The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Music

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a very popular poem and it has had a great influence on music. For instance the band Iron Maiden has a song all about this poem. The band Iron Maiden first came together in London, England in 1975 on Christmas day. The lyrics of the song are down below.
 Hear the rime of the ancient mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
Stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea.

And the music plays on, as the bride passes by
Caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale.

Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
To a place where nobody's been
Through the snow fog flies on the albatross
Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings.

And the ship sails on, back to the North
Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on.

The mariner kills the bird of good omen
His shipmates cry against what he's done
But when the fog clears, they justify him
And make themselves a part of the crime.

Sailing on and on and north across the sea
Sailing on and on and north 'til all is calm.

The albatross begins with its vengeance
A terrible curse a thirst has begun
His shipmates blame bad luck on the mariner
About his neck, the dead bird is hung.

And the curse goes on and on at sea
And the thirst goes on and on for them and me.

"Day after day, day after day,
we stuck nor breath nor motion
as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean
Water, water everywhere and
all the boards did shrink
Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink."

There calls the mariner
There comes a ship over the line
But how can she sail with no wind in her sails and no tide.

See...onward she comes
Onward she nears out of the sun
See, she has no crew
She has no life, wait but there's two.

Death and she Life in Death,
They throw their dice for the crew
She wins the mariner and he belongs to her now.
Then...crew one by one
they drop down dead, two hundred men
She...she, Life in Death.
She lets him live, her chosen one.

"One after one by the star dogged moon,
too quick for groan or sigh
each turned his face with a ghastly pang
and cursed me with his eye
four times fifty living men
(and I heard nor sigh nor groan)
with heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
they dropped down one by one."

The curse it lives on in their eyes
The mariner he wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures
But they lived on, so did he.

And by the light of the moon
He prays for their beauty not doom
With heart he blesses them
God's creatures all of them too.

Then the spell starts to break
The albatross falls from his neck
Sinks down like lead into the sea
Then down in falls comes the rain.

Hear the groans of the long dead seamen
See them stir and they start to rise
Bodies lifted by good spirits
None of them speak and they're lifeless in their eyes

And revenge is still sought, penance starts again
Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on.

Now the curse is finally lifted
And the mariner sights his home
spirits go from the long dead bodies
Form their own light and the mariner's left alone.

And then a boat came sailing towards him
It was a joy he could not believe
The pilot's boat, his son and the hermit,
Penance of life will fall onto him.

And the ship it sinks like lead into the sea
And the hermit shrieves the mariner of his sins.

The mariner's bound to tell of his story
To tell this tale wherever he goes
To teach God's word by his own example
That we must love all things that God made.

And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man
And the tale goes on and on and on

This song is almost the same as the poem.

Community Blog post

The blog of my choice for review was Coleridge Comberbache, the Man of two names, this blog was created by Michelle, Karly, Alana and Mikayla. I was interested in there blog because it had somewhat of relating topics in between there blog and my groups blog. There blog was all on Coleridge and what he has written. And my blog was on "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" As i looked over there blog I notice that they had a lot of pictures including pictures from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. I really liked how they put those images into there blog it made it feel more alive to me as I went over it. It was good because they talked about most of Coleridge's work and not just one piece of his work like my group did. What interested me the most was there post on "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner" because that is what we had done blog on are. This blog was very well thought out and has great posts as well as a great title. This is a good blog for people who are interested in Coleridge and his work.  They way the whole blog looked and the color's they choses  came together really well and was appealing to the eye and they had really nice pictures.  After reading this blog you will have more knowledge about Coleridge and his work. Overall this blog was good and enjoyable to review.

Prose Poem: Lies

Why do people lie? They lie because there scared, they lie because there afraid, because they need to protect themselves from something. Lies will only destroy ones life and turn it into a disaster. You can choose to tell the truth or live the lie. The more one lies the more difficult it becomes to stop. It feels like a addiction to one who can not stop lining. Lies will consume one's soul, lies will destroy whom who lies and will leave whom with nothing left in life. To who who lies lose friends, family and loved ones. To whom lies will never be trusted by anyone. To those who live in lies live in darkness and will never see the light until the say the truth. To whom that lies is not alive but the walking dead. If your not living the truth your not living at all. To whom that lies is hiding in the darkness and is afraid to come out there for they might get hurt. How do you tell one whom lies to stop lining. You can not tell one who lies to stop. To whom who lies has to stop one's self there for they will have to tell the truth. And to whom that can tell the truth after being dead can become alive.

Reading Response #3

Daniel P. Watkins is the author of the article that I read. In this article the author tells us about history as demon in Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The author shows the two most relating aspects in the poem and how things in the poem symbolize Christianity as well as demonic forces. He explains the parallels between  the albatross and the wedding guest and how they are very important to everything that follows. How the mariner gets both of there undivided attention. The wedding guest is described in terms of religion as well as the albatross, like the wedding guest the bird has religious significance when he came to the mariner "As if it had been a Christian soul" (65). And when reading this poem who really is the mariner? "Ha! Ha! quoth he, full plain I see, The devil knows how to row"(568). When the mariner kills the albatross what we see is Christian power turn into demonic power. The power that the mariner has is capable of recking certainty and turns of orthodoxy upside down an example of this is when the ship rounds the horn and heads into the pacific ocean then the "sun rose upon the right" (83) this happens when the mariner kills the albatross. When the darkness come's and the wind stops to blow the mariner is treated just how he treated the albatross. Christian symbols become symbols of death and violence. And finally after days with no food or water the mariner bless's the snakes without thinking about it, just how when he shot the albatross impulsively. In addition another example of the reversal that happens in the begging and the end of the mariners journey. In the begging of the poem the mariner is happy, he passes a light house which symbols's security this also happen's when he return's but now on the skeleton ship, but the ship dose not immediately come to port but stops in the bay. The ship gives off light hoping people on land would come to see. Pilot, Pilot's boy and hermit sail into the bay toward the ship they are starring into the light. The author believes because of that the mariner is a demon "who's deepest evil resides in his professions of religious pity"(524). The mariner speaks of family, religion and pray after his story. "None of these is a sign of certainty and benevolence; they are signs of hope that come from draning the life and spit of the innocence"(526). In the end the author tells what he thinks is the true meaning of this poem. He says just to try and understand the poem you have to consider the horror elements in the same way that social and historical criticism has begun to explain Gothic imagination. In horror stories very real and very accurate depictions of family life, religion, social class, and political power. He believes that the poem is  the portrayal of these social relations. The mariner leaves social life which had Christian values and now is isolated by himself on a ship until the mariner draws from is own resources  for strength and nourishment he sucks his own blood. And when he returns home he is no longer apart of the community rather is own strength feed of those around him. He only is pursuing personal power. And the community that we see in the begging of the poem is not the same community at the end. The change is from a view of a society that shares into a society that is based of individual desire. This promotes private consumption of the world within Christian values in society, people have come to feed of one another and themselves in stead of finding power from sharing. The mariner and the wedding guest parts ways, the talk is of God and love but the reality is isolation. This is the real horror the poem describes, says the author the, individuals growing distance from the forms of social life that he believes contain the highest possibilities of purpose and meaning.

This poem to me was very weird  because of all the things that happen in the poem. For instance why did the mariner kill the albatross? And why did all of the sailors  have to die? In the Article that I read  portrayed the mariner as a demon. Since the author of the article suggested that the mariner was a demon and thats what caused all the horrible things to take place. After reading the article I have not yet came to a conclusion to who the mariner is. Overall this poem was very strange and interesting.




Ashley Cramblett

Community Blog Post

Though my time as a blogger has been fairly short, blogging has become a very fun thing to do. I recently started looking at a blog published bu other students like myself. The blog is called Coleridge Comberbache; the Man of Two Names, and was made by four students from Mark Turner's first period class. Unlike our blog who focuses on a single work of Samuel Coleridge, their blog focuses on the author himself as well as all of his work. The blog features several interesting posts by it's writers. One post talks about The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and features several pictures and pieces of artwork relating to the poem. Each of the picture in this post is given an explanation, which helps to clarify the events that are transpiring. More interesting posts include one about opium, and Coleridge's involvement with the drug. It tells of how his involvement with the drug caused him to write some of his work. They also cover some of Coleridge's other famous pieces, such as Kubla Khan. My favorite post this blog is one that talks about one of my favorite music groups, Rush. They write about how the poem Kubla Khan influenced their song Xanadu, from their A Farewell to Kings album. The written contents of the blog are not the only thing that make it appealing, for the blog is full of visual examples as well. Many images are present throughout the blog. Almost every prose poem written has an image to accompany it, which helps to paint a clearer image of their poem. Ways to engage readers of the blog have been implemented as well. A poll regarding which one of Coleridge's poems the reader likes the best is found at the bottom of the blog. Overall, this blog is very strong. The authors clearly show understanding and dedication to the topic at hand. For someone who is not familiar with Romanticism, this blog helps to get them acquitted with one of the most influential authors of that time. With exceptional writing and a well crafted visual appeal, this blog is one to be witnessed. It is from looking at how their blog is successful that I will be able to improve on my blog and posts. By adding more to the visual aesthetics of my blog I will be able to make a more enjoyable and captivating experience for my readers.




Alex Jorge

Prose Poem: Secrets

Secrets, why must they hide, and make themselves invisible to us? For a secret that lies dormant is one that will never be heard. Why must we hide them from others? For a secret of love, is one meant to be heard. It hides it self out of it's timid nature, and never confesses it's true emotions. For if it were to be heard, passion would to be born, and eternal love would be crafted. A secret of shame should not be kept. For secrets of shame will consume ones life, and prevent them from advancing. It is not worth to stop our lives to mask our shame. We must find revelation in our actions, by revealing those secrets. A violent secret is one to be deal with carefully, for it's destructive ways may do harm. One must not allow them to manifest is a physical form, for it is then that it will have consumed you. Silencing violent secrets will make them turn against you, and causes pain to it's keeper. A truthful secret is much like a bomb, and in cases may have inevitable destruction. It is one that must be revealed with compassion and understanding, for it is one f the most powerful. It may ruin relationships, or save them. Even if we are not prepared to face such powerful force, the truth must never be permanently kept from us. For the truth must be revealed before the moment is too late. We cannot live in a world of lies, in a world were our true selves are hidden. For we are much like secrets. We cannot hide out of shame or anger, and we must not be afraid to face the truth or love. For it is only when we let ourselves be heard, that we can truly live.

Alex Jorge

Love: Prose Poem

Love is blind, love is kind, love is everlasting.
Why is it that we must face the fake clones of it in our lives so much? Of love, there is no real thing seen in my life. Only its clones, these clones masquerade as it and slowly poison. Love is a beautiful rose: full of life, untainted, free, and forever. If love is a rose, the clones would be the weeds that pose as a flower. The bees see a flower and so fall for the clone, while the real flower see this and must go unseen. What the bees don't realize is, the longer they go to the weed, the farther they get from the rose. Luckily, the rose will always be there, even if the bees have to navigate through a forest of weeds.
I see this everyday, the pain that the weeds cause. High school is like a poorly tended garden, there may be roses, and they are very pretty, but they are surrounded by way too many weeds. I know some people that have made it to the rose, and I hope that they stay there. But far too many times, I see couples that have gone to the weeds and stayed there, mistaking it for the rose.
At times, they leave the weed only to go back to it again, but maybe it needs to be done. Maybe it is only when we have felt the poison of the weeds that we may finally tell the difference of the rose. Its may be true that love is blind, but we have to believe that we are at the rose, even if we aren't. If you have been to the weed and back again, at least you can look back and know the mistakes, the wrong turns, and make for the rose again.
There is a certain quote that I believe is true when it comes to this: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Vincent Nguyen