In both his poem 'Kubla Khan' and the accompanying prologue, Samuel Taylor Coleridge presents two ideas: the variable nature of the imagination and the beauty of the foreign and exotic. Many scholars consider the story behind the poem's composition not only as one of the most significant events of both the Romantic movement but of literature as a whole. Gregory Leadbetter, for example, states that “It is its own creation myth.” In no way, however, should this “myth” surrounding the discovery and loss of inspiration overshadow or distract from the poem itself as it is one in which Coleridge displays great poetic ability and illustrates what Edward Said would later call “Orientalism.” ”.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the prologue Coleridge explains how he composed the poem after a dream "in which all the images [of the poem] presented themselves before him as things, with a parallel production of the corresponding expressions." This dream supposedly provided Coleridge with the two to the three hundred lines of the poem. Coleridge, however, wrote only fifty-four due to a gap just explained. This fragmentation of the poem is itself very important for the implications it has on the limits of the imagination Coleridge is disappointed in himself for not being able to complete the poem, even if he feels a little robbed. As he writes in the prologue: "Tomorrow I will sing a sweeter song: but tomorrow is yet to come." ]Coleridge seems to suggest that perfection, or perhaps even something close to perfection, is something of an elusive state, always beyond what we are capable of achieving his writing "I could bring to life within me / His symphony and his son, / I would gain such a profound pleasure, / That with loud and long music, / I would build that dome in the air". [Lines 42-46] His desire to “rebuild that dome” is a desire to revisit that dream and thus complete his poem. However, he suggests a certain pride in the poem, inadvertently calling it "sweet" [pg. 460], thus suggesting that although perfection or true excellence is unattainable due to the limitations of the human imagination, something similar can be achieved. Imagination, for Coleridge, is something that has no limits in its capabilities but is still capable of great results. Another focus of the poem is the attraction and intrigue associated with the exotic. The influence of the images and whimsical ideas regarding Kublai Khan's court in Xanadu is easily demonstrated through the sense of awe, mysticism and undeniable beauty present in the poem. Coleridge describes “Alph, the sacred river” [Line 3], “twice five miles of fertile ground / With walls and towers girded around” [Lines 6-7] and “A sunny pleasure dome with caverns of ice!” [Line 6] These almost hyperbolic descriptions show a passion for this certain aspect of the foreigner which, when compared to the works of other Romantic poets who focused on domestic beauty in Britain (such as Wordsworth and his poem "Tintern Abbey"), suggests an interest in a strand of the sublime that is more worldly and unknown than his peers. While Wordsworth focuses on “steep and high cliffs” and “hedge-rows, just hedge-rows, little lines / Of sporting wood running wild,” Coleridge is much more comfortable with open grandeur and majesty. This, however, often seems to glorify the exotic for the sake of being exotic, exploiting misconceptions about the Orient for the sake of.1868