20. Coleridge. The rime of ancient mariner
1. CONTROVERSY WITH WORDSWORTH :
Both, Wordsworth & Coleridge created a new kind of poetry, innovating in form, language and subject matter and creating a casting influence on English poetry.
They shared important goals – mainly the goal of making poetry, closer to rhythms and diction of everyday language.
They had particular styles and methods:
v Wordsworth:
- His poetry is connected with the ordinary, everyday world and with the impact of memory of the present.
- He stated that he wanted to explore everyday subjects and give them a Romantic or supernatural colouring.
v Coleridge:
- His poetry frequently communicates a sense of mysterious, supernatural and extraordinary world; he turns to the romance and mystery of the past.
- He wanted to give the supernatural a feeling of everyday reality.
2. FANCY AND IMAGINATION.
· Fancy- the way of reconstructing things without changing their meaning; it’s mechanical, nothing creative, just selection, evoking without transforming, recollection of particular elements.
· Imagination – the process which allows for creating new things ( e. g. changing shape or nature of things); it helps us to understand and perceive he world around us
primary imagination
- it is unconscious, our mind is creative, but we do not transform things
consciously;
- ordinary people have it
- it deals with reality ( solving problems)
secondary imagination
- it works consciously,
- only poets have it
- they can transform reality to achieve unexpected quality- they change known things into sth completely new
3. THE SUPERNATURAL
§ suspension of disbelief – the reader has to treat them as if they were real in order to understand the story
§ used to show certain psychological truths
§ hidden meaning-the reader should find deeper meaning in the text
§ blended with surroundings- combined with everything else in the poem
§ proper way of speaking about feelings (inner nature)
Examples of supernatural elements:
- rotten water
- power of speech
- the ship
4. THE BALLAD:
o verses are grouped into stanzas
o certain rhyme pattern AABB or ABAB
o rhythm
o repetitions that serve as a kind of refrain
o usually some supernatural elements used
o a narrative text presenting a story- we have description of events ( narrative poem)
o simplicity in form
o may have some folklore elements
o tragic events presented
o moral to be taught
o has power of beauty
o there is never a word wasted
o usually tells us a simple story : about love, war, the world of supernatural
5. THE MEANING OF THE RIME:
§ the poem might be about exaggerated sense of personal guilt, loss of spirituality and regaining it
§ the poem might be about our place in the universe; suggesting that no life is more important than other life, treating all lives equally important makes us human- we are nothing else than God’s creations: Albatross , snake, the people – life of every creature in nature is valuable
§ transgression of certain order brings the collapse of the entire world
6. COLOUR SYMBOLISM
§ colours of water – at night , the water burned green, blue ,and white with dead fire
- sailors couldn’t drink that water, it was like fire
§ water snakes became beautiful in the Mariner’s eye – they moved through the silvery moonlight, glittering: blue, green, and black
- Mariner found himself able to pray
- he blessed sea-creatures, his offence against the power of nature was forgiven and he was able to return to home, a wiser man through his suffering
Ylayda