Who Was Kubla Khan? And What is Xanadu?

Some of you asked for a little help on explicating Kubla Khan. So, here are a few tips.

1. You should know something about the historical Kubla Khan.
2. You should understand what is meant by Xanadu.
3. You should be aware that the poem is a product of the Romantic era.
4. You should consider that the poem is a fragment of the poet's dream.

As for who is Kubla Khan, he was the greatest of the Mongol emperors after Genghis Khan and founder of the Yüan Dynasty in China. When he declared himself emperor, the historical Khan claimed he had the Mandate of Heaven, a traditional Chinese concept of rule by divine permission, and therefore gained absolute control over an entire nation. Between warring and distributing the wealth his grandfather Genghis Khan had won, Khan spent his summers in Xanadu and had his subjects build him a home suitable for a son of God. Read more...

Due to Coleridge's poem, Xanadu has become fabled as a metaphor for opulence, a kind of quasi- Utopian fantasy place created by a dictator of unlimited wealth.