The poem "Kubla Khan" was written as Samuel Taylor Coleridge's
             attempt to capture a dream he had, where in the dream he composed the most
             perfect poem. Just as you tend to do with dreams, he woke believing that
             he recalled the dream and the poem perfectly. He began to write the poem,
             but was then interrupted. When he returned to complete the poem, he found
             that he could only remember a sense of what was in the poem and could not
             create it. The poem itself then, is considered unfinished because
             Coleridge was not able to capture everything he wanted to say. By not
             completing the poem, the reader is left with a similar sense to Coleridge's
             where something beautiful and meaningful is presented, but the meaning of
             The poem begins by creating a sense that something wonderful and
             important is being described, with it especially hinted that this relates
             to the very basis of life. This is hinted at because of the references to
             ancient times. For example, the river is described as "the sacred river"
             (3) and the forests are "ancient as the hills" (10). This separates the
             poem from being about anything with an everyday significance and suggests
             it is related to the beginnings of life. This is then also suggested when
             the water fountain and the river is described in the second verse. The
             first line mentioning it says "a mighty fountain momently was forced" (19).
             A few lines on, the poem states, "It flung up momently the sacred river"
             (24). This can be considered as representing the beginnings of life
             because water represents life. The next line describes the river "five
             miles meandering with a mazy motion" (25). The alliteration in this line
             is clear and creates a calming sense to the poem. To this point, it seems
             that Coleridge is describing a beautiful scene that represents where life
             The poem then changes, with the peaceful images being rep
             ...