“Kubla Khan” - 2025 ACF Fall

Tossup

A Samuel Purchas travelogue inspired this poem’s opening lines. (10[1]-5[1])The speaker (-5[1])of this poem imagines people (10[1])crying “Beware! Beware!” due to his “flashing (10[1])eyes (10[1])[and] flowing (10[1])hair” (-5[1])since he (10[1])“has drunk (-5[1])the milk of paradise.” (10[5])This poem’s final stanza (10[2]-5[1])describes (10[1])a dream (10[2])containing “a damsel (10[1])with a dulcimer (10[6])... singing (10[3])of Mount (10[3])Abora.” (10[5]-5[4])This poem (10[1])was left unfinished (10[1])because the interruption (10[1])of a “person (10[2])from (10[1])Porlock” (10[3])caused the author to forget (10[1])the opium (10[1])dream that inspired (10[1]-5[1])it. (10[7]-5[3])In this poem, (10[1])the (10[1])sacred (10[2])river (10[1])Alph (10[1])runs through (10[1])the “stately (10[2])pleasure (-5[2])dome” (10[3]-5[1])in the (10[1])capital (10[4]-5[1])of Xanadu. (10[5]-5[2])For (10[1])10 points, (10[1])name this Samuel (-5[1])Taylor (10[1]-5[1])Coleridge (10[2]-5[1])poem (-5[2])titled (10[2])for a Mongol Emperor. (10[3])■END■ (10[26]0[18])

ANSWER: “Kubla Khan” [or “Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream”]

<Editors, British Literature>

= Average correct buzz position

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Buzzes

Player	Team	Opponent	Position	Value
Beckett Pursey	Purdue B	Indiana A	8	-5
Aaron Bates	Washington Pink	Washington State	8	10
Thaddeus Holmes	Durham C	Edinburgh A	10	-5
Ruby Xia	Arizona State B	Texas	15	10
Devin Tharp	Chipola College	Vanderbilt A	22	10
Lauren Stamp	Cambridge A	Southampton	23	10
Jonathan Schnipper	Brandeis Mozart	Vermont B	25	10
Fern Fang	VCU A	Virginia Tech C	26	-5
Bryce Younger	Boise State	Washington Sockeye	28	10
James Zhao	Vanderbilt C	Mississippi State A	30	-5
Cole Hennessy	UCF A	Florida B	34	10
Nick Smemoe	UNC A	William & Mary A	34	10
Camden Walker	WashU Grolars	Rose-Hulman A	34	10
Ethan Altshul	Emory A	Georgia Tech F	34	10
Eric Zhu	Cornell D	Binghamton A	34	10
Lorie Au-Yeung	UCSC	Berkeley Little Prince	38	10
Liam Markland	Alberta A	British Columbia B	38	-5
Steven Pan	Georgia Tech C	Tennessee A	38	10
Fuller Wray	Virginia Tech A	Virginia A	39	10
Tosca Zhang	NYU A	George Mason B	41	10
Waverly O'Malley	Iowa A	Illinois Urbana	41	10
Blake Johnson	Boston College A	Tufts B	44	10
Malcolm Meyn	McGill C	McGill B	47	10
Mary Kate Vance	Louisville A	Louisville B	47	10
Emily Kadolph	Virginia Tech B	NCSU A	47	10
Coy Mier	Auburn B	Tennessee Tech	47	10
Trey Lewis	South Carolina A	Georgia Tech A	47	10
Pen Hughes	Edinburgh C	Sheffield B	47	10
Joshua Lam	Ohio State B	Pittsburgh	49	10
Ian Saylor	Wisconsin A	Macalester	49	10
Michael Ai	Williams A	Southern Connecticut State University A	49	10
Alden Thompson	Carleton A	Ottawa C	51	10
Gannon Smith	Maryland A	Princeton	51	10
Oliver Morten	Cardiff	Bristol	51	10
Joseph Wang	UCLA E	UC Irvine	52	-5
Sewanth Paudel	Ohio State C	Michigan State B	52	10
Kevin Zheng	Michigan A	Michigan State C	52	10
Nicholas Decker	George Mason A	Rutgers D	52	-5
Kevin Yang	Illinois Blue	Illinois Canada	52	10
Connor King	St. Thomas	Iowa State	52	-5
Anthony Xu	Amherst A	Williams B	52	10
Alice Zhang	Dartmouth A	Amherst B	52	10
Antony Bailey	York	Edinburgh B	52	-5
Max Kurzman	UNC D	UNC C	54	10
Elizabeth Bowling	Indiana B	Chicago A	57	10
Tobias Smerdon	Toronto G	Waterloo C	60	10
Dmitri Anh-Minh Tran	UC Santa Barbara	UCLA F	63	10
Andrew Wilson	Montevallo	Clemson C	63	10
Vivian Fan	Claremont A	UCLA B	64	10
Matthew Stall	CWRU D	Michigan State A	65	10
William Erwin	William & Mary B	Duke A	65	10
Louis Harney	Georgia Tech B	Auburn A	65	10
Madeline Painter	Georgia Tech D	Sewanne	70	10
Britton Webster	Alabama A	Clemson A	72	10
Eric Morshed	Johns Hopkins	Columbia A	75	-5
Micah Lauzon	Dartmouth B	Boston University A	75	10
Yechan Park	Berkeley Boss Bandit	Berkeley Archer Queen	76	10
Diego Monge	Claremont C	USC B	76	10
Hafsa Shaikh	Toronto I	Brock A	76	-5
Gary Wang	Michigan D	CWRU A	76	10
Jonah Chancio	JMU A	William & Mary C	76	-5
Sam Alahi	Illinois Orange	Purdue C	76	-5
Ben Stras	Wisconsin C	Wisconsin B	76	10
Duncan Occhiogrosso	UConn A	Tufts A	76	10
James O'Reilly	Arizona State A	British Columbia C	76	10
Alice Groth	Durham B	Durham A	76	10
Richy Sun	Vanderbilt B	Auburn C	79	10
Nayaaz Hashim	Oxford	Cambridge E	80	10
Joshua Garner	Ohio State A	WVU B	81	10
Juliette Flatau	Imperial A	Cambridge D	81	10
Ollie Glin-Conway	Imperial D	Imperial B	82	10
Ben Spirtas	Maryland C	Lehigh A	83	10
Henry Siegler	Toronto D	Toronto B	85	10
Abigail Lee	Virginia Tech C	VCU A	87	10
Will Hoover	RIT A	Rochester	87	10
Aedan Cooper	Ottawa A	McGill A	88	-5
Harry Barsan	Louisville C	Michigan C	88	-5
Jacob Cohen	UCLA A	UCSD A	89	10
Alex Dzurick	William Woods University A	Illinois Champaign	89	10
Charles Xin	British Columbia A	Washington Atlantic	89	10
Niyanthi Yamunan	Georgia Tech E	Georgia A	89	-5
Towery McNeil	Mississippi State A	Vanderbilt C	91	10
Carter Yott	McMaster A	Toronto A	92	-5
Juan Landaeta	Florida State A	Florida Tech B	92	10
Meredith Wiper	CWRU B	CWRU C	92	10
Anna Bocook	Louisville D	Ohio State D	92	10
Jason Lee	Rutgers A	Vassar A	92	10
John Rootham	Ottawa D	Ottawa B	94	-5
Dylan Steptoe	Guelph A	McMaster B	94	10
Colette Giezentanner	WashU Grizzlers	Chicago B	94	10
Ben Mowery	Vermont A	Boston College B	94	10
Thomas Newill	Tufts C	Brown A	94	-5
Asheton Wilbanks	Clemson B	Tennessee B	94	10
Leo Neve	Durham D	Sheffield A	94	10
Sean Gao	Toronto E	Waterloo B	95	10
Alex Wong	Rutgers D	George Mason A	97	10
John Shelly	Rowan	Columbia B	100	-5
Maya Vardag	Waterloo A	Toronto C	101	-5
Will Jones	Michigan State D	Kentucky	101	10
Jacob Ergueta	Florida A	Florida Tech A	102	10
Rohit Chintala	Maryland B	Rutgers B	102	10
Ethan Enochian	Purdue D	Iowa B	102	-5
Gabriel Dodds	Liberty C	JMU B	103	-5
Rishi Swaminathan	NYU B	Rutgers C	103	-5
Nathaniel Martin	Brandeis Bach	Williams C	104	10
Gabriel Nell	Cornell B	Binghamton B	104	10
Jackson Crickard	Claremont B	USC A	108	10
Anjali Rao	Ottawa B	Ottawa D	108	10
Daniel Huang	Michigan C	Louisville C	108	10
Ty Brennan	Berkeley Mighty Miner	Stanford B	109	0
Danny Han	Stanford B	Berkeley Mighty Miner	109	0
Ritisha Dey	Stanford A	Berkeley Skeleton King	109	0
Hansen Jin	Berkeley Skeleton King	Stanford A	109	0
Katherine Mack	UC Irvine	UCLA E	109	0
Nikola Wu	UCLA D	UCSD B	109	0
Yuv Magan	UCSD B	UCLA D	109	10
Charlie Ruff	McGill A	Ottawa A	109	10
Valerie Brown	Carleton B	McGill E	109	0
Gerrit Severeid	McGill E	Carleton B	109	0
Abigail Elms	Queen's A	McMaster C	109	10
Ellen Ge	Toronto A	McMaster A	109	0
Sicheng Jiang	Toronto H	Toronto F	109	0
Imtiaz Kidwai	Toronto F	Toronto H	109	10
Nameer Qadir	Toronto C	Waterloo A	109	0
Addison Wiggins	South Florida A	ERAU Daytona A	109	10
AnnaLee Simpson	Tusculum A	NCSU B	109	10
Charles Miller	William & Mary C	JMU A	109	10
Arlene Lopez	Stony Brook	George Mason C	109	10
Mackenzie Tott	Columbia A	Johns Hopkins	109	10
Yiwei Jiang	NYU C	Lehigh B	109	0
Elias Lowrey	Lehigh B	NYU C	109	0
Vedh Ramesh	Penn	Vassar B	109	0
Nico Lotto	Vassar B	Penn	109	10
Neal Tandon	Columbia B	Rowan	109	0
Sophia Peng	Rutgers C	NYU B	109	0
Arthur Zhang	Purdue C	Illinois Orange	109	10
Trenton Burgess	Indiana A	Purdue B	109	10
Alex Matchinski	Michigan Tech	Minnesota	109	0
Merrick Hill	Iowa State	St. Thomas	109	10
Nikhil Nair	Boston University B	Brandeis Beethoven	109	10
Emma Gates	Brown A	Tufts C	109	10
William Berger	Dartmouth C	MIT B	109	10
Henry Rutherford-Braun	British Columbia B	Alberta A	109	10
Brandon Wiltse	Washington Chinook	Washington Coho	109	10
Luke Simon	Alberta B	Washington Masu	109	10
Britt Bernstein	Georgia A	Georgia Tech E	109	10
Harry Sexton	Edinburgh A	Durham C	109	10
Alex Miller	Edinburgh B	York	109	10
Charlie Nicholls	Cambridge C	Birmingham	109	0
Daniel Hobba	Cambridge B	Imperial C	109	10
Shlok Dev	LSE	Warwick	109	10
Connor Yu	Cornell C	Cornell A	109	10
Jake Scoville	RIT B	ESF	109	10

Summary

Tournament	Edition	TUH	Conv. %	Neg %	Average Buzz
UK (North)	UK	5	100%	40%	87.00
UK (South)	UK	8	88%	0%	76.43
Northern California	US	4	50%	0%	57.00
Southern California	US	7	86%	14%	84.83
Eastern Canada (1)	US	5	80%	40%	78.75
Eastern Canada (2)	US	9	67%	33%	92.00
Florida	US	4	100%	0%	84.25
Great Lakes	US	11	100%	9%	74.09
Lower Mid-Atlantic	US	9	89%	33%	68.00
Upper Mid-Atlantic	US	12	75%	33%	88.11
Midwest	US	9	89%	33%	73.13
North	US	4	75%	25%	78.00
Northeast	US	12	100%	8%	74.83
Pacific	US	8	100%	13%	67.88
Southeast	US	13	100%	15%	63.92
Upstate NY	US	5	100%	0%	88.60