In other words, the simile is more concrete and memorable than the green hill it is supposed to describe. The lack of 'realism' of the poem becomes even more evident through the use of such strange language: the use of language is more important than describing something 'real' like a hill. If this were not extravagant enough, Coleridge piles yet another image on top of this one that asks the

1. Samuel Taylor Coleridge relies on rich multisensory imagery to achieve poetic goals in “Kubla Khan.” The sensory imagery Coleridge uses anchors the poem within the genre of Romanticism, as the poet evokes an idealized past based on the descriptions of the mythic Xanadu. Phrases like “stately pleasure-dome” (Stanza 1, line 2) also add evocative sexual imagery that coincides well with the imagery of the splendor of the natural world,

43). To that comment, Tennyson is believed to have replied that the poem is "The embodiment of my own belief that the Godlike life is with man and for man" (Brunner, p. 43). In critiquing the Palace of Art Brunner offers common-sense substance that some previous critics had avoided. He claims that the poem demonstrates "to live in art…is to live for selfish delight" and living in selfish delight is