Coleridge's Ancient Mariner

1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-1-349-95900-6
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan US

Buch, Englisch, 267 Seiten, Book, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm

Reihe: Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters

This is the first book-length study to read the "Ancient Mariner" as "poetry," in Coleridge's own particular sense of the word. Coleridge's complicated relationship with the "Mariner" as an experimental poem lies in its origin as a joint project with Wordsworth. J. C. C. Mays traces the changes in the several versions published in Coleridge's lifetime and shows how Wordsworth's troubled reaction to the poem influenced its subsequent interpretation. This is also the first book to situate the "Mariner" in the context of the entirety of Coleridge's prose and verse, now available in the Bollingen Collected edition and Notebooks; that is, not only in relation to other poems like "The Ballad of the Dark Ladiè" and "Alice du Clós," but also to ideas in his literary criticism (especially Biographia Literaria), philosophy, and theology. Using a combination of close reading and broad historical considerations, reception theory, and book history, Mays surveys the poem's continuing life in illustrated editions and educational textbooks; its passage through the vicissitudes of New Criticism and critical theory; and, in a final chapter, its surprising affinities with some experimental poems of the present time.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mays, J. C. C.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

CONTENTS Preface Abbreviations and References 1          Taking Bearings, Setting a Course            what, when and why            peculiar distractions            almost like a subplot            and further            ideal core of the onion            neither sheep nor goats 2          What Does the Poem Do?            odds            simply            ballad            words            shape            pictures            mix            so what 3          As a Poem of the Imagination            return to source            sensible and intelligible worlds            touching Reason            consequences 4          Wordsworth as Collaborator and Contributor            seeds            early collaboration            the third attempt            a different direction            and sudden surprise 5          The Shadow Cast by Wordsworth            the pairing            welcome to Town End            counter-statement            further reformulations            legacy 6          Revision, Gloss, Choice            variants, versions, phases            the 1800 version            the 1817 version            gloss            choice 7          A Reputation by Default            terms of acceptance            provisional welcome (1800-1850)            illustrated and examined, honoured and altered (1850-1910)            researched, cherished, changing places (1890-1934)            two landmarks and some twisted wires            apotheosis and aftermath (1934-1972)            begin again better 8          Today and To Do            the double-bind of being ingenuous            re-run an other way            the labels are important            all the dead voices Appendix 1: "Ancient Mariner "1798 Version Appendix 2: Reading "Alice du Clós", and for the Birds            preamble            narrative            characters in action            enlarging stanzas and their rhymes            a scheme of echoes            postponed problems            a "live" solution            clarifying comparisons            beyond the text Notes Bibliography Index

Über Autor(innen)

J. C. C. Mays is Professor Emeritus of English and American Literature at University College Dublin, Ireland.