There has been lots of critical discussion about the
precise "meaning" of this amazing poem. Some have suggests that this poem is all about
the act of creation and imagination, as expressed in the visions that the poet sees. In
lots of ways, however, the poem defies interpretation or categorisation being imposed on
it, so there is no definite answer to your
question!
Personally, I do think this poem has a lot to say
about the act of creation. We start off with a description of Xanadu, which is clearly
an act of creation in itself, representing a huge triumph of imagination in its
construction:
So twice five miles of fertile
ground
With walls and towers were gridles
round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous
rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing
tree;
And here were forests ancient as the
hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of
greenery.
The author is
clearly inspired by this tremendous act of creation, which is described as "a miracle of
rare device," and we see in the last stanza the desire of the speaker of the poem to
copy Kubla's act of creation through music, inspired by the Abyssinian maid as a muse.
The narrator likewise wishes to impose order through his act of creation in a dangerous
universe, and be thought of by society as an artist, one whose power to create and force
of the imagination makes him feared:
That with music loud and
long,
I would build that dome in
air,
That sunny dome! those caves of
ice!
And all who heard should see them
there,
And all should cry, Beware!
Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating
hair!
Therefore, arguably,
this poem has much to say about the act of artistic creation, the triumph of the
imagination, and the way that society treats artists: those who are able to create their
works of art out of thin air.
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