Home › Glossary › Letter K

Kublai Khan

Historical Figure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Mongol ruler and founder of the Yuan dynasty in China, famously mythologised in English Romantic poetry.

Detailed Definition
Kublai Khan appears in poetry as an emblem of exotic empire, dreamlike splendour, and the imaginative power of distant history. Coleridge’s visionary poem made his name inseparable from domes, sacred rivers, and enchanted creation. In verse, he can represent conquest, luxury, oriental grandeur, and the way poetry transforms political history into symbolic dreamscape.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poet might invoke Kublai Khan through Coleridge’s dreamlike Xanadu; His palace can symbolise imagination, empire, luxury, and unreality; A poem might use Kublai Khan to suggest the splendour and instability of absolute power; His name can bring in domes, rivers, gardens, caverns, and visionary architecture
Additional Notes
Kublai Khan is inseparable in English literary study from Coleridge’s dreamlike Xanadu, though the historical ruler was also a major Mongol emperor and founder of Yuan rule in China. In poetry, he often symbolises oriental splendour, imperial imagination, pleasure-domes, and the instability of visionary creation. Students should distinguish between historical Kublai and the Romantic fantasy built around his name.
Also Known As
Kublai Khubilai Khan Kubla Khan Emperor Shizu Setsen Khan
Skip to main content