The extract by Marco Polo is a real account of the city of Xanadu as he saw it first hand. He uses 2nd person to describe his findings, which helps the reader to envisage what it is like to be in Polo's shoes. The fact that Marco Polo is a famous explorer comes across as he writes because there are a lot of complex sentences and most of the are declaratives meaning he is clearly describing the images before him. He does however allow some emotion in so that you can appreciate the feeling the view gives him and the impression it makes, ".such exquisite art that you regard them with delight and astonishment." Also the use of abstract nouns and the adjective 'exquisite' here is a perfect example of how Polo has used words to depict passion and surprise. The poem is a recollection of an opium-induced dream in which Samuel Coleridge is taken to Xanadu. He begins describing the pleasure dome then the seeing of the dome and the river and its origins. The structure of the poem is very irregular and the rhyming pattern changes repeatedly. It begins as an iambic tetrameter but there are lots of variations. In some lines there are 12 syllables other only have 6. This makes the poem very un-lyrical which is not typical of the era however it does give the impression that the poets thoughts are wandering off all over the place as they do in a dream and also similarly to a river. The narrative stance is 3rd person and is very descriptive however in many places it is as though it is first person because it is very personal and narrative. You feel the emotion and passion of the writer due to the caesura. .
The passage is formed into paragraphs. Polo also uses quite a few parenthesize such as in the second paragraph where it says 'excluding such as are of ferocious nature' and later where it says 'at a spot in the Park where there is a charming wood'. The extract also features many syndetic lists helping to emphasize the vastness and ever-growing-glory it contains as though Polo cannot contain his awe and is letting it continuously stream on to the paper and every time he thinks he has round out of things to add he comes across another wonder.
