Epic Poetry
Readings of great seldom heard Epic Poems. These poems stem from a wonderful tradition of storytelling, of bards and skalds, and should be read aloud. Hear The Fall of Troy, the Volsunga saga, the story of Parzival, Paradise Lost, The Nibelungenlied, The Aeneid, the Lays of Ancient Rome and other great poems of mighty deeds, brave men, and gods.
The Rime of The Ancient Mariner - 1798 version
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This a is reading of the seldom heard (or read) 1798 version of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's wonderful poem. Possibly inspired by Captain James Cook's second voyage of exploration of the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean this tells the tale of the Mariner's voyage to Antartica, where the ship becomes stranded in the ice. While stranded the Mariner kills an albatross.
The other sailors are angry with the Mariner, as they thought the albatross brought the South Wind that led them out of the Antarctic. However, the sailors change their minds when the weather becomes warmer and the mist disappears.
The crime arouses the wrath of supernatural spirits who then pursue the ship "from the land of mist and snow"; the south wind which had initially led them from the land of ice now sends the ship into uncharted waters, where it is becalmed.
Here, however, the sailors change their minds again and blame the Mariner for the torment of their thirst. Eventually, in an eerie passage, the ship encounters a ghostly vessel. On board are Death (a skeleton) and the "Night-mare Life-in-Death" (a deathly-pale woman), who are playing dice for the souls of the crew. With a roll of the dice, Death wins the lives of the crew members and Life-in-Death the life of the mariner, a prize she considers more valuable. Her name is a clue as to the mariner's fate; he will endure a fate worse than death as punishment for his killing of the albatross.
One by one all of the crew members die, but the Mariner lives on, seeing for seven days and nights the curse in the eyes of the crew's corpses, whose last expressions remain upon their faces. Eventually, the Mariner's curse is lifted when he sees sea creatures swimming in the water. He suddenly sees their true beauty and blesses them; suddenly, as he manages to pray, the albatross falls from his neck and his guilt is partially expiated. The bodies of the crew, possessed by good spirits, rise again and steer the ship back home, where it sinks in a whirlpool, leaving only the Mariner behind. As penance for his deed, the Mariner is forced to wander the earth and tell his story, and teach a lesson to those he meets.
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Well done.