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This is the first book-length study to read the "Ancient Mariner" as "poetry," in Coleridge´s own particular sense of the word. Coleridge´s complicated relationship with the "Mariner" as an experimental poem lies in its origin as a joint project with Wordsworth. J. C. C. Mays traces the changes in the several versions published in Coleridge´s lifetime and shows how Wordsworth´s troubled reaction to the poem influenced its subsequent interpretation. This is also the first book to situate the "Mariner" in the context of the entirety of Coleridge´s prose and verse, now available in the Bollingen Collected edition and Notebooks; that is, not only in relation to other poems like "The Ballad of the Dark Ladiè" and "Alice du Clós," but also to ideas in his literary criticism (especially Biographia Literaria ), philosophy, and theology. Using a combination of close reading and broad historical considerations, reception theory, and book history, Mays surveys the poem´s continuing life in illustrated editions and educational textbooks; its passage through the vicissitudes of New Criticism and critical theory; and, in a final chapter, its surprising affinities with some experimental poems of the present time.

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CONTENTS

Preface

Abbreviations and References

1 Taking Bearings, Setting a Course

what, when and why

peculiar distractions

almost like a subplot

and further

ideal core of the onion

neither sheep nor goats

2 What Does the Poem Do?

odds

simply

ballad

words

shape

pictures

mix

so what

3 As a Poem of the Imagination

return to source

sensible and intelligible worlds

touching Reason

consequences

4 Wordsworth as Collaborator and Contributor

seeds

early collaboration

the third attempt

a different direction

and sudden surprise

5 The Shadow Cast by Wordsworth
the pairing

welcome to Town End

counter-statement

further reformulations

legacy

6 Revision, Gloss, Choice

variants, versions, phases

the 1800 version

the 1817 version

gloss

choice

7 A Reputation by Default

terms of acceptance

provisional welcome (1800-1850)

illustrated and examined, honoured and altered (1850-1910)

researched, cherished, changing places (1890-1934)

two landmarks and some twisted wires

apotheosis and aftermath (1934-1972)

begin again better

8 Today and To Do

the double-bind of being ingenuous

re-run an other way

the labels are important

all the dead voices

Appendix 1: "Ancient Mariner "1798 Version

Appendix 2: Reading "Alice du Clós", and for the Birds

preamble

narrative

characters in action

enlarging stanzas and their rhymes

a scheme of echoes

postponed problems

a "live" solution

clarifying comparisons

beyond the text

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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J. C. C. Mays is Professor Emeritus of English and American Literature at University College Dublin, Ireland.

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