Kubla Khan Resources

Videos

A Clip from Citizen Kane about Xanadu

The movie Citizen Kane picked up the image of Xanadu. This clip is full of references to "Kubla Khan." The voiceover even calls the main character, Charles Foster Kane, "America's Kubla Khan."

Dramatic Reading Of "Kubla Khan"

Here's a video of singer/songwriter/performer David Olney reading "Kubla Khan." He gets pretty into it. Dramatic with a capital "D."

Audios

Robert Kelley reading Kubla Khan
See this page for a slightly more chilled-out reading of this poem. Always fun to hear multiple versions and the way they change the poem.

Images

Coleridge Illustrations by Patten Wilson

Some cool drawings based on Coleridge poems by a Victorian artist. Be sure to check out the one of Xanadu in the lower right-hand corner.

Coleridge Life Mask

A page with a bunch of casts of people's faces. If you scroll down a little, you can see what Coleridge looked like. A little creepy, but fun.

Websites

Coleridge's Note on the Composition of "Kubla Khan"

This was the story that Coleridge included with the poem when it was published. It explains the unusual circumstances surrounding the writing of this poem.

History of the Yuan Dynasty

A good quick overview of the Chinese dynasty that was founded by Kubla Khan.