Kubla Khan - The Snail Theory

Ok... when we were studying Coleridge poems for HSC English, Mrs Mahanidis encouraged our class to come up with our own interpretations. So... after being bored in a double period learning about how this poem is meant to be about SEX and other things... I came up with this... afterwards Mahanidis told me what she meant was come up with our own interpretations that were already thought of because HSC markers would think I'm crazy... but eh... Bollard suggested I turn it into a picture book... LOL... Anyways... here is the pure genius (or insanity) which is the snail theory of the Kubla Khan Poem.

Kubla Khan

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan ^[1]
A stately pleasure-dome decree: ^[2]
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran ^[3]
Through caverns measureless to man ^[4]
Down to a sunless sea. ^[5]
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round: ^[6]
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, ^[7]
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! ^[8]
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover! ^[9]
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, ^[10]
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. ^[11]
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion ^[12]
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran, ^[13]
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean: ^[14]
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war! ^[15]

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves; ^[16]
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves. ^[17]
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice! ^[18]

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, ^[19]
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice! ^[20]
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, ^[21]
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise. ^[22]

1. ^ Kublai Khan was a the last great Khan of the Mongolian Empire. This figure of power is a metaphor for a snail. The snail, like Kublai Khan, is one of nature's last remaining great creatures. Just like Kublai invaded Japan and Vietnam, the snail takes over gardens by moving in and feasting on the plants. Because of this, snails are considered pests, just like Kublai. Also, Xanadu was Kublai's summer palace... his paradise, just like the garden is the snails paradise.


2. ^ A snail's shell is like a dome, and snails retreat into their shell when there is a threat of danger as a form of sanctuary. The pleasure-dome is the snail's shell.


3. ^ The sacred river is the snail trail left by the snail as it meanders through the garden.


4. ^ Measureless to man implies that it is quiet small in size yet a cavern suggests a very large opening. This juxtaposition reflects the snail going through an object such as grass, which to a snail would be very large, but to man, measureless.


5. ^ The evening due.


6. ^ The objects in the garden are large in size compared to the snail, so they appear to be like walls and towers.


7. ^ The reflection of the slimey snail trail left a bright reflection in the garden


8. ^ Expresses dismay at the dying grass on the other side of the hill (cedar = brown = colour of grass when dying) which is ruining the snail's paradise.


9. ^ The moonlights strength wanes as humans come out into the garden with a woman crying for her lover... who the snail perceives as evil or a threat.


10. ^ The endless problems associated with the chasm in nature caused by the developments of humans.


11. ^ This line and the 5 lines before it describe rocks and dirt being kicked up (probably by the woman and lover from before). This dirt and rocks have been flung around the snail, endangering the creature. This also show's human's loving themselves and not caring about how their actions effect nature. Line like "huge fragments" describe the sheer size of the rocks compared to the snail and metaphors such as "Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail" describing the movement.


12. ^ Describes the snails movements where it appears as moving slow with no sense of direction (just like snails move).


13. ^ Snail's trail keeps on going through nature.


14. ^ The snail returns to where it comes from and goes back into the slime (i.e.lifeless ocean) that is in its shell due to how tumultuous the world is.


15. ^ Voices inside the snail tells the snail to fight back against mankind (i.e. eat their plants).


16. ^ The shadow coming off the shell moves to being on top of the snail trail.


17. ^ Description of the sounds going on outside the shell and what the snail can hear.


18. ^ Outlines how miraculous this snail's sanctuary/shell is despite it being surrounded by so much danger.


19. ^ Describes a Ethiopian girl playing an instrument in the garden to set up what happens at the end of the poem.


20. ^ Coleridge talks in first person, longing to have his own shell, just like the snail, so he can escape from the evils of the world around him.


21. ^ Coleridge warning that people should beware of the snail because they wil fight back like the prophecy of war in line 30 suggests.


22. ^ How the snails will fight back, by eating our plants. Honey dew is a dark, strong honey, prized in Europe and Asia for it's medicinal purpose... admittedly I don't think snails eat that... but STC might not known that, lol