The Rime of the Ancient Mariner E-Book

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

• Herausgeber: BertaBooks
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner relates the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. The mariner stops a man who is on the way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. The wedding-guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience to fear to fascination as the mariner's story progresses, as can be seen in the language style: Coleridge uses narrative techniques such as personification and repetition to create a sense of danger or serenity, depending on the mood in different parts of the poem.  "The mariner's tale begins with his ship departing on its journey. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven south by a storm and eventually reaches Antarctic waters. An albatross appears and leads them out of the ice jam where they are stuck, but even as the albatross is praised by the ship's crew, the mariner shoots the bird. The crew is angry with the mariner, believing the albatross brought the south wind that led them out of the Antarctic. However, the sailors change their minds when the weather becomes warmer and the mist disappears. They soon find that they made a grave mistake in supporting this crime, as it arouses the wrath of spirits who then pursue the ship "from the land of mist and snow"; the south wind that had initially led them from the land of ice now sends the ship into uncharted waters near the equator, where it is becalmed."  The poem may have been inspired by James Cook's second voyage of exploration (1772–1775) of the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean; Coleridge's tutor, William Wales, was the astronomer on Cook's flagship and had a strong relationship with Cook. On this second voyage Cook crossed three times into the Antarctic Circle to determine whether the fabled great southern continent existed. Critics have also suggested that the poem may have been inspired by the voyage of Thomas James into the Arctic. "Some critics think that Coleridge drew upon James's account of hardship and lamentation in writing The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Leseprobe

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

Illustrated

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Copyright © 2017Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Amazing Classics

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THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

Illustrated by Gustave Doré

Facile credo, plures esse Naturas invisibiles quam visibiles in rerum universitate. Sed horum omnium familiam quis nobis enarrabit ? et gradus et cognationes et discrimina et singulorum munera ? Quid agunt ? quae loca habitant ? Harum rerum notitiam semper ambivit ingenium humanum, nunquam attigit. Juvat, interea, non diffiteor, quandoque in animo, tanquam in tabulâ, majoris et melioris mundi imaginem contemplari : ne mens assuefacta hodiernae vitae minutiis se contrahat nimis, et tota subsidat in pusillas cogitationes. Sed veritati interea invigilandum est, modusque servandus, ut certa ab incertis, diem a nocte, distinguamus.

— T. Burnet, Archaeol. Phil., p. 68 (1692)

ARGUMENT

How a Ship having passed the Line was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole ; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean ; and of the strange things that befell ; and in what manner the Ancyent Marinere came back to his own Country.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Wherefore stopp'st thou me? The Wedding Guest Red as a Rose is the Bride The Ship Fled the Storm It was Wondrous Cold The Ice was All Around The Albatross I shot the Albatross I had done a hellish thing Water, water, every where The Death-Fires Danced at Night Nine fathom deep he had followed us The Death Ship Nears The Game is Done! Each cursed me with his eye No saint took pity I looked upon the rotting sea And yet I could not die The moving Moon went up to the Sky I watched the water-snakes The rain poured down from one black cloud They all uprose The sails made on a pleasant noise I fell down in a swound Two voices in the air Without wave or wind The shadow of the moon In crimson colors came A heavenly sight The skiff-boat nears The Whirl The Pilot Oh shrieve me, holy man Strange power of speech I know the man that must hear me The Wedding Guests So Lonely The mariner is gone

PART THE FIRST.

It is an ancient Mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three.

"By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?

"The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,

And I am next of kin;

The guests are met, the feast is set:

May'st hear the merry din."

Wherefore stopp'st thou me?

He holds him with his skinny hand,

"There was a ship," quoth he.

"Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"

Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

He holds him with his glittering eye—

The Wedding-Guest stood still,

And listens like a three years child:

The Mariner hath his will.