The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read

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**The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read**

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a founding fable of our modern age. 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. Art knows no boundaries. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is an inclusive, immersive work of audio and visual art from the 21st century that reflects the sweeping majesty and abiding influence of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 18th century epic poem.

Latest Episodes:

The Voyage Complete May 27, 2020

Show notes

Experience the Ancient Mariner Big Read as one symphonic piece.

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

The Ancient Mariner Big Read was commissioned by The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. Supported by The Box, Plymouth; The Edge Andrew Brownsword Gallery, University of Bath; John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton; The Marine Institute, University of Plymouth; Arts Council England and dBs Pro.

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Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.

Reading No.40 - Alan Bennett May 26, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/40

Reader
Alan Bennett
Author + playwright
Recorded in North London

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Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

The Mariner, whose eye is bright,
Whose beard with age is hoar,
Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest
Turned from the bridegroom's door.

He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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Reading No.39 - Judy Collins May 25, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/39

Reader
Judy Collins
Singer + songwriter
Recorded in New York City

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O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been
Alone on a wide wide sea:
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seemèd there to be.

O sweeter than the marriage-feast,
'Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the kirk
With a goodly company!—

To walk together to the kirk,
And all together pray,
While each to his great Father bends,
Old men, and babes, and loving friends
And youths and maidens gay!

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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Reading No.38 - Samuel John Taylor Coleridge May 24, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/38

Reader
Samuel John Taylor Coleridge
Sixth-generation nephew of
the poet, recorded at St Mary's Church,
Ottery St Mary, Coleridge's birthplace.
Bell-ringer: Gordon Bird

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Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns:
And till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.

I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that his face I see,
I know the man that must hear me:
To him my tale I teach.

What loud uproar bursts from that door!
The wedding-guests are there:
But in the garden-bower the bride
And bride-maids singing are:
And hark the little vesper bell,
Which biddeth me to prayer!

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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Reading No.37 - Kathleen Jamie May 23, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/37

Reader
Kathleen Jamie
Poet + author
Recorded at the University of Stirling

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And now, all in my own countree,
I stood on the firm land!
The Hermit stepped forth from the boat,
And scarcely he could stand.

'O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!'
The Hermit crossed his brow.
'Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee say—
What manner of man art thou?'

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale;
And then it left me free.

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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Reading No.36 - Timothy Morton May 22, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/36

Reader
Timothy Morton
Philosopher
Recorded at Rice University, Texas

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Upon the whirl, where sank the ship,
The boat spun round and round;
And all was still, save that the hill
Was telling of the sound.

I moved my lips—the Pilot shrieked
And fell down in a fit;
The holy Hermit raised his eyes,
And prayed where he did sit.

I took the oars: the Pilot's boy,
Who now doth crazy go,
Laughed loud and long, and all the while
His eyes went to and fro.
'Ha! ha!' quoth he, 'full plain I see,
The Devil knows how to row.'

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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Reading No.35 - John Spicer May 21, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/35

Reader
John Spicer
Marine zoologist
Recorded at Coleridge Cottage,
Nether Stowey, Somerset,
where 'The Rime' was written.

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The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirred;
The boat came close beneath the ship,
And straight a sound was heard.

Under the water it rumbled on,
Still louder and more dread:
It reached the ship, it split the bay;
The ship went down like lead.

Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
Which sky and ocean smote,
Like one that hath been seven days drowned
My body lay afloat;
But swift as dreams, myself I found
Within the Pilot's boat.

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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Reading No.34 - Max Porter May 20, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/34

Reader
Max Porter
Author + poet
Recorded at the Bath Priory, Somerset

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'Strange, by my faith!' the Hermit said—
'And they answered not our cheer!
The planks looked warped! and see those sails,
How thin they are and sere!
I never saw aught like to them,
Unless perchance it were

Brown skeletons of leaves that lag
My forest-brook along;
When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
That eats the she-wolf's young.'

'Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look—
(The Pilot made reply)
I am a-feared'—'Push on, push on!'
Said the Hermit cheerily.

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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Reading No.33 - Horatio Clare May 19, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/33

Reader
Horatio Clare
Author + adventurer
Recorded at Penzance Literary Festival

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This Hermit good lives in that wood
Which slopes down to the sea.
How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
He loves to talk with marineres
That come from a far countree.

He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve—
He hath a cushion plump:
It is the moss that wholly hides
The rotted old oak-stump.

The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk,
'Why, this is strange, I trow!
Where are those lights so many and fair,
That signal made but now?'

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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Reading No.32 - Helen Macdonald May 18, 2020

Show notes

Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/32

Reader
Helen Macdonald
Author
Recorded in Fitzrovia, London

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But soon I heard the dash of oars,
I heard the Pilot's cheer;
My head was turned perforce away
And I saw a boat appear.

The Pilot and the Pilot's boy,
I heard them coming fast:
Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.

I saw a third—I heard his voice:
It is the Hermit good!
He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.
He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away
The Albatross's blood.

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You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/

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