Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a British poet born in 1772 who wrote "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", one of the most famous long poems in the English language. Coleridge attended Cambridge University and was friends with William Wordsworth. He was interested in politics and wanted to create a Utopian settlement. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" tells the story of a sailor who kills an albatross and faces consequences, as he stops a wedding guest to tell his tale.

1. Coleridge
and
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 1772-1834
 Youngest of 10
 Father died when he was 9, sent
to school in London
 Attended Cambridge
University, became a public
speaker
 Involved in politics, wanted to
create Utopian settlement
 Friends with William Wordsworth
(“London, 1802”)

3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 In his writing he…
 wanted to discover the truths of the human soul
 celebrated the strange and exotic
 mixes elements of a fantasy world with reality
 Creativity dulled by use of painkillers treating his
asthma and rheumatism
 Moved to warmer climates to improve health, but this
doesn’t work  marriage collapses, loses friends
 Kept writing during darkest days, huge influence on
other Romantic authors

4. Poetic Sound Devices
 Alliteration: repetition of consonant sound at
beginnings of words
 “The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew…”
 Consonance: repetition of final consonant sounds
 “a frightful fiend / Doth close behind…”
 Assonance: repetition of vowel sound
 “The western wave was all aflame.”
 Internal rhyme: use of rhymes within one line
 “With heavy thump, a lifeless lump…”

5. Language of Fantasy
 Exotic-sounding
place names
 “Xanadu”
 Archaic words: terms no
longer in common use
 “eftsoons” =
immediately

6. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
 An old Mariner (sailor)
meets some men on their
way to a wedding
 The Mariner stops one of
the men to tell him a story
 Recounts a tale of his crime
against life (killing an
Albatross
albatross) and the physical
and emotional punishments
that resulted