The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

An introduction to Romantic lyrical poetry

SamuelTaylorColeridge:(1772-1834)

Grew up in Devonshire

Known as one of the founding authors of Romantic poetry

Close friends with Wordsworth

Suffered from rheumatic pains, ended up addicted to opium; ended up needing to seek treatment of a doctor

Died in London in July, 1834, recognized as a literary master

Romantic poetryEmerged in the mid to late 18th century as a

reaction against Enlightenment thinkingRomantics favor the natural and personal, but

still value structure, meter“The spontaneous overflow of powerful

feelings” – Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads (1789)Coleridge and Wordsworth’s text considered

to be the first major work of the Romantic schoolThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner is one of the

last poems in the text

Lyrical poetryPoetry which expresses personal or emotional

feelingsDates from the classical world (Aristotle,

Poetics) as a form of poetry usually accompanied by a lyre

All forms of lyric poetry are connected by a metrical repetition for more than one stanzaIn modern poetry, most common form is

sonnet; form also includes ballads, villanelles, odes

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a ballad (tells a story) and is written in alternating iambic tetrameter (four feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three feet)

What to look for in TROTAMDescriptions of characters, settingsChanges in characters, settingsAnimalsInteractions with other charactersRole of the spiritual worldColors

SOAPStone: A guide for poetryS = speaker (the voice who tells the story)O = occasion (time and place; what prompted

writing)A = audience (group of readers to whom

piece is directed)P = purpose (Reason behind the text)S = subject (topic)Tone = attitude of the author