Rime of the ancient mariner
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge · first published 1827
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A mariner stops a man on his way to a wedding. The mariner then relates to the man all the events of a long sea voyage, arousing in his listener feeling of impatience, fear, fascination and bemusement.The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was published in the collection Lyrical Ballads (1798), which contributed significantly to the advent of modern poetry and the beginnings of British Romance literature.
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It's funny, I never cared much for poetry until I started listening to Iron Maiden and found out that "The Trooper" is based on "The Charge of the Light Brigade", as well as "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" being based on a Samuel Taylor Coleridge work. Now I enjoy reading both Coleridge and Tennyson quite a lot (as well as a few other poets, although it will never be my primary interest). And people…
on “Ask HN: What are your recommended reads that are available for free?” ↗The Road to Xanadu by John Livingston Lowes is a classic study on the literary influences in the writing of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan that tracks down the source of almost every word and phrase in the poems, from Coleridge's wide reading. Highly recommended!
on “Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1834)” ↗I'm going to do something a bit different from everyone else and suggest some poetry. 1) Songs of Innocence and of Experience from William Blake. 2) The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde 3) The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge I've started to enjoy reading poetry again. The education system managed to extinguish any love I had for poetry. It's been a bit over half a decade since I was in school,…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗…might have deemed it acceptable. The bar for similarity varies depending on the book the passage came from, my mood on any particular day, and how much I care about the contents of the passage. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, being poetry, doesn't get any latitude: I must remember the word exactly. Some of the tedious battle descriptions in Le Morte d'Arthur get a pass no matter how badly they go wrong. If a card is causing…
on “How to write good prompts: using spaced repetition to create understanding” ↗It reminds me of a line in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner": https://www.litscape.com/author/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge/The_...
on “Dogs poop in alignment with Earth’s magnetic field, study finds (2014)” ↗…you're making a bit of a sweeping statement there, dismissing literature because you don't like the culture it came from isn't a very strong argument in my opinion. It's a bit like someone dismissing The Rime of the Ancient Mariner simply because they happen to be an atheist and the Christian allusions aren't to their taste.
on “Brain implant provided immediate relief to a severely depressed patient” ↗Yes. At the moment, I’m working through Frankenstein, Alice in Wonderland, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, and the Rust book. This is still a fairly new strategy for me, so I don’t yet know how many parallel threads I can keep straight at the same time— So far, it doesn’t feel…
on “How to Use Anki to Improve Your Memory” ↗…thing). Other good readers of their own poetry - Yeats (though the recordings are very old), Dylan Thomas. Professional readers can sometimes do a good job - I have a recording of Michael Sheen doing "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which is completely over the top. Best to listen to a sample before you buy.
on “'The Waste Land' Reviewed (1923)” ↗…shared this very fitting sentiment on the news the new file(1)... http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-cvs&m=142989483913635&w=2 "The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea." — Ian Darwin The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
on “OpenBSD's safe, new file(1) implementation” ↗…about wanting to read new poems (ok, written within the last 30 years). Some are not bad. But I still go for the old stuff. Currently doing a lot of long drives and am almost half-way through memorizing Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
on “Only bad poems go viral” ↗