"The sleepings images"
Pilgrimage di S.Purchas ( 1625 ) - Old Man of the Mountain  ( ii / ii )
(fonte citata da J.J.lowes, The road to Xanadu, 1927 )

When they had enjoyed those pleasures foure or five dayes, they were againe cast in a sleepe, and carryed forth againe. After which, hee...questioned where they had beene, which answered, by your Grace, in Paradise....Then the old man answered, This is the commandement of our Prophet, that whosoever defends his Lord, he make him enter Paradise: and if thou wilt bee obedient to mee, thou shalt have this grace. And having thus animated them, he was thought happie whom the old man would command, though it cost him his life: so that other Lords and his Enemies were slaine by these his Assasines, which exposed themselves to all dangers, and contemned their lives.

ed ecco gli ultimi versi del Kubla Khan di Coleridge

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 a 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.

Old Man of the Mountain ( i / ii )


fonti "ispiratrici" del poema di Coleridge citate nel libro di Lowes:
Purchas (Old man of the Mountain)   •   Purchas (Xamdu)   •   Bartram  •   Bruce  •   Rennel