Page "Kubla Khan" Paragraph 35

The Preface of Kubla Khan began by explaining that it was printed: " at the request of a poet of great and deserved celebrity, and as far as the author's own opinions are concerned, rather as a psychological curiosity, than on the ground of any supposed poetic merits ".

The preface then provided an origin to both the poem and why it was merely a smaller portion of an intended larger work.

After reading from Purchas's book, " The Author continued for about three hours in a profound sleep, at least of the external senses, during which time he had the most vivid confidence, that he could not have composed less than from two or three hundred lines ... On Awaking he appeared to himself to have a distinct recollection of the whole, and taking his pen, ink, and paper, instantly and eagerly wrote down the lines that are here preserved.

" The image of himself that Coleridge provides is of a dreamer who reads works of lore and not as an opium addict.

Instead, the effects of the opium, as described, are intended to suggest that he was not used to its effects.