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.
First of all, note the meter; every long syllable is naturally long, and every short syllable is naturally short; so the lines flow softly, like running waves. Not merely are the rhymes perfect, there are hidden rhymes scattered through the lines; the Xanadu and Khan, also the two u’s in the first line, and the two a’s in the fourth line. Note the repetition of the consonant sounds. The X in the first line is pronounced as K; and we have seen shrewd business men in the United States collect many millions of dollars from the American people by the magic of the letter K three times repeated. There are two d’s in the second line, four r’s in the third, two m’s in the fourth, two s’s in the fifth. There is not a single harsh sound in the entire five lines; they have every musical charm that is possible to words.
So much for the sounds; and now for the sense. Let us take it word by word, and see what it tells us. Xanadu: a place you never heard of, therefore mysterious, stimulating to the imagination; taken in connection with Kubla Khan, it suggests Tartar despotism, cruelty, terror. “A stately pleasure-dome”: magnificence in the fashion of the Arabian Nights, extravagance, a free rein to desire. The word “decree” reinforces this; suggesting an Oriental despot, who follows his whims without restraint. “Alph”: an unknown stream, therefore mysterious. “The sacred river”: this reinforces the idea of despotism, adding to our fear of earthly kings that of an all-powerful one in heaven. “Caverns measureless to man”: again mystery, and the fear which the unknown inspires. “Sunless sea”: this clenches the impression; for without the sun there can be no life, and the picture is the last word in desolation.
The rest of the poem is in the same key. We hear about “ancestral voices prophesying war,” and a stream haunted “by woman wailing for her demon lover.” We are told about “an Abyssinian maid,” “a damsel with a dulcimer,” etc.
Note that everyone of these images appeals to reactionary emotions, fear or sensuality; By sensuality the reason is dragged from its throne; while fear destroys all activity of the mind, causing abasement and submission. Moreover—and here is the point essential to our argument—almost every image in this poem turns out on examination to be a lie. There is no such place as Xanadu; and Kubla Khan has nothing to teach us but avoidance. His pleasures were bloody and infamous, and there was nothing “stately” about his “pleasure-dome.” There never was a river Alph, and the sacredness of any river is a fiction of a priestly caste, preying on the people. There are no “caverns measureless to man”; while as for a “sunless sea,” a few arc-lights would solve the problem. The “woman wailing for her demon lover” is a savage’s nightmare; while as for the “Abyssinian maid,” she would have her teeth blackened and would stink of rancid palm oil.
From the beginning to the end, the poem deals with things which are sensual, cruel, and fatal to hope. These old fears and cravings are buried deep in our subconsciousness; the poet touches them, and they quiver inside us, and we don’t know what it means, so we call it “magic.” That is the favorite term of the art for art’s sakers; they don’t know what this “magic” is, and they don’t want to know, but the psychoanalyst tells them.
Says Mrs. Ogi: “Our Poet will be pained. He lives by magic, and you seek to destroy it!”
Says Ogi: “There are emotions equally thrilling, equally wonderful, which are stirred by the discovery of new truth and the contemplation of progress. What I am trying to do is to persuade the poets to use their brains and common sense, and apply melody and beauty of sound to the good things of the future, instead of to the evil things of the past.”
“Give them a few illustrations,” says Mrs. Ogi.
“I will name eight things which have been in my daily newspapers during the past week, any one of which is every bit as exciting, every bit as provocative of ecstasy as ‘Kubla Khan.’