Season 3 Podcast 32 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Pts I and II

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Pts I & 2 This podcast is from a new volume entitled Poet’s Corner in which I call upon the works of writers from bygone years. In earlier times, perhaps more than today, many writers drew their art from the images of the Bible. Milton wrote Paradise Lost, Spenser wrote Faery Queen, John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, all considered classics of religious thought. There are many others. The King Arthur Stories, for example, lean heavily upon the Bible for their  imagery.  In past podcasts I borrowed from the works of Nathanial Hawthorne, using his short Celestial Railroad as well as the short story, Young Goodman Brown whose journey into the forest represents the journey we all take as we confront evil for the first time. Also, I used the Medieval play Everyman, a story about a pilgrim who, called by death, had to take his journey into death and hell and final redemption. In this podcast, I draw upon the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. We are all on a journey, an epic journey that begins in immortality and travels through mortality and back into immortality and continues forever. Each of our lives is a story told in epic form. The Old Testament is a classic example of Epic poetry. The epic story is marked by the supernatural, by the wildness of nature, by Gods and demons, storms and strife. We all, in some ways as Christians can identify both with the Ancient Mariner and with the Wedding Guest, the two primary characters in the epic journey. The Ancient Mariner’s journey is told in seven parts. Because of the length of the poem, it will take three podcasts to work through the entire journey. In this podcast Linda and I present parts I and II. Everyone reads poetry in their own way, drawing their own meaning and conclusions.  Like all great literature this epic poem speaks to all ages. I do not wish to impose my interpretation of Coleridge’s poem nor remotely suggest this is the definitive explication.  In this podcast Linda and I shall follow the epic journey of the Ancient Mariner as he falls from grace and finally receives his redemption after wading through horrendous tribulation. It is the journey that I love and the things the mariner learns on the journey.  I hope you stay with us as we attempt to present Coleridge’s analyses of the nature of redemption.As the earth travels around the sun, returning to its original coordinates, the Ancient Mariner travels around the world only to return to his own country. It was the journey that mattered. It is the mariner that changed. The destination was the same when he returned, but the mariner wasn’t He will never the same again nor will the wedding guest whom he held hostage by his “glittering eye.”  PART THE FIRST.      It is an ancient Mariner,     And he stoppeth one of three.     "By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,     Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?      "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,     And I am next of kin;     The guests are met, the feast is set:     May'st hear the merry din."      He holds him with his skinny hand,     "There was a ship," quoth he.     "Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"     Eftsoons his hand dropt he.      He holds him with his glittering eye--     The Wedding-Guest stood still,     And listens like a three years child:     The Mariner hath his will.