The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Gustave Doré (Illustrator)

From Barnes & Noble

A world of fantasy that nevertheless reflects the human condition emerges from Samuel Coleridge's famous tale of a doomed sea voyage. This beautiful facsimile of the 1876 edition includes Gustave Dor‚'s original surrealistic black-&-white illustrations, which perfectly match Coleridge's eerie, haunting imagery. 10 1/2" x 14 3/4".

From the Publisher

Doré's engravings for The Rime are considered by many to be his greatest work. The terrifying space of the open sea, the storms and whirlpools of an unknown ocean, the hot equatorial seas swarming with monsters, the ice of Antarctica, more — are all rendered in a powerful manner. Full text and 38 plates.

Publishers Weekly

"It is an ancient Mariner, and he stoppeth one of thee...." Although these ominous lines perennially instill fear of final exams and term papers in the minds of high school students and Romantic English majors, they're not often remembered by adults. Mason's reading of Coleridge's 1796 epic poem is at once hypnotic and stirring. The Academy Award-nominated actor reads the chilling tale involving clashes with sea monsters, a boat swarming with zombies and a dice game with Death in an authoritative English accent. Like the ocean surrounding the Mariner's ship, his voice ebbs and flows with the imaginative poem's various heights. He quickly rattles off, "water, water, every where, and all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink" but gently whispers "And I had done an hellish thing, and it would work `em woe: For all averred, I had killed the bird that made the breeze to blow." Coleridge (1772-1834), uses words to make the fantastical believable, and here, Mason brings those words vividly to life. A bonus track features Mason's animated reading of The Hunting of the Snark, an eight-canto poem by Lewis Carroll. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

Caldecott award winning artist Ed Young has provided his own interpretation of this poem of the sea that has been deemed one of the greatest. His pencil and pastel artwork evoke the somberness of a tale that can be appreciated by both the very young who enjoy the cadence of the rhyme and older children for its mystery.

School Library Journal

Gr 4 Up-- One of the classic poems of the romantic period of English literature has been illustrated with charcoal drawings and full-color, full-page pastel seascapes by Young. Coleridge's masterpiece has much to recommend it to a modern audience because of its central theme of the importance of ``all things both great and small;'' also, the mysterious supernatural events, the skeleton ship, and the zombie crew are occult touches that will appeal to many young readers. However, Coleridge's 18th-century rhymes and references make difficult reading and, although the marginal asides are helpful, much of the religious structure of the poem and many of the archaic words remain obscure. Although they may admire Young's dramatic pictures and will certainly enjoy the rich format of the book, few 20th-century readers will persevere unaided through all seven parts of this work of penitence. Its primary audience is adults who wish to preserve and use a recognized piece of English literature by reading it aloud to a new generation of young people. --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ

Booknews

Intended as a college-level introduction to the poem, this volume presents the 1798 and 1817 versions side by side, followed by five different critical approaches of the poem (reader-response, Marxist, New Historical, psychoanalytic, and deconstructivist) with discussion of each theoretical treatment. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents