On the verge of discovery and triumph, the solitary searcher puts a name on his desire for the first time. Xanadu is truly exotic, breaking through the last boundary which stood before us: time.

Orientalism, a phenomenon described cogently by Edward Said in a book of the same name, alludes to the Western creation of the inscrutable East, as a mirror in which its own unconscious longings are revealed. Rush’s song A Passage to Bangkok suggests another reason for interest in the East which Peart and Coleridge shared.

Paired with the honeydew, this “milk” can be seen as an allusion to the drug use of Coleridge (an opium addict) and Rush (heavy users of marijuana, and perhaps more powerful substances), but it also indicates a desire for an altered state. This altered state could be immortality.

More literally, the Mongols were well-known for their affinity for fermented mare’s milk (in fact many of the ruling class were alcoholics).

The true enemy is revealed. It is time, for time destroys all things and people. Where is Kubla Khan now? Where Coleridge? This is a solitary and titanic struggle.

We are now on an arduous solitary quest. “Frozen” echoes the ice of a second line. It is an ominous image, suggesting a trap.

The listener is now in the legend. We are on the quest. Our point of view focuses on the clue, which is in this case a tangible motive for action.

From line 35 of Coleridge’s poem. Line 4 mentions a river which runs underground into caverns.

No longer an aspiration, but a reality. A sense of elation comes from the searcher, expressed well in Geddy Lee’s voice. The image of icy caves evokes both the triumph of the searcher but will also carry the ominous hints of his doom.