The poem I will be talking about is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge. In this poem it has a stanza that reads “the Bridgeroom’s doors are opened wide,/ And I guess I am next of kin;/ The guests are met the feast is set:/may’st hear the merry din” This part of the poem relates to the ideals set forth in “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” when they say “The principal object, then, proposed in these poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men” I believe that this stanza represents incidents and situations that can be seen in common life, having dinner and being around family is an example of common life, this supports the idea seen in “Preface to Lyrical Ballad”. In the “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” it mentions “I cannot, however, be insensible to the present outcry against the triviality and meanness, both of thought and language” this is supporting the idea of meanness and triviality in the stanza that reads “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. This stanza proves that their can be hostility and coldness within poems, which is brought up in the “Preface to Lyrical Ballad”. In the “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” it mentions “For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: and though this be true, Poems to which any value can be attached were never produced on any variety of subjects but by a man who, being possessed of more than usual organic sensibility, had also thought long and deeply.” this can be supported in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge” when it states “Higher and higher every day,/ Till over the mast at noon-/ The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,/ for he heard the loud bassoon” this stanza supports the recent quote because it demonstrates an overflow of powerful feelings when it mentions “The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,/ for he heard the loud bassoon”. In this blog post, I used examples from “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Coleridge to compare how each of these works complements each other.
Savannah Tristan
Brit Lit 2020 