The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner

I really enjoyed this NYT article about a public reading of Coleridge's famous poem, "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner." People famous and not so famous recently gathered online for a dramatic reading of the poem, which featured sections by stars like Jeremy Irons, Hilary Mantel, Lemn Sissay, Marianne Faithfull, Iggy Pop and Tilda Swinton. Poetry scholars make a good case for the poem as emblematic of our modern moment:

“It’s the first modern work of literature to address the idea of isolation, in the most intense and visceral and scary, but yet strangely uplifting way,” said Hoare. “The Mariner’s cri de cœur of ‘alone, alone’ is part of us now.” 

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is “a founding fable of our modern age”, he said. “We are the wedding guests, and the albatross around the Mariner’s neck is an emblem of human despair and our abuse of the natural world. Yet in its beautiful terror there lies a wondrous solution: that we might wake up and find ourselves saved.”

You can access this dramatic reading by clicking here.