Samuel Taylor Coleridge(1772-1834)

“Kubla Khan” & “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Coleridge

• Two facts to know:– Co-wrote Lyrical

Ballads with Wordsworth

– Abused Opium and Booze

“Kubla Khan”

• 1816• Opium dream

Two Themes

#1 – Creativity - East half of the room

search for this. Mark lines where this theme is apparent.

#2 – The Loss of Paradise

- West half of the room search for this. Mark lines where this theme is apparent.

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Overview

• The Ancient Mariner (read: old man) tells a tale at a wedding.

• The poem itself is about a mariner who after killing an albatross, a sea bird of good luck, undergoes a torturing experience that is meant to be reparation for his deeds.

Themes to Look For

• Natural Elements

• Connections to Coleridge's addiction – penance and suffering

• Parallels and connections to the movie, White Squall

Coleridge felt a deep sense of sin, for his opium addiction and

otherwise.

The poem could be his way of fathoming his feelings.The “strange power” of the Ancient Mariner, as his difficult feelings.

“mingled strangely with my fears”

“I know that man … must hear me” / “To him my tale I teach”

Just as the Ancient Mariner has to re-

tell his tale, Coleridge has to

keep on returning to this poem and

revising it…

“Instead of the cross, the Albatross/ About my neck was hung”

“I had killed the bird / That made the breeze to blow”

“Hailed it in God’s name”

“Christian soul”

Penance

Some critics maintain that this ballad was an exploration, by Coleridge, into the science vs. spirituality debate:

There are many mysterious fantastical images,

the “glittering eye” with its “strange power”

the “polar spirits” and “seraph band”

The latin preface says, “Human cleverness has always sought knowledge of these things, never attained it”.

He was at a point in his life where he was more concerned with the rational than the empirical, this poem was an exploration of the former.

Science vs. Spirituality

As you read, make note of:

• Plot

• Plot structure

• Themes– Nature– Penance and suffering– White Squall parallels

• Footnotes on last page

Homework

• Read the rest of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

• We will have an in class assignment tomorrow based on the reading.