'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner': Navigating Troubled Waters with Coleridge

In this week’s episode of “Beyond the Verse,” the official podcast of PoemAnalysis.com and Poetry+, Maiya and Joe dive into Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s haunting masterpiece, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’.They begin with Coleridge’s life and the birth of the Romantic movement, situating the poem within its 1798 publication in Lyrical Ballads. The hosts explore Coleridge’s radical youth, his bond with Wordsworth, and the wider cultural context of exploration, superstition, and shifting faith in the late eighteenth century.The discussion moves through the Mariner’s fateful journey: the killing of the albatross, the curse that follows, and the unsettling mix of Christian and pre-Christian imagery. Maiya and Joe consider how Coleridge plays with ballad form, rhyme, and rhythm, using sing-song quatrains to deliver some of the darkest content in English poetry. They unpack how the albatross becomes one of literature’s most enduring symbols, resonating across writers from Mary Shelley and Charles Baudelaire to Herman Melville, Robert Eggers, and even Taylor Swift.By the end, the episode weighs whether the Mariner’s tale is really a moral teaching or simply an endless cycle of guilt and retelling, a punishment that reflects both ancient myth and Coleridge’s own troubled mind.Get exclusive Poetry PDFs on Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his poetry, available to Poetry+ users:‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ PDFs:PDF GuideQuiz PDFPoetry SnapshotPoem PrintablePoem Printable with MeterSend us a textPsst! The Folium Diary has something it wants to tell you - please come a little closer...YOU can change the world - you do it every day. Let's change it for the better, together.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showAs always, for the ultimate poetry experience, join Poetry+ and explore all things poetry at PoemAnalysis.com.

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