.
Others argue that Coleridge was not interrupted during the process of writing the "Kubla Khan" and that opium was not the cause of his inspiration. John Spencer Hill suggests, "sloth or procrastination interrupts the composition" rather than any visitor (2). Some feel that Coleridge used the visitor as an excuse for his own inability to finish the work. Joseph K. Ferenchick confirms this speculation by quoting that "this work could not have been written, as Coleridge testified, under the influence of a narcotic. According to Paul Magnunson's essay "Kubla Khan: That Phantom-World So Fair" Coleridge clearly labored extensilvely with the meter and imagery in this poem in his attempt to create a linguistic work of art." By comparing the elements of highly descriptive images and the rhythmical meter, one can dismiss the idea of the poem as being a fragment, because too much care and thought went into the composition of the poem to have it simply be a piece of what Coleridge theoretically dreamed up (Ferenchick).
Some view that one possible reason for Coleridge's apologetic preface, as well as the explanation in the poem itself could merely be to fool readers in to believing that the work is unfinished. In this preface, Coleridge states that:.
"On awaking he appeared to himself to have a distinct recollection of the whole, and taking his pen, ink and paper, instantly and eagerly wrote down the lines that are here preserved. At this moment he was unfortunately called out by a person on business from Porlock, and detained by him above an hour, and on his return to his room, found to his no small surprise and mortification, that though he still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general purpose of the vision, yet with the exception of some eight or ten scattered lines and images, all the rest had passed away" .
which is regarded as an excessive explanation and therefore not extremely credible (Coleridge 52-53).