The Rime of the Ancient Mariner episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 25, 2025 · 1H 4M

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

from Book In · host Rupert Fordham and Charlie Fordham

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the first poem in Lyrical Ballads, the groundbreaking volume of poetry published by Coleridge and Wordsworth in 1798, and composed and written during the year the two young men spent together in the Quantock Hills in Somerset. Hauntingly beautiful, its mesmeric rhythms and rhymes create a unique atmosphere of mysticism and strangeness. But how did the poem come to be written? What was Wordsworth's contribution? Is there a Christian message, or is it really about Coleridge's drug addiction? And why did Coleridge and Wordsworth fall out in the end? Join Rupert and Charlie as they talk about Coleridge's life, and why he never wrote anything quite this good ever again. 

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 25, 2025

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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the first poem in Lyrical Ballads, the groundbreaking volume of poetry published by Coleridge and Wordsworth in 1798, and composed and written during the year the two young men spent together in the Quantock Hills in Somerset. Hauntingly beautiful, its mesmeric rhythms and rhymes create a unique atmosphere of mysticism and strangeness. But how did the poem come to be written? What was Wordsworth's contribution? Is there a Christian message, or is it really ...

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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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