Narrative Poems: ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
About this episode
Seamus and Mark discuss the hallucinatory power of Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and its various interpretations.
In her diary entry for 20 November 1797, Dorothy Wordsworth describes a late afternoon walk with her brother William and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. ‘ We went eight miles in the dark,’ she wrote, ‘William and Coleridge employing themselves in laying the plan of a ballad.’ This was the origin of the opening poem of the ’Lyrical Ballads’, published the following year – the book often seen as marking the beginning of Romanticism. In this episode, Seamus and Mark discuss the strange hallucinatory power of ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ and Coleridge’s search for a meter that could capture the force of his imagination. They also consider some of the poem’s many interpretations, from the influence of abolitionist writing to William Empson’s reading of the shooting of the albatross, and consider whether it’s best understood as a terrible encounter at a wedding reception. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applesignupnp Other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/scsignupnp Read more in the LRB: Barbara Everett on Coleridge the modernist…
People in this episode
Hosts: Seamus, Mark
Topics covered
- Romanticism
- narrative poetry
- interpretation of poetry
- Coleridge's meter
- abolitionist writing
- wedding reception
Keywords
- Coleridge
- Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- Lyrical Ballads
- Romanticism
- poetry interpretation
- abolitionism
- wedding reception
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Lyrical Ballads
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