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Xanadu

Historical Location
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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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

A legendary place of luxury and splendor, identified with the summer capital of Kublai Khan.

Detailed Definition
Xanadu is the poetic name Coleridge uses for the magnificent palace and domain of Kubla Khan. In English literature it became a byword for exotic richness, grandeur, and dreamlike beauty, even though the place is partly legendary in this poem’s treatment.
Example
Example in poetry:
“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree” — Coleridge; Xanadu was the summer capital associated with Kublai Khan; In poetry it often signifies exotic luxury, artistic dreamscape, or imperial power; The imagined Xanadu gleamed beyond the map
Additional Notes
The name in the opening line is a proper place-name that most readers will not know without identification.; Found in the poem, Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Also Known As
paradise utopia dreamland
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