… and aren’t so many?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived from 1772 to 1834. He was often in ill-health, both physical and mentally. And he was a drug addict. Out of his anguish came this beautiful poem, which I first read, as so many of us did, in a high school English anthology. And I think I passed the test! Regrettably, it has taken more than half a century for a re-read, and there should have been at least a couple other re-reads along the way. Praise be to Kindle. It now makes the selection of particular “classical” works so easy, and often they are free, as this one was, and at your finger-tips within a minute or two.
As the title states, it is a poem that concerns an old sailor, his days at sea, and a very notable mistake. It is a poem told, inexplicably, or not, at a wedding feast, since it is a “life-lesson.” It is a sea trip from cold to warm. It is about being motionless at sea, because “For all averred, I killed the bird That made the breeze blow.” That bird was a harmless Albatross. And the following part of the poem has entered the English language as an apt metaphor for ill-considered actions that come back to haunt the doer: “Instead of the cross, the Albatross about my neck was hung.
The poem is also about remorse, and forgiveness, phrased as: “The man hath penance done, and penance more will do.” They do make it to that elusive safe-harbor. And Coleridge closes, with this most healthy and sane advice, about our place in the universe, and how we should treat others, of our species and not, both ‘great and small’: “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.”
It is a tight, fast-paced poem with memorable imagery, suitable to be read in high school still, or many years beyond. 5-stars.
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Visit Dover for a Superb Collection of Art by Gustave Doré
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Reviews with images
(Bird copy) small and nicely bound
Had thought this was the copy with the glossy blue illustrations (based off of another review), but not disappointed in what I recieved.The illustrations are small and could be more contoured, but this little copy will do for now. The printing isn't necessarily bad/cheap looking at all, it's just small and not the darkest it could be.
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Martin Stone
Hochwertiges gebundenes Büchlein
Reviewed in Germany on January 13, 2022
Martin Stone
Reviewed in Germany on January 13, 2022
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