In the first stanza, the poet in a dream or in imagination sees Kubla Khan in his

capital city Xanadu, commanding from his luxurious palace dome. The river
of Alph flows through the vast chambers and covering huge distance mixes into the
sea where there is no sunlight.(Note: there is no such river with the name Alph in
the world. The word Alph resembling the first letter of Arabic Alif probably
symbolises the river of knowledge for which the humans are thirsty)The capital of
Kubla Khan is about ten square kilometers with fertile land which is surrounded by
walls and towers protecting it. There are beautiful gardens through which a streamlet
flows in a curved manner and along the streamlet there are trees and plants having
sweet fragrance.There are forests which are as old as the hills and are covered with
green plants over which sunlight is falling.
In the first stanza, it is the creativity of Kubla Khan. It is the first level of imaginations.
In second stanza, the creativity moves to a deeper level of imaginations. The poet
describes the divine creativity. There is a sloping hill with green plants, across which
there is a chasm or a deep gap covered with mosses.It is as wild and holy (i.e.
natural) as the love of a woman who under decreasing moon is crying for her
supernatural lover.In this chasm or gap, there is an unending disturbance. It seems
that earth is breathing angrily and through the gap, water is coming out with great
force and then falling down.There is thus a duality of the movement (up and
down).With the water, huge stones are thrown out on either side of the chasm which
cover the gap. Amidst these stones, the holy river comes out and flows through the
woods and the valley in a zigzag way.The river reaching the vast chambers
ultimately sinks with noise into the silent sea.
Now in the third stanza, the creativity moves into the 3rd or deepest level of
imaginations where human creativity and divine creativity are combined and as a
result of it artifacts is made.
It should be also noted that in stanza 1, it is the creativity of Kubla Khan, in the
second stanza, it is the divine creativity and in the 3 rd stanza, it is the creativity of the
poet.
While hearing the noise of river falling into the silent sea, Kubla Khan hears the voice
of his dead ancestors who predict and foretell the future war.
The shadow of luxurious palace dome floats in the air, where a combination of noise
of fountain and silence of cave is heard. (Something quite impossible!).
The poet calls it a miracle of rare device which is really true because a sunny dome
(hot) and cave of ice (cold) cannot co-exist.
It is thus the impulse of creativity which makes the contradictory things like sun and
ice, dark and bright, flat of hilly, silent and sound to exist together.
In the 4th stanza, the poet in a dream sees a damsel (i.e. a virgin girl) who is playing
dulcimer (a musical instrument). She is from the Black Race of Africa and probably
from Ethiopia.
She is playing dulcimer and singing for Mount Abora (which probably means the river
of Akbara which joins the River Nile).
The poet by saying Could I revive in me her symphony and sound, expresses the
superiority of the damsel and in spite of being a European, he praises a Non-
European.
The poet wishes that if he could have the skills of symphony and music of that
damsel, he would have built the dome like that pleasure dome of Kubla Khan, in the
air with caves of ice, and thus he would have constructed some impossible artefact.
The audience, on seeing him, doing so would pay attention to his acts. They would
then appreciate his attractive eyes and beautiful hair.
They would then weave a circle thrice around him i.e. they would appreciate his
poetry by reading it three times, each time going to a deeper level and at this
instance, there would be the willing suspension of disbelief i.e. they would close their
eyes of rationality with holy dread which means that they will then go to imaginations.
They would then witness that by creating the imaginary dome and ice cave in the air
and by having the symphony and music of that damsel, he would drink the milk of
paradise i.e. he would achieve the best pleasure.