The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge

Cover via Goodreads

Rating: 4/5 stars.

I read this as an introduction to Frakenstein – I had trouble getting into the story, but eventually let go of reality and immersed myself in Coleridge’s phenomenal writing.

“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere
Nor any drop to drink.”

My peers joked that Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner while under an opium-induced haze. I think the drug may have affected his perspective when crafting this, but I doubt he wrote the entire poem under the influence. If he did, I’m jealous.

“The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.”

I shivered upon my first time reading that – so gross, yet so beautifully written. I’m glad my English teacher had us read this despite that it wasn’t in the required curriculum.

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