Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 30 -- Down to a Sunless Sea
The prepositional "Down to" drop us away from the historic character Kubla Kahn and into the
unconscious. "Down to" implies motion, unlike "upon" or "beneath," for example, which reflect
location. Before even arriving at the "sunless," we sense a destination more ominous than one
approached by ascent.
Those who quote the third word as "the," rather than "a" -- not an uncommon misrecollection --
are mistaken. We have Coleridge's draft.
The article "a" is indefinite. Were it "the," the sunless sea would be a known place, unique in
space. This river's destination, however, might be one of many possibilities.
"Sunless" and "sea" alliterate, but that's common in poetry. The adjective flows into the noun, but
the same can be said for many such pairs. The power of the word pair lies not in the
construction, but in the image of an ocean devoid of sunlight, a vast, tumultuous elemental
darkness devoid of life.
If the Alph represents life, sinking into the sunless sea must be death itself.
But yet the work's not morbid. While "sunless" is foreboding, a poetic "sea" holds allure.
Together, there's tension.
Down to a sunless sea
Five words drawing us into the seascape within.
The Sunless Lea Legacy
"Kubla Kahn" is included in some 2000 anthologies of English poetry and the phrase "Down to a
sunless sea" is quoted in another 3000 volumes. "Sunless sea" alone is incorporated into several
thousand more, but we're holding ourselves to the full phrase. The bar graph shows book
publications per decade with "Down to a sunless sea" in the text.
Count
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
DRAFT 1122//66//22001122
Uppddaatteess aatt hhttttpp::////www. .uunnm. .eedduu//~rrhheeggggeenn//UnnddeerrggrroouunnddRi ivveerrss. .hhttml l
1920
Decade
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
405