To immediately get this out of the way, I want to state that this blog may have metal in the name, but we will discuss classic and progressive rock. As such, let’s begin by taking a look at “Kubla Khan” – a poem written in 1797 and published in 1816 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In Coleridge’s preface to “Kubla Khan”, he notes that this poem was created after an opium-influenced dream after reading about the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, led by the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. After waking from the dream, Coleridge went to work on writing the poem but was interrupted. Instead of completing a 200-300 lined epic, the interruption caused him to forget the lines he had planned, resulting in the 54-line poem we know today. The band Rush created a song based on this piece, called “Xanadu”. This 11-minute epic takes concepts from the story and it comes together as a grand merge of both literature and music.
The poem starts by describing Xanadu, the “pleasure-dome,” the great palace of Kubla Khan. The palace is built in an area teeming with the fertile landscape, lush gardens, and the river Alph, which flows into underground caves before merging with the ocean. The speaker goes into great detail about Alph, describing the canyon it flows through. The river is not entirely peaceful, it rushes and leaps throughout the canyon before it sinks down through the noisy caves. This detail is important, as you learn more about Khan himself who listens to the river and reminisces about war.
This change from Xanadu and its bright, fertile ground to the river becoming violent is fitting in the theme of pleasure and violence. You may think that Xanadu is there because of the calming landscape, but Khan ensures it is in a location where you can admire the beauty of the landscape while being able to hear the river and caves. Khan’s true pleasure lies in being able to have both beauty and violence, as they have a direct interaction right around him.
The speaker suddenly changes course, going into detail about his vision. In this vision, he sees a woman playing an instrument and singing, filling him with a feeling of longingness. He imagines himself with the ability to revive her song. If he could revive this feeling within him, he would be able to rebuild Xanadu out of music, and all who hear would know that he, had dined on honey dew and drunk the milk of Paradise.
Rush begins “Xanadu” with almost 5 minutes of instrumental melodies. The song slowly begins to build, leading you to believe that something massive is coming. The guitar slowly hums while we hear chimes and occasional, high-pitched synthesized noises. The bells ring and the guitar cements its path as the center of attention. The guitar riff builds up and you realize that, like the wishes of the speaker in the poem, Xanadu is being built by music.
“To seek the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
To break my fast on honey dew
And drink the milk of Paradise…”
I had heard the whispered tales
Of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book. I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops
Of eastern lands unknown
Time and Man alone
Searching for the lost
Xanadu
Xanadu
As we begin our quest, we hear how our speaker is familiar with the tale of Xanadu. Not only does it rest as a place of solitude and pleasure, but it also holds the secret humanity has longed for; immortality.
To stand within The Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, I will dine on honey dew
And drink the milk of Paradise
After a short interlude, we get the next verse. Here our narrator finally made it to Xanadu. Walking among Xanadu, our narrator is ecstatic. Gasping in the glory of Xanadu, they are filled with wonder and excitement. Walking with the river to the caves that are now filled with ice, in awe at finding true Paradise. This once lost place has given hope – the key to immortality is truly here.
A thousand years have come and gone
But time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in an everlasting view
Waiting for the world to end
Weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost
Xanadu
Xanadu
The true horror lies here, where Paradise is not all it was imagined to be. Our narrator found immortality, but it has become a prison of one’s own making. By doing this, they have outlasted normal human existence and transcended time itself. One thousand years have passed yet nothing has changed. Stars no longer move, the sun has yet to rise again. The goal was met, the search has ended, but all is not as hopeful as it once was. Discovery turns into familiarity. Excitement and awe into despair. True Paradise can’t be this, can it?
Held within The Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Nevermore shall I return
Escape these caves of ice
For I have dined on honey dew
And drunk the milk of Paradise
Here lies our final verse before an instrumental ending. Our narrator is tired of life everlasting and tired of the once awe-inspiring pleasures of Paradise. Xanadu has become a prison, spiting the goal sought that was out the most. Years of solitude and immortality have caused our narrator to go insane. Realizing what has been done, they vow to escape. Never to return to the halls of Paradise. With the narrator leaving Xanadu behind, we get an instrumental ending with a reprise of the riff at the beginning, poking fun at the wonder and hope initially conveyed and instead, turning it into a grand finale.
“Kubla Khan” and “Xanadu” are two pieces of art that generate mystery. “Xanadu” almost makes up for the hundreds of lines lost in Coleridge’s poem. It almost feels as if it is a tribute to the story that might have been, connecting the two pieces to a larger whole story. It even continues the theme of the poem, instead of direct peace versus violence, it is telling story of hopeful passion being brought down by spiteful, self-inflicted torture. From a short poem to a song lasting more than 10 minutes, these are two extraordinary works of art. Plenty of further options to discuss, check back next time as we continue to seek further connections between music and literary works.
-Jason Ludtke, Blogger.
Jason Ludtke – Prose Editor and Blogger: Jason is a Junior at Lewis University majoring in Business Administration. His free time is filled with various hobbies, as he likes to read, listen to music, go to concerts, play various video games, go on runs, and watch all kinds of tv shows and films. Some of his favorite writers include Christopher Paolini, Edgar Allan Poe, and J.R.R. Tolkien.