‘Kubla Khan’ and its Narratives of Possible Worlds
This essay argues that Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’ is a poem about narrative and specifically focuses on the narrative construction of possible worlds, or even utopian worlds. It notes two pairs of narratives. In pair one the utopian narrative of the monarch’s decree
which seeks to build a space of pure pleasure is in opposition to the narrative of a prophesy of war. In the second pair the Abyssinian maid’s lyric is undermined by the narrative of amnesia where the speaker is unable to recall the lyric. The poem concludes, the essay suggests, with
the idea that a possible world can be created only if we can recall the narrative foundations of this world.
Keywords: Coleridge; Kubla Khan; narrative; possible worlds; utopia
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Department of English, The University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India
Publication date: 01 December 2013
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