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Home > Poems > Kubla Khan > Words

Words

Here are the words for which Lowes believed he had found sources.

Each word appears with the relevant line from the poem.

On the right, you see a list of the source passages that may possibly have inspired Coleridge to use this particular word in Kubla Khan.

Note: One author may have penned several passages that Lowes sees as contributing imagery or language to the poem. In those situations, I have numbered each passage, Bruce 1, Bruce 2, and so on.

Don't get the impression that for every word in the poem there is some source, according to Lowes.

Some words that he did not argue had a definite source: demon, device, forest, heard, loud, lover, shadow, symphony, vision, weave, woman. So you can see that a lot of the tissue of the poem goes without any particular source, even for Lowes.

And he stresses the similarity of imagery more than verbal echoes. So in his view, what Coleridge absorbed and recalled was the vision, and occasionally the words came along with that. The key, though, are the visual associations between images he had soaked up--graphic links, we might call them.

Here we only look at words that Lowes believes came from one or more sources.

Other Perspectives

Kubla Khan--The Poem

Sources

Images

Word	Line	Text	Possible sources
Abora	41	Singing of Mount Abora	Bruce 6 Bruce 7 Kircher 4 Milton 6 Purchas 5
Abyssinian	39	It was an Abyssinian maid,	Bruce 5 Bruce 8 Bruce 9 Milton 6
Air	46	I would build that dome in air	Bernier 4 Milton 2
Alph	3	Where Alpha, the sacred river, ran	Pausanias Seneca 1 Strabo 1 Strabo 2 Virgil
Amid	20	Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst	Bernier 1 Bernier 3 Bruce 1 Bruce 2 Herodotus Milton 4 Purchas 1 Purchas 2 Wollstonecraft
Ancestral	30	Ancestral voices prophesying war!	Purchas 2
Ancient	10	And here were forests ancient as the hills	Bernier 2 Bruce 2 Burnet 1 Pausanias
Blossomed	9	Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree	Bartram 2 Bartram 3 Milton 2
Breathing	18	As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing	Milton 4
Caverns	4	Through caverns measureless to man	Bartram 5 Bruce 1 Kircher 2 Rennell Strabo 2 Wollstonecraft
Caverns	27	Then reached the caverns measureless to man	Bartram 5 Bruce 1 Kircher 2 Rennell Strabo 2 Wollstonecraft
Caves	34	From the fountain and the caves	Bruce 1 Kircher 2 Maurice 2 Milton 4 Rennell
Caves	36	A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!	Bruce 1 Kircher 2 Maurice 2 Milton 4 Rennell
Caves	47	That sunny dome! those caves of ice!	Bruce 1 Kircher 2 Maurice 2 Milton 4 Rennell
Ceaseless	17	And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething	Bartram 5 Bartram 7 Bernier 4
Cedarn	13	Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover	Beckford Bruce 1 Kircher 2 Milton 1
Chasm	12	But oh! That deep romantic chasm which slanted	Beckford Kircher 1 Kircher 3 Strabo 2
Chasm	17	And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething	Beckford Kircher 1 Kircher 3 Strabo 2
Circle	51	Weave a circle round him thrice,	Bartram 2 Maurice 3 Milton 2 Rennell
Cover	13	Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover	Bruce 1 Bruce 8
Dale	26	Through wood and dale the sacred river ran	Milton 4
Damsel	37	A damsel with a dulcimer	Purchas 4
Dancing	23	And ‘mid these dancing rocks at once and ever	Milton 4 Purchas 4
Deep	12	But Oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted	Bruce 8 Kircher 3
	44	To such a deep delight 'twould win me	Bruce 8 Kircher 3
Delight	44	To such deep delight 'twould win me	Bartram 2 Milton 2 Milton 6 Purchas 1 Purchas 4
Dome	2	A stately pleasure-dome decree:	Bernier 1 Bernier 2 Maurice 3 Purchas 1 Strabo 2
Dome	31	The shadow of the dome of pleasure	Bernier 1 Bernier 2 Maurice 3 Purchas 1 Strabo 2
Dome	36	A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!	Bernier 1 Bernier 2 Maurice 3 Purchas 1 Strabo 2
Dome	46	I would build that dome in air,	Bernier 1 Bernier 2 Maurice 3 Purchas 1 Strabo 2
Dome	47	That sunny dome! Those caves of ice!	Bernier 1 Bernier 2 Maurice 3 Purchas 1 Strabo 2
Drunk	54	And drunk the milk of Paradise.	Purchas 4
Earth	18	As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing	Bartram 2 Bartram 6 Bartram 8 Bernier 2 Bernier 5 Bruce 1 Burnet 2 Kircher 1 Kircher 3 Maurice 1 Milton 2 Milton 4 Pausanias Seneca 1 Seneca 2 Wollstonecraft
Enchanted	14	A savage place! As holy and enchanted	Bartram 2 Bartram 4 Bartram 5 Bruce 1 Collins
Eyes	50	His flashing eyes, his floating hair!	Bruce 8 Seneca 2
	52	And close your eyes with holy dread	Bruce 8 Seneca 2
Far	29	And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far	Bartram 8 Bernier 3
Fertile	6	So twice five miles of fertile ground	Milton 4 Purchas 1 Rennell
Five	6	So twice five miles of fertile ground	Bartram 5 Bruce 4
Five	25	Five miles meandering with a mazy motion	Bartram 5 Bruce 4 Purchas 4
Floated	32	Floated midway on the waves;	Bernier 3 Bruce 8
Floating	50	His flashing eyes, his floating hair!	Bernier 3 Bruce 3 Bruce 8
Flung up	24	It flung up momently the sacred river	Bartram 5 Bartram 8 Strabo 2
Forced	19	A mighty fountain momently was forced	Bartram 7 Bernier 2 Bruce 3 Bruce 7 Kircher 1 Strabo 2
Fountain	19	A mighty fountain momently was forced	Bartram 4 Bartram 5 Bartram 6 Bartram 7 Bartram 8 Beckford Bernier 2 Bernier 4 Bruce 1 Bruce 2 Bruce 3 Burnet 1 Herodotus Maurice 2 Milton 4 Pausanias Rennell Seneca 1 Virgil Wollstonecraft
Fountain	34	From the fountain and the caves	Bartram 4 Bartram 5 Bartram 6 Bartram 7 Bartram 8 Beckford Bernier 2 Bernier 4 Bruce 1 Bruce 2 Bruce 3 Burnet 1 Herodotus Maurice 2 Milton 4 Pausanias Rennell Seneca 1 Virgil Wollstonecraft
Fragments	21	Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail	Bartram 5 Bartram 8 Bruce 7
Gardens	8	And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills	Bartram 2 Bernier 1 Bernier 2 Bernier 3 Milton 4 Milton 6 Purchas 3 Purchas 4 Rennell
Girdled	7	With walls and towers were girdled round	Bruce 8
Green	13	Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover	Bartram 1 Bartram 3 Bartram 4 Bernier 1 Bruce 2 Milton 1
Greenery	11	Enfolding sunny spots of greenery	Bartram 1 Bartram 3 Bartram 4 Bernier 1 Bruce 2 Milton 1
Ground	6	So twice five miles of fertile ground	Bartram 3 Bruce 1 Bruce 2 Burnet 1 Milton 4 Purchas 1
Hair	50	His flashing eyes, his floating hair!	Bruce 8
Half-intermitted	20	Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst	Bartram 5 Bartram 7 Bernier 4
Haunted	15	As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted	Collins
Hill	13	Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover	Beckford Bernier 1 Bruce 1 Bruce 2 Bruce 7 Bruce 9 Milton 3 Milton 4 Purchas 5
Hills	10	And here were forests ancient as the hills	Bernier 1 Bruce 1 Bruce 2 Bruce 7 Bruce 9 Milton 3 Milton 4 Purchas 5
Holy	14	A savage place! As holy and enchanted	Bartram 2 Bruce 2 Bruce 9 Collins Purchas 2 Rennell
Holy	52	And close your eyes with holy dread,	Bartram 2 Bruce 2 Bruce 9 Collins Purchas 2 Rennell
Honey-dew	53	For he on honey-dew hath fed	Purchas 4

Words

Word

Possible sources