ABSTRACT
Opium is traditionally the drug of dreams, and these lines from Coleridge’s Kubla Khan were inspired by opium. The rhythm of the poem reflects something of the hypnotic quality of the drug itself. There is also an intriguing allusion to opium within the poem. Coleridge had an extensive knowledge of the classics and as a lifelong opium addict he can hardly have failed to notice the references to the drug in classical literature. In the Aeneid, Virgil writes of Humida mella soperiferumque papaver (‘the narcotic poppy with honey-dew’; Book iv, line 486).
