samuel coleridge the rime of the ancient mariner

The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, Yet he cannot choose but hear And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. The bride hath paced into the hall, Red as a rose is she Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy. Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon-’ The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, For he heard the loud bassoon. The Sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he ! And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea.

The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone : He cannot choose but hear And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner.’ ‘The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. He holds him with his glittering eye- The Wedding-Guest stood still, And listens like a three years’ child : The Mariner hath his will. ‘Hold off ! unhand me, grey-beard loon !’ Eftsoons his hand dropt he. ‘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 : Mayst hear the merry din.’ He holds him with his skinny hand, ‘There was a ship,’ quoth he. Coleridge would have been aware of the rumours that Christian had faked his own death and returned to England – therefore the old man of the poem could well have been inspired by Christian.Part I It is an ancient Mariner And he stoppeth one of three. There’s also a theory that the old man who speaks at the start of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner may have been Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny onboard the HMS Bounty in 1789. This account refers to an old man who had been shipwrecked and survives thanks to angels piloting the ship. Others say the poem was inspired by a dream that Coleridge's friend, George Cruikshank had after reading Thomas James's Strange and Dangerous Voyage. The ship, called the Speedwell, was later lost at Juan Fernandez Island. Shelvocke writes of an incident when his second in command shot an albatross, which had been following the ship for several days. The ancient mariner didn’t exist but it’s likely that Coleridge was inspired by a conversation with fellow poet William Wordsworth, who had recently read George Shelvocke's A Voyage Round the World. The seaman, who is the ancient mariner of the title, then roams the world retelling the tale of his cursed journey. Rime of the Ancient Mariner tells of the misfortunes of a seaman who shoots an albatross, which spells disaster for his ship and fellow sailors. Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge was first published in 1798 and is one of the most famous poems in the English language.

Samuel coleridge the rime of the ancient mariner