Episode 249: “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by S. T. Coleridge, Part 2

Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast and the wrap up of our series on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Today Angelina and Thomas cover the second half of the poem, beginning with some more discussion about the Romantic poets and what they were trying to do through their work. They talk at some length about the importance of imagination and fantasy in response to the focus on realism and science. After this, Thomas reads aloud some of the most important passages in this section of the poem. Angelina brings up the importance of understanding Deism in relation to Romanticism.

Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com to register for Dr. Anne Phillips webinar on Plato’s Republic coming up this November. You can also check out the first book published by Cassiodorus Press, Why Literature Still Matters by Dr. Jason Baxter.

Related Episodes:

Hard Times by Charles Dickens (Episodes 139-144)

“On Fairy Stories” by J. R. R. Tolkien (Episode 189)

“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant (Episode 228)

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Episodes 107-113)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (Episodes 25-29)

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling (Episodes 232-235)

Phantastes by George MacDonald (Episodes 71-75)

Listen to The Literary Life:

Commonplace Quotes:

In my own judgment the poem had too much; and that the only, or chief fault, if I might say so, was the obtrusion of the moral sentiment so openly on the reader as a principle or cause of action in a work of such pure imagination. It ought to have no more moral than the Arabian Nights’ tale of the merchant’s sitting down to eat dates by the side of a well, and throwing the shells aside, and lo! a genie starts up , and says he must kill the aforementioned merchant, because one of the dat shells had, it seems, put out the eye of the genie’s son.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from Table Talk (May 31, 1830 issue)

Snobbery only begins when other claims to quality fail.

Frank Swinnerton, from Tokefield Papers

Parta Quies

by A. E. Housman

Good-night; ensured release,
Imperishable peace,
Have these for yours,
While sea abides, and land,
And earth's foundations stand,
And heaven endures.

When earth's foundations flee,
Nor sky nor land nor sea
At all is found,
Content you, let them burn:
It is not your concern;
Sleep on, sleep sound.

Book List:

(Amazon Affiliate Links are included in this post.)

The Aeneid by Virgil

Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Support The Literary Life:

Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!

Connect with Us:

You can find Angelina and Thomas at HouseofHumaneLetters.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/

Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB

Subscribe to The Lit Life: