Coleridge contrasts the two worlds of Kubla Khan by first describing the ordered world of Kubla Khans palace and suddenly changes rhythm and rhyme of the poem, which brings across the surrounding natural world that provides Kubla Khan the foundation of

        The lines ‘And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree’ brings forward another contrast. The garden, which is a cultivated area by humans, is set amongst the ancient forest. It contains many tall trees and brightly colored flowers which branch off from the sacred river. The river and forests provide an ageless backdrop for Khan’s dream. In contrast to the structured dome and its gardens, the landscape surrounding Kubla's domain is wild and untamed, covered by ancient forests and cut by a majestic river. There is a difference between Kubla Khan’s planned estate and nature’s realm however they are seen to exist harmoniously together.

        The mood of the second stanza is of upheaval and turmoil. It refers to the anger, excitement and turbulence of Kubla's chosen place. The poem shifts from the balance and tranquility in the first few lines to an uneasy suggestion of what is beyond normal. There are contradictions in the river’s path. Along with the boulders, the river emerges. The previous similes describing the boulders both use images involving striking: hail hits the earth; the thresher hits the grain. After the rocks leave the chasm, they are described again, using a gentler metaphor, as “dancing rocks.” This phrase is also an example of personification, where inanimate objects are given human characteristics. After its tumultuous beginning, the river slowly takes a wandering path through the gardens.

In these lines ’The shadow of the dome of pleasure Floated midway on the waves’ It is only seen as a shadow when the poem refers back to the pleasure dome, the earthly paradise which Kubla Khan has created. ‘Where was heard the mingled measure from the fountain and the caves.’ It warns that man’s creation is temporary through the turmoil of the fountain and the message of the caverns, seems to overshadow the dome’s image.

‘A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw’ In these lines. The poem shifts from third person to first person as Coleridge talks about a young girl playing a musical instrument in a dream. The damsel plays the instrument so beautifully that all passions are brought forth from the scenes before. 

The caverns appear in the poem for just a moment at first, as the place the river passes through. They are the opposite of the warm, happy palace. They are dramatic, freezing, underground, and represent everything the pleasure dome is not. In the line ‘That sunny dome! those caves of ice!’ The caverns are contrasted with the sunny dome, the caves of ice becomes a symbol of the forces of nature that lie under and surround the works of man. The clash of these forces is one of the main points of Coleridge’s vision.

In conclusion, Coleridge uses a pattern of contrast between worlds throughout the romantic poem, in order to give it both a purpose and structure that represents Coleridge's ideal of a harmonious blend of meaning and form in poetic art.