Visions of Paradise: Coleridge

For awhile during this season of Pentecost, I'll be reviewing visions of paradise on Sundays. For this series, the defining character of a vision of paradise is to arouse desire for the holy.

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In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stateley pleasure-dome decree;
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
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.

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