Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born at Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire 1772. He studied at Cambridge, but left without taking his degree. In 1795 he married Sara Fricker, Southey’s sister-in-law; in the same year he moved to Bristol. Here he published, in collaboration with Wordsworth, the “Lyrical Ballads.” In 1798 he went to Germany on an annuity from the Wedgewood brothers, but he soon returned to England and lived at Keswick. Later he went to London, where he lived at the house of Dr. Gilman and lectured on Shakespeare and the fine arts. He died at London in 1834.

In 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.
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.
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves,
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice!

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.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song
To such deep delight ’twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air—
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
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.