I love English class!

This is Mark Turner, he is the best English teacher ever. 
We thought this was precious. :)

Tear Drops, My Escape

 

My life full of misery helps me become what I am
All those moments of sadness as I am alone in a dark room
Only make me stronger
I let myself know crying is my form of escape:
 Soft, silk skin
That seems to be full of life
Yet endless misery is what feeds the heart

As I gather to the beginning of my journey I ask myself
Why do I have to be a carrier of pure sadness?
Why do I have to stain this sacred face with agony?

However, I realize that is not my reason for creation
I am who gets rid of the undesired pain
Rolling down the cheek, I feel a chill
A silence that kills me,
I wish I could scream that everything will be okay
But how?
There’s no escape to what I am living through
Nothing but myself makes all be better

My salty taste is regretful
My wetness is purity
My feeling is sincerit
Once I fall from the cheek
Into the unknown
I know I have let the pain out
The end to my journey has arrrived.

Looking into the distance I seek myself
After all those tears
I find myself
Where have I been all this time?
Was I a lost soul?

My face, a storm
Who destroyed my smile
Those lips that opened and showed the bright joy of life

All this destruction created
A better me

A different me
One who understands crying is okay.

Transformation, Faith, and Devotion

Reading "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" with different aspects opens the mind to different interpretations with themes Coleridge trys to convey to the audience. Although there are several themes that are acknowledge throughout the poem, a few of the most significant are transformation, faith, and devotion.
The mariner and the wedding guest go through major transformations that change their lives with the event they live through, either physically or imaginatively.
Faith, not something the mariner first realizes he possess of is outputted as he lives through a horrific event after being so delighted and happy. Not caring, he shoots and kills an albatross which will later be his curse. "For all averred I had killed the bird That made the breeze blow." While everyone else in the ship dies, he is left to suffer life-in-death. That is where faith comes back to him because he wishes he went not on with this situation. "Ah wel-a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead the cross the albatross About my neck was hung." The albatross he killed with no regret now filled the empty space he had on his chest. Like many who are devoted into a religious surrounding and carry a symbol of faith, this too did the mariner wish to do. "I looked to heaven and tried to pray But or ever a prayer had gushed, A wisked whisper came and made My heart as dry as dust" indicates his seeking in other ways to show faith.
Devotion is put in perspective along with faith to show the transformation the mariner goes through in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Blake's Prophecies Revealed

Looking through the list of blogs my fellow classmates have done thus far, I was impressed and interested in finding out what "Blake's Prophecies Revealed" created by Edde Diaz, Makenna Childers, Alex Pinzon, and Hanh Tran was about. At first glance, I was impressed with the layout that was used for the blog posts. The layout alone, marks a strong impression that without a doubt, the blog post support it. Thus making it easily for others to learn about William Blake and his peices of work that marked the great time period of Romanticism. Not only does it provide information but the pictures create a better understanding on what is being conveyed.

I also found very helpful the diversity the blog. It reveals different poems William Blake wrote, ones that I may not have read about and understood without the help of this blog.

I was astounded with Edde Diaz's prose poem because it describes a place and feeling that many are ignorant of. I can connect to the prose poem which makes me want to repeadily read it over because I can connect to it.

 

For anyone who is interested or curious to learn about information we are not always exposed to, this blog serves as reference to educate about a significant figure in the Romanticism period.

A Silver Heart

She was anxiously waiting for a man she wasn’t sure she wanted to see.

She was staring intensely t the black jacket she wore, pulling off every cat hair that clung to the fleece. One by one, each short white imperfection. She was trying to distract herself from the fact that he was late. Only by a mere minute, but it was enough to slowly encourage her fears that he wouldn’t show. Her stomach knotted.

She wondered if he would ever go back to the way he used to be. The man she remembered and she cared for. When she meant the world to him.

The last few years have progressively gotten worse for her, but they both shared the same laid back, easy going attitude that she wouldn’t let anything upset her. She never knew the source of her downfall would be him. She would try again and again to tell him, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him anything that would hurt him.

The dogs asleep on the living room floor, where she perched, opened their eyes and perked their ears. She knew what they must be hearing; his car in the drive way, his feet on the porch, all of them could hear the screen door squeak. Did she really want to see him? It seemed like this visit would just cause more pain in the end.

The knock on the front door sent her heart into a flurry.

She opened the door and saw the same familiar face. The smile that made his eyes crinkle was identical to her own. “Merry Christmas” he said and handed her a small package. His gift for her.

Opening the small box revealed a silver heart shaped necklace. “You are always in my heart” had been engraved into the heart. In return, her defense crumbled, her heart melted, and the two embraced. He could only stay a minute, he had to go back to the airport. With a promise that “We’ll talk more often” he was gone.

She gazed at the beautiful gift, and turned it over in her hands. On the backside was another engraving “Love Dad”

By Kerri Peetz

Coleridge! Coleridge! Coleridge!

The man who wrote this amazing poem, his name is Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I figured after reading all this fantastic information about “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” you might want to know a little bit about the man who wrote it. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was one of the leaders in the British Romantic movement. He was born on October 21, 1772, in Devonshire, England. His father was an exceptional grammar school teacher, he was married twice and had fourteen children. Samuel was the youngest of all fourteen children and attended his fathers school and became an awesome reader! His father died in 1781 and Coleridge decided to attend Christ's Hospital School in London, where he makes friends with a classmate named Tom Evans, who introduced Coleridge to his family. Coleridge fell in love with Tom's older sister Mary. Coleridge's father’s dream for his son was to be to be a clergyman, so when Coleridge started Jesus College, University of Cambridge in 1791, he focused on a possible future with the Church of England. However, Coleridge's religious views, began to change over the course of his first year at Cambridge. While at Cambridge, Coleridge also accumulated a large debt, and financial problems continued to stay with him throughout his life.  He constantly depended on the support of others. On his way to Wales in June 1794, Coleridge met a student named Robert Southey. They began an instant friendship, the men shared their philosophical ideas. Influenced by Plato's Republic, they constructed a vision of pantisocracy, which means equal government by all, this involved emigrating to the New World with ten other families to set up a little village on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. Coleridge and Southey envisioned the men sharing the workload, great philosophical discussions, and freedom of religious and political beliefs. After visiting Wales, Coleridge went back to England to learn that Southey had become engaged to a woman named Edith Fricker. Marriage was a very important part of the plan to move to the New World, so even though Coleridge was still in love Mary Evans, he decided to marry Sarah Fricker, Edith’s sister, because Mary was already engaged to a different man.  Coleridge and Sarah’s wedding was in 1795, Coleridge's marriage was terrible and unhappy, they spent much time apart.  During that period, Coleridge and Southey collaborated to write a play. While they were still planning pantisocracy, Southey abandoned the project to pursue a job as a lawyer. Coleridge spent the next few years beginning his career as a writer. He never returned to Cambridge. In 1795 Coleridge met, and became friends with William Wordsworth who introduced Coleridge to the idea of Romanticism. Later Blake created his very, very famous poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which as you know what this whole blog is about!:) I need to give some credit to the people at Poets.org, because considering the fact the I don’t know all of this information off the top of my head, I needed a little bit of help from them, so thank you! 


By: Jordan Currier

Best Blake Blog!! :D

My amazing classmates and friends, Austin Schwartz, Erika Hewgley, Veronica Sanchez, and MJ Roy all are co-writers of The Blake Blog that's Better than the "Best Blake Blog". It is pretty obvious that these four students have created a very entertaining blog about the romantic poetry works of William Blake.  These four students have promised two things, that they will inform and educate you on William Blake and his work, and they have done an excellent job in doing so. They also have promised that they are “the hottest people in turners class” which that one, I am not so sure about. This is a great blog, so check it out!:)

Personally I am normally one who likes to blog themselves but I don’t really enjoy reading others’ blogs. This blog is much different though, I really enjoyed reading it! At first glace the blog is very  clean and organized and does not over whelm you with too much going on. The blog is very easy to navigate, and is also very first time blogger friendly. I learned that not only was Blake a poet he was also an artist. That’s awesome! Would you have ever thought that you could have connected an 18th and 19th century poet and artist to today’s pop culture? Well you can! Blake has influenced so many things in our culture today, such as: The U2 song, "Bullet in Blue Sky." The movies "V for Vendetta" and "The Watchmen" share the same main ideas as most of Blake’s work. Blake's poem “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” is featured as a preface in C.S. Lewis’ book “The Great Divorce.”  This blog is also a great way to get yourself introduced to romantic poetry, there is so much information on Blake’s life and some of his work, art and poetry, is displayed very clearly on the blog. Seeing some of Blake’s work displayed is intriguing and makes you want to go right away and learn all you call about Blake and all the other romantic poets. Even if you don’t think that you would like Romanticism, give it a shot, cause at first I didn’t think I would like it either, but now I absolutely love it. This blog is awesome place to start too!


By: Jordan Currier

Who are they now?

The old, weathered journal cracked as I opened it. I began to read the first and only thing written on the pages, it was titled, in my best second grade hand writing, "Popular." By the time I finished decoding the grammatical errors and misspelled words, the sentences were covered in teardrops.
My first reaction was thinking why did waste hours looking for this? This question triggered me to ask, did I let my self down? The words my former self wrote explained who I would be at 17, popular. Words I had used to describe popular include: Cheerleader, tall, tan and slender, I would have long, dark brown, curly hair, I would be dating the popular, star quarterback, I would have straight A’s, I would drive a red convertible, and everyone would love me.  Water was now pouring out of my eyes, I am none of those things. I could not help but think I had failed my self. Until, I read the last line my younger, freckled and brace faced self wrote, “always be happy.”
After reading the last line about 16 times I started to understand that I might be more happy now, than my naive self could have ever pictured. I started to think about everything that made me feel good, everything that if I had them with me, nothing could stop me, this included: God, a loving family, friends, Christmas, making others happy, summer, country music, soccer, the beach, nature, sunshine, and laughter. There was a salty-ness in my mouth now, tears. Mascara was hiding my face, I never realized how happy I was with my life just the way it is, until I took the time to think about it.
Remembering the pain of my knee cap breaking and the sounds of it snapping, threw the tears into overdrive, it felt as if they were racing down my face.
Looking back at the night, what made it so painful was the fact that it was a darker time in my life, a point where I was not happy and that night was when my last dream was stolen and put out of my reach. I learned not to wish, but to fight for what makes you happy. I am not popular, I am not tall nor tan, I am not a cheerleader, I am not dating a football player, I do not have perfect grades, I do not drive a red convertible, and the people who do not care for me do exist, and I am happy. 


By: Jordan Currier

A Sadder-Wiser-Man

Without a doubt one of the most affected in the poem "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is the wedding guest.
Since the beggining of the poem, the wedding guest first starts to appear which bring great emphasize to the importance of him.
In the beggining, the mariner at the wedding pulls him aside to tell him a story. Although he may not wish to hear what the mariner has to say, he has no other option but to listen. "The wedding-guest sat on a stone, He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed mariner." This passage shows that they wedding guest is now in the possession of the mariner. Coleridge compares the wedding guest to a child as indicated in this passage "He holds him with his glittering eye- The wedding-guest stood still, And listens like a three years' child: The mariner hath his will" which is also a key point to the end of the poem.
After the brief yet powerful introduction of the wedding guest, the mariner starts to tell his story. The poem is followed by the story. Toward the end, the guest reappears once again.
Thus after all these events have happend it is affirmed that the wedding guest has taken in knowledge that dramatically changes him as a human. "He went like one that hath been stunned And is of sense forlorn; A sadder and a wiser man He rose the morrow morn." The wedding guest has taken in what the mariner has told him, and input that knowledge in to what he is after this all happen.
Maybe the wedding guest was the type of person who took everything for granted and needed a change in his life. There are instances that change a person, and this was one of the cases. This may have been a point of reflection to what he used to be or maybe a prevention to change his way of thinking before it was too late.
Another part of the poem that strikes the attention happens with a correlation towards the beginning and the end. Towards the beginning when the mariner wants the attenting of the wedding guest, Coleridge mentions the mariner "He holds with his skinny hand, 'There was a ship', quoth he; 'Hold off! Unhand me, grey-beard loon!' Eftsoons his hand dropped he" Coleridge even draws out the mariner with glittering eyes. Towards the end it just mentions "the mariner, whose eye is bright, Whose beard with age is hoar, Is gone; and now the wedding-guest Turned from the bridegroom's door" which indicates a change in the mariner. This demonstrates not only a change in the mariner, but also the change the wedding guest also goes through.

Significance of the Albatross

While roaming across the web for pictures including “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” the majority of the pictures found showed an albatross. Could this be a sign to show how much the albatross meant to the story, or was it all just accidental? From what I have read in the poem for the first time, the random albatross at sea definitely caught my eye. When I started to get engaged into the story, I had so many questions for Samuel Coleridge, but after reading the entire poem I finally realized the significance of the albatross. From how I see it, the albatross is supposed to be the focal point to show readers what’s right from wrong. In the picture the albatross is flying above what seems like people and materials. When things start to get rattled up and the Mariner kills the albatross, the bird can no longer fly. When the albatross is alive and healthy everything is going well with no problems at all. When the Mariner spontaneously decides to kill the albatross, that’s when things started to go downhill. People started dying, rain was pouring down and the wind was blowing furiously. Without the albatross in the story, there would be no significance. The bird shows the importance of life. When you take something’s life, the favor will be returned. Just like the quote that states “an eye for an eye.” In the poem Coleridge says “He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast.” I think that he’s trying to say when you do well for others, good things will happen to you. Lastly, I believe that the albatross show’s a person’s pride. When the bird was active and flying, it was smooth sailing for the Mariner and his crew. But when things turned around for the albatross, so did things for the Mariner. The picture above shows how beautiful an albatross can really be and how much a simple little bird can truly mean and affect one’s life.

All about "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

After learning about romanticism, it is pretty obvious that the poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is written by the one and only Samuel Coleridge. Usually people only take the time to learn only the obvious, the authors name and title of the poem. But just like everything else, there’s always more to learn. Before the poem was even published, the original title of the poem was intended to be “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere.” This poem is by far the longest poem that Samuel Coleridge has ever written in his life. Rime of the Ancient Mariner was written between the years of 1797–1798, finally being published in the year of 1798. After the poem was written and published, it was in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Supposedly Samuel Coleridge was working together with famous romantic poet William Wordsworth to narrate such a great poem like this. Coleridge was motivated to write the poem by a man named James Cook’s voyage of exploration. Some critics believe that the poem was inspired after Thomas James’ voyage. While some believe it was moved by John Newton, and a bunch of other sailors. Overall, no one will know where his inspiration to write the poem came from. Not only is the poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” a popular poem to see in an English class, but also in various television shows, books and also movies. Who would have ever known that we would have learned something about romanticism in Looney Tunes? Not only will you be able to find “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” references in movies, books and TV shows, but you’ll always be able to find it in songs as well. Just like in any other romantic’s poet’s poems, love and nature are what the poets are striving for. In Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” he strived to write about nature. After reading this post, I hope that you learned more about the poem than just the title and who it’s written by.

Uncovering a Pot of Basil

Uncovering a Pot of Basil is a blog that focus’ on the romantic poet, John Keats. The authors of the blog consist of four lovely ladies that go by Eileen Ly, Jenica Medrano, Kyla Ponsness and Graceland Reed. To access and learn more about John Keats and his poems, the following link has been provided. Click me!!

When you first take a glimpse of the website and scroll around, there are pictures and videos that catch your eye thanks to Eileen Ly’s posts. The main colors of the blog make everything on the page easy to read and flow together. The blog is nicely put together because along with each post, there's a visual to look at instead of just focusing on reading. The videos on the page make the whole blog even more interesting. It gives your eyes a rest from having to read and just listen to what other people have to say about the poems. Another thing that makes the page better is that the posts are focusing on one main poem instead of jumping between different poems. It gives the reader a better idea and understanding of what the poem is about. For example the post “A Strange Short Film” shows a new take on John Keats’ poem “Isabella.” In the film there are additional scenes added that wasn’t originally in the poem. No man should ever wear a gas mask and have his nails painted black. I found the new scenes disgusting and strange.

On another note, if you don't know much about John Keats' life story then there is a biography written by Jenica Medrano on the site as well. While going through the different blogs that was posted, it never got boring because of the fascinating information there was to read. I really like how on each post its not all crammed together into one paragraph, but instead sectioned into smaller paragraphs. From all of the blogs that I’ve seen so far, the blog I mention would have to be by far my favorite. The whole blog site is neat, easy to read and easily navigable. If you only have time to look at a few blogs, I would definitely recommend taking a look around Uncovering a Pot of Basil.

 

A Horror Story with a Happy Ending?

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” can be told as a horrendous story with a pleasant ending. About to indulge into a beautiful ceremony where some may cry and feel happiness, no one would ever want to start it off hearing a tale of awfulness. Before the ceremony even begins, the mariner pulls aside a random wedding guest and begins to tell his story of being on the ship. Although that may seem strange, the wedding guest couldn’t help but to throw himself into the story as well. When Coleridge says in the poem, “listens like a three years’ child,” he’s referring to the wedding guest who is fully engaged in his story. Throughout the tale, there are quite a few of themes that stood out. The theme that stood out the most was sin. From a majority of people’s perspective when you commit a sin, also known as doing something wrong, God will punish you. When a person has a strong faith in god and commits a crime, the only solution that he can turn to is to pray to God and hope for his forgiveness and to take extra precautions. In the poem when the Mariner kills the albatross and hangs it around his neck, that’s when everything starts to go wrong. Everyone on the ship but the Mariner ends up dying, with their eyes open looking directly at him. When the Mariner began to pray because he had no one to turn to, no words would come out of his mouth. Until he started to feel sympathetic for what he had done wrong, that’s when he was able to pray again. When you do something wrong, God can only look down and hope that you’ll make the right decision next time something is done wrong. During the time that the Mariner was telling his story, the wedding guest had chills and was starting to get scared. As you can tell, the Mariner’s story was just like any other story. It had problems, fright and dilemmas in the beginning, but finished with a happy ending.

What is Love?

Just like the song “What is Love” by Haddaway, no one would ever want to come across the feeling of being hurt.
Having their heartbroken into pieces by the one you love can be life changing and devastating. I’ve heard many times before that love is like a rollercoaster.
But I’d have to disagree on that. Through my eyes and from my perspective, love is like an ocean.
The feelings that are gained for one another are like waves.
They’re never steady and don’t stop moving.
There are times when the waves are frequently flowing like how it should be or other times when the waves just come crashing down.
As I see it, since the ocean is in an open space and so wide, it shows that true love is never ending.
Despite the waves interfering and causing problems, nothing will ever be able to get in the way and break the love apart.
On a final note, you’ll never really know what you’ll find or run into in an ocean.
Sometimes there will be obstacles, strange things that you’ve never seen before, and things that will make you really scared. But how is that any different than being in love?
The further you go into the ocean you’ll find more things that you can’t find at the shallow end. Being committed in a relationship can be scary to some people that have never been near that phase before.
Love is visible at the top but at the very bottom it’s murky.
Just like how the surface of the ocean can be beautiful, whereas the bottom of the ocean can be dark and depressing.
Exploring an ocean is like exploring into a loved one’s heart. The more you strive to look for, the more you will learn and find.
Through my eyes love is like an ocean, there are so many things waiting to be discovered.

 

One of the most significant symbols in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", is an albatross. It first appears when the mariner starts exposing the story to the wedding guest as so "At lentgh did cross an albatross, Thorogh the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God's name." Not only does it start to appear, but it does as a religious symbolism, a symbol of faith.  

Community Blogging

       Byron's Club, now that is a club I could join. This blog is about the romantic poet Lord Byron by Baily Copland, Alejandra Garcia, Athena Proctor, and Austin Bell. There is a short biography of these bloggers on thier site. The 'Turner's Fab Four', as they like to call themselfs, are open to improvment and love to hear your responses.They have many posts about Lord Byron's influence, especially with the laides.

To join this wonderful club, click here: Byron's Club
      
      This blog is just cool. They have alot of pictures and their blog just looks really good, it is nicely decorated. A handy feature of this blog is that is contains links to every other blog about a romantic poet or poems that were made by Mr. Turner's english class. Byron's Club blog has the best quotes of Lord Byron, which is an excellent idea, because many of these romantic poets have beautiful things to say. The blog even gives a summary of the famous poet's life. What really cought my attention was the post about "Don Juan". That is a popular phrase for a ladies man which, apperently, Lord Byron was a flirt! "Don Juan" is a poem by Lord Byron about the escapades, and I mean escapades, of a man named Don Juan. Its interesting to know where that phrase came from. I like how the bloggers don't just copy and paste, everything is in their own words and that makes everything so much more understandable.
      There are a million blogs out there, I mean this is the world wide web, but how many of them actually teach something? Probably not that many. This blog, Byron's Club, is very informatinal. It tells about a romantic poet, and kind of gives the reader a summary of what romanticism  is about. It also shows why this time period of liturature and writing was so important in it's influence on today's liturature. I feel this blog could really help with a person's understanding of Lord Byron, his work, and romanticism all together.

By Kerri Peetz

Hospitality

       Peter Melville explains what he thinks is another important theme in this poem, in his article ‘Coleridge's The Rime of The Ancient Mariner’. Melville knows the main theme in the poem, 'The Rime of The Ancient Mariner', is about God and faith. He also believes a theme in the poem that should not be overlooked is hospitality. Melville writes “where do the mariner’s obligations lie in the end, with the familiar or with the strange and unknown?” in the poem the mariner does a complete circle. In the beginning of his journey the mariner is more comfortable with what he is familiar with, but what does he do after the storm when the ship is stranded in an unknown place and he doesn’t know what to do in a situation like the one he is in? The article states: “a great sea bird, called an albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality,” but only by the crew. The mariner was in a moment of crisis, since it was his crew, his ship, and his life that dangled in danger. In his moment of panic “He inhospility killith the pious bird of good omen.”  To try and answer the question of the mariner’s obligations now would be impossible, because he killed what he was familiar with and still fears what he does not know. The poem goes on and stranger things are in store for the mariner, and he is thrown into more situations that are out of the ordinary in extreme ways.  Near the end of the poem, while the mariner is talking with the hermit, the hermit explains the way he is by saying “Strange, by my faith!” With everything the mariner has been through he finally realizes where his obligations lie. That line was a realization point for the mariner and a turning point in where his obligations lie. Everything began with an albatross, and the wedding guest the mariner stopped to tell his tale too must slay or save his own bird. “The wedding guest must likewise choose between the strange and the familiar.” The wedding guest has to decide whether to go to the wedding, where his attendance is expected. Or listen to the mariner, who seems desperate for a listener. The wedding guest is scared by what the mariner says and is tempted to flee from the strange old man. At the end of the mariner’s tale the guest says he is a “Sadder and wiser man”.  So the mariner has made a complete circle, and so has the wedding guest. They both must spread the tale but where do the mariner’s obligations lie? Melville refers to the wedding guest’s Eden has been turned to a prison, and the mariner’s Eden is the same, but in return now they both believe in the strange, and the mariner finds it is his new home. They both must pass the story on and on, “And he rose the morrow morn.”

       The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the definition of rime is argument. The argument is inside of the mariner, I agree with Melville. A lesson the mariner must learn is faith, but also is good hospitality. The limits in the mariners hospitality are that he only welcomes what is familiar opposed to what is strange or unknown.  The albatross is the one familiar sight the mariner and his crew can see while stuck in an unknown place, and the crew gives the great bird a good “Christian” welcome, while the mariner kills the bird. Which in turn causes him to turn his back on all hospitality, whether it be towards what he knows or what he does not. I believe the same as the author of the article. The question asked before about where do the mariner’s obligations lie, is answered when the mariner is with the hermit. The mariner is afraid of the strange, but when he regains his faith and his ability to pray, he learns that as a good Christian you are to learn to love every creature on this earth. The mariner realizes that if strange is where his faith leads him, then he must be hospital to everything he meets along the way. He passes on his new knowledge to the wedding guest who learns from the mariner. “He was a sadder and wiser man, and he rose the morrow morn.” The wedding guest is prepared to live the teachings he learned from the mariner. He chose to welcome his own albatross.

By Kerri Peetz

Wedding Celebration & Ship

    

      In the poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", the mariner reveals a horrific story to a guest at a wedding reception. Why? Indeed it is not just a coincidence, but rather one of the many dualities Romanticism poets used in order to express realities. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" starts its first lines at a wedding and then progresses to the actual "story telling" which is at a sea with dreadful events. "Mayst hear the merry din' '' Merry, nothing less than sounds of joy, laughter and happiness. "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleered, Merrily did we drop". The wedding guest may not know what he will be exposed to,however he has no option but to listen.
     The ship where the Mariner lived the worst of times, exposes life and death. It may not seem as so, yet it sets the mariner has gone through and seen the lives of those that accompanied him fall one by one. The ship move not one bit as all disasters happened. His lips pleeded death as he was the only one who survived. In the beginning of the poem at the wedding reception it read "The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he; And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea." Later, in the story of the mariner it read "The sun now rose upon the right, Out of the sea came he; Still hid in mist, and on the left, Went down into the sea." This changes the plot.

     Both the wedding reception and the setting of the Mariner's story contrast although they both take place on a ship. One, joy surrounds and the other day, agony. This enhances the feeling the poet trys to convey which lies within a person's interpretation and depth analysis. To me, comfort and fear come to mind as the sudden change in the Mariner take place. When the poem first starts no sense of fear comes into mind, just tranquility. "The wedding-guest he beat his breast, Yet he cannot choose but hear" sparks the mind that comfort and tranquility will no longer be the emotions one will live.   

Colridge In Popular Culture

      

       Instead of writting a three hundred and fifty word blog post on the deeper meanings of a, well, confusing and rather lengthy poem I decided to show how poetry can be fun! Yes, it is possible. Its interesting how many times refferences to Coleridge's 'The Rime of The Ancient Mariner' appear in popular culture.

       I'll begin with the most popular, Vampires. In Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire a small girl (just turned to a vampire) quotes the poem saying: "Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was white as leprosy, The Night-mare Life-in-Death was she, who thicks man's blood with cold." Creepy coming from a small child/vampire. From the books that the Trueblood series is based off of, Club Dead contains the quote "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink" when a women is reffering to the fact she is surrounded by very handsome, but homosexual men. Creepier than the vampire-child.

       In Mary Shelly's (yes, she is related to Percy Shelly) book Frankenstein the two have many similarites. In Pirates of the Carribean Calipso and Davy Jone's crew play the game of dice, like the dice game in the poem between Death and his mate. In Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka changes the quote saying "Bubbles, bubbles everywhere, nor any drop to drink.. yet." See what I mean? Its such a wide variety of television shows, movies, and books that use quotes from famous poetry.

       Wizard of Oz, the Wizard says to the Scare crow "Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain!" In The Simpsons, Homer is stranded at sea and is told to preserve thier water supply, he retorts: "What do you think we're floating on? Don't you know the poem? 'Water, water, everywhere, so let's all have a drink.'" A trainer recites the opening stanza of the poem to her Raichu in an episode of Pokemon. In Cast away, Sex and the City, The OC, even a basball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners, at the age of 40, was nick named "The Ancient Mariner". In conclusion, watch out, in your favorite television show there might be a refference to a famous poem, if your not careful you might learn something about literature while trying to watch Jersey Shore!

By Kerri Peetz

Heavy Metal Poetry

       Poetry put to heavy metal music? It has been done. Steve Harris, the founder of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, was a professinal football player and major in english at West Ham United in Europe. During that time in college he discovered his passion for music and began Iron Maiden where he plays bass and is a back ground singer. Given Steve Harris's background in english he learned alot about poetry and romanticism which is where he came up with the song Rime of The Ancient Mariner.
       Rime of the Ancient Mariner contains many direct quotes from Samuel Taylor Colridge's popular poem. The song was finished in 1984 and was a huge hit! This thirteen minute ballad of heavy metal poetry begins with describing the wedding at which the mariner begins his tale to the wedding guest he stopped. As the song continues, so does the poem. Using a few direct quotes from Coleridge's poem and Steve Harris puts his own interpretation into the song. "The mariner kills the bird of good omen" where in the poem it never states weither the bird was good or bad, or if killing it cursed or helped the ship mates, but Harris throws in his own opinion.

Here are the lyrics to Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Iron Maiden: Click Here

       When this never ending song finishes, thirteen minutes later, the listener can tell that Steve Harris belived that the poem's main theme is the mariner is to spread the word that we must love all things God made, the final quote in the song is "And the tale goes on and on and on." Which is a quote from the original poem and it means that the wedding guest must now share that story as well and keep the word of God going.

By Kerri Peetz