Class 12 NCERT English Kalidoscope Poerty Lesson 4 Kubla Khan or A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment Question and Answers
Understating the Poem
Find out where the river Alpha is.
1. Does the poem have a real geographical location? How does the poet mix up the real and rge imaginary to give a sense of the surreal?
2. Pick out
(i) contrasting images that are juxtaposed throughout the poem.
(ii) images that strike the ear, both positive and negative.
(iii) the words used to describe the movement of water.
3. What is the discordant note heard at the end of the third stanza? Can we relate this to the grandeur and turmoil that are a part of an emperor’s life?
4. Which are the lines that refer to magical elements?
5. What is poetic ecstasy likened to?
6. The poem is a fragment. What do you think has made it a lasting literary piece?
Answer:
🔍 Where is the river Alph?
River Alph is not a real river; it is entirely fictional, invented by Coleridge. The name might have been inspired by the Greek letter “Alpha” (symbol of beginning), hinting at the origin of creativity or imagination. It flows “through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea”, emphasizing mystery and the unconscious.
❓1. Does the poem have a real geographical location? How does the poet mix up the real and the imaginary to give a sense of the surreal?
The poem begins with a reference to Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor. While Xanadu (or Shangdu) is a real place in China, Coleridge transforms it into a dream-like, mystical landscape, blending history with fantasy.
🔄 The real:
- Kubla Khan
- Xanadu
- Fertile lands, walls, towers
🌀 The imaginary:
- The sacred River Alph
- Caves of ice
- A woman wailing for her demon-lover
- The Abyssinian maid
- Dome floating in air
👉 This blend creates a surreal and magical world where dream and reality blur, characteristic of Romantic poetry.
❓2. Pick out:
(i) Contrasting images that are juxtaposed:
- “A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice” → warmth vs. cold
- “Enfolding sunny spots of greenery” vs. “a savage place… haunted”
- “Gardens bright” vs. “deep romantic chasm”
- “Miracle of rare device” vs. “ancestral voices prophesying war”
(ii) Images that strike the eye and ear, positive and negative:
🖼️ Visual (eye)
- “Gardens bright with sinuous rills” (positive)
- “Caverns measureless to man” (mysterious)
- “A damsel with a dulcimer” (gentle, artistic)
- “Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail” (violent)
👂 Auditory (ear)
- “Ceaseless turmoil seething” (chaotic)
- “Singing of Mount Abora” (melodic)
- “Ancestral voices prophesying war” (ominous)
(iii) Words describing water movement:
- “Meandering with a mazy motion”
- “Ceaseless turmoil seething”
- “Momently was forced”
- “Half-intermitted burst”
- “It flung up”
- “Sank in tumult”
❓3. What is the discordant note at the end of the third stanza? Can we relate this to the grandeur and turmoil that are a part of an emperor’s life?
Yes. The discordant note is in these lines:
“Ancestral voices prophesying war!”
🔔 This sudden warning contrasts the earlier majestic vision of Xanadu. It suggests that beneath beauty and power lies danger and instability. It reflects the turmoil of an emperor’s life—even in paradise-like grandeur, conflict and war are never far.
❓4. Which lines refer to magical elements?
- “A savage place! as holy and enchanted”
- “Haunted by woman wailing for her demon-lover”
- “A miracle of rare device”
- “The shadow of the dome of pleasure / Floated midway on the waves”
- “Weave a circle round him thrice”
- “He on honey-dew hath fed, / And drunk the milk of Paradise.”
These lines evoke a magical, otherworldly atmosphere filled with supernatural and enchanted elements.
❓5. What is poetic ecstasy likened to?
Poetic ecstasy is likened to:
“A damsel with a dulcimer”
“Singing of Mount Abora”
Coleridge suggests that if he could recreate the inspiration he saw in this musical vision, he would build his own dome in the air — a metaphor for the act of artistic creation in poetic ecstasy.
❓6. Why is this poem, though a fragment, a lasting literary piece?
Despite being incomplete, Kubla Khan is a masterpiece of Romantic imagination. It endures because of:
- Vivid imagery and symbolism
- Musical language and rhythmic beauty
- Mystical and dreamlike atmosphere
- Exploration of the creative process and the power of inspiration
- Its blending of history, myth, fantasy, and the subconscious
Coleridge’s use of rich language, contrasting imagery, and profound themes gives the poem a timeless and haunting quality, even as a fragment.
Language Study
Dulcimer is a string instrument struck with light hammers, used both in China and in Europe in different forms.
Answer:
✅ Language Study: “Dulcimer”
A dulcimer is a traditional stringed musical instrument that is played by striking the strings with small, light hammers (called mallets). It has a sweet, melodic sound, which is reflected in its name — derived from the Latin dulcis (meaning “sweet”) and the Greek melos (meaning “song” or “melody”).
🎵 Cultural and Geographical Usage:
- In Europe: Known as the hammered dulcimer, popular in folk music (e.g., in Hungary, Romania, and the British Isles).
- In China: The instrument is called the yangqin (洋琴), which is a form of the dulcimer introduced from the West but adapted into Chinese classical music.
✨ In Kubla Khan:
When Coleridge describes:
“A damsel with a dulcimer…”
He is invoking the image of an exotic, mystical musician — an Abyssinian (Ethiopian) maiden — playing a magical melody. The instrument helps set a dreamlike, romantic, and musical atmosphere, symbolizing poetic inspiration.