tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post5927636165501581823..comments2024-01-23T12:27:05.258+00:00Comments on The Stone and the Star: 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner': Coleridge Goes To Antarctica and Gets Back In Time to Ruin One Out of Three Wedding Guests' DayClarissa Aykroydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-71689816000954299852011-12-02T10:16:18.924+00:002011-12-02T10:16:18.924+00:00Thanks for that! To be honest, I have not read the...Thanks for that! To be honest, I have not read the poem all the way through properly for a very long time. I just skimmed it this time, as I knew I wanted to use the "Antarctica" bit. (Although the title of the blog is a joke requiring the reader to know about "he stoppeth one of three.)<br /><br />But yes, I agree with your comments (and now I want to read the whole poem properly again!). The wedding guest's day was kind of ruined by hearing about the Ancient Mariner's terrible experience - but he obviously got something out of it, too. If we gain something or grow from a painful experience (or even from hearing about one), it's not a total loss... <br /><br />As you can tell I have mixed feelings about all those doomed heroics in Antarctica, but it obviously had a refining effect on some of those who went so far. Apsley Cherry-Garrard concluded his book by saying: "If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg." Very moving. I very much recommend The Worst Journey in the World and/or Terra Incognita if you want a glimpse of the mystery that is Antarctica.<br /><br />I should also mention that Derek Mahon wrote a poem called 'Antarctica' based on Oates' words "I am just going outside and may be some time", and it's excellent.Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-62587755792421830532011-12-02T06:49:26.552+00:002011-12-02T06:49:26.552+00:00you know my feelings about antarctica, too cold! y...you know my feelings about antarctica, too cold! you don't need to go that far to find peace. Okinawa works too.;) But I wanted to add a verse to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, one of my favorites that comes into my head at certain moments: <br />He went like one that hath been stunned<br />And is of sense forlorn<br />A sadder and a wiser man<br />He rose the morrow morn<br />I could never abide the whole poem, (too long!) but I loved the last verse and you've re-awakened my interest in the whole thing. Maybe now I'm an adult I could appreciate it more. <br />But the last verse always reminds me of those hard moments in life when we are forced to grasp a sad or painful reality, and either be hurt by it or grow wiser from it. Maybe antartica is like that too, a place so harsh you will either be ruined by it or grow into something better from it.Christinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06969998941692977995noreply@blogger.com