"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Coleridge (1817 version) - Includes a podcast by Orson Wells)

As Read by Orson Wells

"And it would work 'em woe: 

For all averred, I had killed the bird 

That made the breeze to blow. 

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay, 

That made the breeze to blow! 

Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, 

The glorious Sun uprist: 

Then all averred, I had killed the bird 

That brought the fog and mist. 

'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, 

That bring the fog and mist. 

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, 

The furrow followed free; 

We were the first that ever burst 

Into that silent sea. 

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, 

'Twas sad as sad could be; 

And we did speak only to break 

The silence of the sea! 

All in a hot and copper sky, 

The bloody Sun, at noon, 

Right up above the mast did stand, 

No bigger than the Moon. 

Day after day, day after day, 

We stuck, nor breath nor motion; 

As idle as a painted ship 

Upon a painted ocean. 

Water, water, every where, 

And all the boards did shrink; 

Water, water, every where, 

Nor any drop to drink. ". From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Long ago I read Samuel Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", first published in 1797 but greatly revised in publication in 1817.  Coleridge (1772 to 1834) and his close friend William Wordsworth are credited with starting the romantic movement in English poetry.  Coleridge was the intellectual leader of the movement.  A few days ago I listed to several podcasts of "The Waste Land" by T. S. Eliot, on YouTube.  My practice for podcasts is to listen, then read, then  listen to the poem spoken by another reader, as a minimum.  This is what I did with "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".  No doubt if you ever read this for a class, your teacher told you it was probably at least  written while Coleridge was under the influence of opium.  The imagery is fantastic, the rhythm and rhymes are just marvels.  I also listened to two very good lectures by Richard Holmes, world class authority on Coleridge.  He compared the ancient mariner to a  post traumatic shock victim, compulsively telling  his story to the trapped listener, the wedding guest.  "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is one of the most exciting and beautiful let alone widely read poems in the English language.  There has been much artistic work recreating the action of the poem, the podcast I listened to by Orson Wells has magnificent illustrations.  

What are your thoughts on podcasts of great poems?  Do you prefer just to read them?

Mel u