In April, I’m posting 26 blogs, one for every letter of the alphabet. I write historical romance set in Regency England, and I’m offering a brief lexicon of words to help you understand the story world of my Regency characters. Follow the links for more in depth information.

After much investigating, I managed to come up with an “X” word from the Regency era!

X is for Xanadu:

Xanadu was the location of the summer home of the Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan, the subject of a famous Regency era poem.

On April 10, 1816, a momentous meeting of two regency poets took place. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and George Gordon, Lord Byron met at Lord Byron’s home in Piccadilly. Coleridge charmed Byron with a recitation of his poem, Kubla Khan, written years earlier.

Byron arranged a meeting between Coleridge and a publisher, and soon after Kubla Khan was published and made available to the public.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Map of Xanadu, or “Xandu”

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree :

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

I can’t recall encountering a reference to Coleridge or his Xanadu in any Regency romance novels. Perhaps I need to include him in one of my stories!

Questions? Comments? Visit tomorrow for the letter W!

Images: badge, a-to-zchallenge.com; all others, Wikimedia