing opium and fell asleep at the very moment that he was reading a passage about Kubla Khan(1215-1294)from a travel book by Samuel Purchas (1577-1626).The passage says,in part,"Here the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be built,and a stately garden thereunto.And thus ten miles of fertile ground were inclosed with a wall."Coleridge then dreamed about the abode of the Mongol leader,usually referred to in history books as Kublai Khan. ......Kublai became emperor of China in 1260 and proclaimed the establishment of his own Yuan dynasty in 1271.His capital was Ta-tu (present-day Beijing),but he maintained a summer residence in southeastern Mongolia at K'ai P'ing,also known as Shang-tu or Shangdu and,in Coleridge's poem,as Xanadu. .......After Marco Polo visited Xanadu in 1275,he wrote, There is at this place a very fine marble Palace,the rooms of which are all gilt and painted with figures of men and beasts and birds,and with a variety of trees and flowers,all executed with such exquisite art that you regard them with delight and astonishment. .......Round this Palace a wall is built,inclosing a compass of 16 miles,and inside the Park there are fountains and rivers and brooks,and beautiful meadows,with all kinds of wild animals (excluding such as are of ferocious nature),which the Emperor has procured and placed there to supply food for his gerfalcons and hawks,which he keeps there in mew. .......The Lord abides at this Park of his,dwelling sometimes in the Marble Palace and sometimes inthe Cane Palace for three months of the year,to wit, June,July,and August;preferring this residencebecause it is by no means hot; in fact it is a very cool place.(translated from Italian by Henry Yule) .......After waking up,Coleridge began writing in third-person point of view what was to be a long poem aboutthe dream.However,a visitor interrupted him at line thirty-six and occupied his time for about an hour.When Coleridge resumed writing,he forgot the rest of the details of the dream.As all of us areFrom Cummingsstudyguide Type of Work and Publication Year .......Samuel Taylor Coleridge's “Kubla Khan” is a lyric poem centering on the author's response to a dream. According to the author's introduction to the poem, he had the dream in the summer of 1797 and composed the poem after waking up. (The author's grandson, Ernest Harley Coleridge, maintained that his grandfather wrote the poem in 1798 but mistakenly recorded 1797 as the year of composition.) Coleridge published the poem in 1816. Background and Point of View .......In the introduction to "Kubla Khan," Samuel Taylor Coleridge says he received inspiration for the poem while sojourning at a farmhouse in southwestern England in the summer of 1797. Here is what happened. Feeling a “slight indisposition,” he says, he took a prescribed medicine containing opium and fell asleep at the very moment that he was reading a passage about Kubla Khan (1215-1294) from a travel book by Samuel Purchas (1577-1626). The passage says, in part, “Here the Khan Kubla commanded a palace to be built, and a stately garden thereunto. And thus ten miles of fertile ground were inclosed with a wall.” Coleridge then dreamed about the abode of the Mongol leader, usually referred to in history books as Kublai Khan. .......Kublai became emperor of China in 1260 and proclaimed the establishment of his own Yuan dynasty in 1271. His capital was Ta-tu (present-day Beijing), but he maintained a summer residence in southeastern Mongolia at K'ai P'ing, also known as Shang-tu or Shangdu and, in Coleridge's poem, as Xanadu. .......After Marco Polo visited Xanadu in 1275, he wrote, There is at this place a very fine marble Palace, the rooms of which are all gilt and painted with figures of men and beasts and birds, and with a variety of trees and flowers, all executed with such exquisite art that you regard them with delight and astonishment. .......Round this Palace a wall is built, inclosing a compass of 16 miles, and inside the Park there are fountains and rivers and brooks, and beautiful meadows, with all kinds of wild animals (excluding such as are of ferocious nature), which the Emperor has procured and placed there to supply food for his gerfalcons and hawks, which he keeps there in mew. .......The Lord abides at this Park of his, dwelling sometimes in the Marble Palace and sometimes inthe Cane Palace for three months of the year, to wit, June, July, and August; preferring this residencebecause it is by no means hot; in fact it is a very cool place. (translated from Italian by Henry Yule) .......After waking up, Coleridge began writing in third-person point of view what was to be a long poem aboutthe dream. However, a visitor interrupted him at line thirty-six and occupied his time for about an hour. When Coleridge resumed writing, he forgot the rest of the details of the dream. As all of us are