What are “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” about?

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“Kubla Khan,” an unfinished poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, has been called a “meaningless reverie” by some critics, but a close reading reveals its theme on the nature of human genius. The ballad “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” also by Coleridge, tells of a sailor’s crime against nature and his subsequent physical and emotional torment.