After reading The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I couldn't help but realize just how obsessed society seems to be with this poem; both in content and message.
First of all, when I was researching the poem, I found a website with 18 different interpretations of various aspects of the tale, if not the entire poem! One website! Some varried in interpretation such as reason vs. understanding, material vs. immaterial, sin vs. salvation, morality vs. egoism, predestiantion vs. freewill, and many others. One argument (Peter Kitson) even argued that the poem was political. Most... bizzare was perhaps the psychoanalytical analysis of this poem that argued the symbolism of it pointed towards an oral fixation and his conflicted feelings towards his mother...
Needless to say, I've spent some time on this website I found (http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/romant96/MARINAB.HTM)
Not only in message was The Rime made immortal, but the lines "water, water everywhere" have been heard by everyone and their dog at least a million times in TV shows, movies, short stories and even other poems. Wikipedia alone cites 66 references to this poem under its "popular culture" section of the poem's page! Of course, the most prominent of these references was the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, using the time-lost crew of the undead and the game of hazard, risking one's soul.
Most interesting is what I found when doing research into the "ghost ship." The idea of the Ghost Ship is something I've been pondering about for a long time now, and in my research after reading this poem I learned that the very first written documentation of The Flying Duchman (which does seem to be without a doubt "the" ghost ship in folklore) was actually only a couple of years before The Rime was written, and it was documented by George Barrington in Voyage to Botany Bay. I wonder if Barrington's account of such a ship could have somehow reached Coleridge?
Regardless of where the story of the "ghost ship" may have originated, it certainly has won its way into a spot of immortality in folklore even of today, and considering the exhaulted spot that The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has also been given, I wonder just how much of our vision of this one piece of folklore was affected by Coleridge?
Friday, January 25, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
My Garden - Reflections on Blake's The Garden of Love
Of all the works we've started reading in English Literature 2, I can easily say William Blake's The Garden of Love was my favorite, and probably the most discussed in our class. The primary reason I liked it was that it relates to something that my family and I have faced for some time now.
Currently, my family does not go to church regularly. I personally am not a Christian, but the rest of my family is, and I often worship with them. If we do go to Church, we go to my God father's church all the way up in Tonkawa (hence is why we don't go often). Many people simply don't understand how we can consider ourselves Christian, yet not go to Church. At the same time, however, there are countless people in the world (especially those tied up in politics) that seem to use the institution of the Church, or some of the highly strung-out stories in the bible, to define their faith. To put it in simpler terms, many people do attend the huge, mega churches with some 500+ people in one congregation. Others throw religious beliefs into debates of political, legal or logical matters, while others still spend entire lives fighting against the "evils" of things such as Harry Potter and other fictional media.
With Blake's poem The Garden of Love, I can't help but think if these people are missing the point? The Chapel in the poem with "Thou shalt not" written on it just seems to be an embodiment of those who attempt to set strict rules and regulations to being a "standard" Christian, like going to church, specific beliefs, believing one political opinion is wrong while another is blatantly right, and other things.
The Garden itself, however, seems to mean two things at the same time. First of all, it was in contrast to the chapel and graveyard, and at least to one extent represented the core values, or the "point," as aforementioned, of Christianity; Be a good person, treat others well, strive for self improvement, be generous forgiving, understanding, respectful, etc. On a grander scheme, however, the Garden also seems to be simply one individual's own means of inner peace or serenity. It's where their true inner self, their core beliefs and values, flourish, without the restraint of things such as religion, politics, society and peer pressure.
Therefore, it is one's garden, or the garden of love, that is the "good" in one's life. It doesn't matter how much one goes to Church, what their political views are, what literature they enjoy, or any other "standards" that crop up out of the Christian culture that can so easily take over one's garden, as the one in the poem, and the one in question can lose sight of what is truly important.
Currently, my family does not go to church regularly. I personally am not a Christian, but the rest of my family is, and I often worship with them. If we do go to Church, we go to my God father's church all the way up in Tonkawa (hence is why we don't go often). Many people simply don't understand how we can consider ourselves Christian, yet not go to Church. At the same time, however, there are countless people in the world (especially those tied up in politics) that seem to use the institution of the Church, or some of the highly strung-out stories in the bible, to define their faith. To put it in simpler terms, many people do attend the huge, mega churches with some 500+ people in one congregation. Others throw religious beliefs into debates of political, legal or logical matters, while others still spend entire lives fighting against the "evils" of things such as Harry Potter and other fictional media.
With Blake's poem The Garden of Love, I can't help but think if these people are missing the point? The Chapel in the poem with "Thou shalt not" written on it just seems to be an embodiment of those who attempt to set strict rules and regulations to being a "standard" Christian, like going to church, specific beliefs, believing one political opinion is wrong while another is blatantly right, and other things.
The Garden itself, however, seems to mean two things at the same time. First of all, it was in contrast to the chapel and graveyard, and at least to one extent represented the core values, or the "point," as aforementioned, of Christianity; Be a good person, treat others well, strive for self improvement, be generous forgiving, understanding, respectful, etc. On a grander scheme, however, the Garden also seems to be simply one individual's own means of inner peace or serenity. It's where their true inner self, their core beliefs and values, flourish, without the restraint of things such as religion, politics, society and peer pressure.
Therefore, it is one's garden, or the garden of love, that is the "good" in one's life. It doesn't matter how much one goes to Church, what their political views are, what literature they enjoy, or any other "standards" that crop up out of the Christian culture that can so easily take over one's garden, as the one in the poem, and the one in question can lose sight of what is truly important.
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Newest Blog
Hello Internet. I'm back with yet another blog, but this one has an actual important purpose. This will primarily act as my blog for my online classes this semester at the University of Central Oklahoma.
In case you're wondering about the title, Dalaran Dropouts, it comes from the Warcraft franchise of books and computer games. The kingdom of Dalaran is the intellectual capital of the world of Azeroth, as well as home of the greatest magic school and practitioners in the land.
In case you're wondering about the title, Dalaran Dropouts, it comes from the Warcraft franchise of books and computer games. The kingdom of Dalaran is the intellectual capital of the world of Azeroth, as well as home of the greatest magic school and practitioners in the land.
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