Poetry Slam!: "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Learning this word list will help you better understand Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1797 poem "Kubla Khan," a fantastical vision of a foreign world. Read the full text here.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stately
    impressive in appearance
    n Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure-dome decree:
    Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
    Through caverns measureless to man
    Down to a sunless sea.
  2. decree
    issue an authoritative order
    n Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure-dome decree:
    Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
    Through caverns measureless to man
    Down to a sunless sea.
  3. cavern
    a large cave or a large chamber in a cave
    n Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure-dome decree:
    Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
    Through caverns measureless to man
    Down to a sunless sea.
  4. sinuous
    curved or curving in and out
    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.
  5. incense
    a substance that produces a fragrant odor when burned
    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.
  6. chasm
    a deep opening in the earth's surface
    But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
    Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
  7. athwart
    across, especially at an oblique angle
    But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
    Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
  8. waning
    of the period when the visible surface of the moon decreases
    A savage place! as holy and enchanted
    As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
    By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
  9. turmoil
    violent agitation
    And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
    As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
    A mighty fountain momently was forced
  10. seething
    in constant agitation
    And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
    As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
    A mighty fountain momently was forced
  11. chaff
    material consisting of seed coverings and pieces of stem
    Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
    Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
    Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
  12. thresh
    beat the seeds out of a grain
    Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
    Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
    Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
  13. flail
    an implement with a handle and a free swinging stick
    Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
    Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
    Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
  14. meander
    move or cause to move in a winding or curving course
    Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
    Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
    Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
    And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean
  15. dale
    an open valley in a hilly area
    Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
    Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
    Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
    And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean
  16. prophesy
    predict or reveal, as if through divine inspiration
    And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
    Ancestral voices prophesying war!
  17. damsel
    a young unmarried woman
    A damsel with a dulcimer
    In a vision once I saw:
    It was an Abyssinian maid
    And on her dulcimer she played,
    Singing of Mount Abora.
  18. dulcimer
    a trapezoidal zither whose strings are struck with hammers
    A damsel with a dulcimer
    In a vision once I saw:
    It was an Abyssinian maid
    And on her dulcimer she played,
    Singing of Mount Abora.
  19. beware
    be on one's guard; be cautious or wary about; be alert to
    And all who heard should see them there,
    And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
  20. thrice
    three times
    Weave a circle round him thrice,
    And close your eyes with holy dread
    For he on honey-dew hath fed,
    And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Created on Wed Feb 06 10:46:26 EST 2013 (updated Thu Oct 11 15:06:18 EDT 2018)

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