The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read

By The Arts Institute PlymouthArtsBooks
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read episodes

  • The Voyage Complete

    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/ 

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    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.

    40 min
  • Reading No.40 - Alan Bennett

    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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    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.


    2 min
  • Reading No.39 - Judy Collins

    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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    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.


    2 min
  • Reading No.38 - Samuel John Taylor Coleridge

    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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    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.


    2 min
  • Reading No.37 - Kathleen Jamie

    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/ 

    ---

    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.


    1 min
  • Reading No.36 - Timothy Morton

    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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    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.


    1 min
  • Reading No.35 - John Spicer

    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/ 

    ---

    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.


    2 min
  • Reading No.34 - Max Porter

    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/ 

    ---

    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.


    2 min
  • Reading No.33 - Horatio Clare

    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/ 

    ---

    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.


    1 min
  • Reading No.32 - Helen Macdonald

    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/ 

    ---

    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.


    2 min

About The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read

From the publisher's feed

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…