The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Overview

One of the great narrative poems in English, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is admired for its fluid meter and masterly structure, accurate observation of sensuous detail and mystic power. Coleridge asserted that his aim in writing the poem was to make the supernatural seem real. Now readers can enjoy this landmark of English literature and over twenty other poems by Coleridge in this inexpensive, authoritative edition. Included are two other famous narrative poems, "Kubla Khan" and "Christabel," along with a selection of sonnets, lyrics, and odes. Among these are the moving "Sonnet: To a Friend who asked how I felt when the Nurse first presented my Infant to me," "Frost at Midnight," "The Nightingale," "The Pains of Sleep," "To William Wordsworth," and "Youth and Age." All are reprinted from an authoritative edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486272665
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	09/18/1992
Series:	Dover Thrift Editions: Poetry
Edition description:	Unabridged
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	392,057
Product dimensions:	5.19(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) was a founder of the English Romantic movement and a member of the Lake Poets. Although less well known than his contemporaries Wordsworth and Shelley, he created an enormously influential body of poetry and literary criticism. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is his masterpiece.
In addition to his work as an illustrator of classics, Hungarian-born artist Willy Pogány (1882–1955) served as an art director on several Hollywood films, including Fashions of 1934 and Dames. He was also an author and teacher whose instructive manuals include Dover's Drawing Lessons.

Table of Contents

To the Author of 'The Robbers' [sonnet; 1794?]
Sonnet: To a Friend Who Asked, How I Felt When the Nurse First Presented My Infant to Me [1796]
This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison [1797]
The Dungeon [1797]
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner [1797-98, revised later; marginal glosses added 1815-16]
On a Ruined House in a Romantic Country [No. III of 'Sonnets Attempted in the Manner of Contemporary Writers,' 1797]
Christabel [Part 1, 1797; Part II, 1800; 'The Conclusion to Part II,' 1801]
Frost at Midnight [1798]
France: An Ode [1798]
Lewti; or, The Circassian Love-Chaunt [1798]
Fears in Solitude [1798]
The Nightingale [1798]
Kubla Khan [1798]
The Ovidian Elegiac Metre [1799]
Something Childish, but Very Natural [1799]
Love [1799]
Dejection: An Ode [1802]
The Pains of Sleep [1803]
To William Wordsworth [1807]
The Knight's Tomb [1817?]
On Donne's Poetry [1818?]
Youth and Age [1823, with additions in 1832]
Cologne [1828]

Editorial Reviews

"It is an ancient Mariner, and he stoppeth one of thee...." Although these ominous lines perennially instill fear of final exams and term papers in the minds of high school students and Romantic English majors, they're not often remembered by adults. Mason's reading of Coleridge's 1796 epic poem is at once hypnotic and stirring. The Academy Award-nominated actor reads the chilling tale involving clashes with sea monsters, a boat swarming with zombies and a dice game with Death in an authoritative English accent. Like the ocean surrounding the Mariner's ship, his voice ebbs and flows with the imaginative poem's various heights. He quickly rattles off, "water, water, every where, and all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink" but gently whispers "And I had done an hellish thing, and it would work `em woe: For all averred, I had killed the bird that made the breeze to blow." Coleridge (1772-1834), uses words to make the fantastical believable, and here, Mason brings those words vividly to life. A bonus track features Mason's animated reading of The Hunting of the Snark, an eight-canto poem by Lewis Carroll. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 4 Up-- One of the classic poems of the romantic period of English literature has been illustrated with charcoal drawings and full-color, full-page pastel seascapes by Young. Coleridge's masterpiece has much to recommend it to a modern audience because of its central theme of the importance of ``all things both great and small;'' also, the mysterious supernatural events, the skeleton ship, and the zombie crew are occult touches that will appeal to many young readers. However, Coleridge's 18th-century rhymes and references make difficult reading and, although the marginal asides are helpful, much of the religious structure of the poem and many of the archaic words remain obscure. Although they may admire Young's dramatic pictures and will certainly enjoy the rich format of the book, few 20th-century readers will persevere unaided through all seven parts of this work of penitence. Its primary audience is adults who wish to preserve and use a recognized piece of English literature by reading it aloud to a new generation of young people. --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ

School Library Journal

Intended as a college-level introduction to the poem, this volume presents the 1798 and 1817 versions side by side, followed by five different critical approaches of the poem (reader-response, Marxist, New Historical, psychoanalytic, and deconstructivist) with discussion of each theoretical treatment. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Booknews

The late James Mason chillingly renders Coleridge's 1798 verse fable, THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. In rhyming couplets, an old salt tells a passing stranger of how his killing an albatross on a sea voyage led to the deaths of his crew mates and other supernatural horrors. Aside from its mystical significance and poetic brilliance, the mariner's tale is something to scare Boy Scouts with at a late night camp-out. Mason delivers that scary yarn aspect as well as other virtues in the sonorous tones for which he is justly famous. Likewise, Roy Dotrice throws himself into Lewis Carroll's mock heroic HUNTING OF THE SNARK (1867), a perfect complement--or antidote--to MARINER. Dotrice possessed some of the same skills as Mason--a beautiful voice, elegance, and a seemingly effortless skill. As exhibited here, he also can let loose with plenty of delightful silliness. This volume, like the poems themselves, will engage both children and adults. Y.R. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

DEC 02/JAN 03 - AudioFile