<P> The Poem of my Friend has indeed great defects; first, that the principal person has no distinct character, either in his profession of Mariner, or as a human being who having been long under the control of supernatural impressions might be supposed himself to partake of something supernatural; secondly, that he does not act, but is continually acted upon; thirdly, that the events having no necessary connection do not produce each other; and lastly, that the imagery is somewhat too laboriously accumulated . Yet the Poem contains many delicate touches of passion, and indeed the passion is every where true to nature, a great number of the stanzas present beautiful images, and are expressed with unusual felicity of language; and the versification, though the metre is itself unfit for long poems, is harmonious and artfully varied, exhibiting the utmost powers of that metre, and every variety of which it is capable . It therefore appeared to me that these several merits (the first of which, namely that of the passion, is of the highest kind) gave to the Poem a value which is not often possessed by better Poems . </P> <P> Upon its release, the poem was criticized for being obscure and difficult to read . The use of archaic spelling of words was seen as not in keeping with Wordsworth's claims of using common language . Criticism was renewed again in 1815--16, when Coleridge added marginal notes to the poem that were also written in an archaic style . These notes or glosses, placed next to the text of the poem, ostensibly interpret the verses much like marginal notes found in the Bible . There were many opinions on why Coleridge inserted the gloss . Charles Lamb, who had deeply admired the original for its attention to "Human Feeling", claimed that the gloss distanced the audience from the narrative, weakening the poem's effects . The entire poem was first published in the collection of Lyrical Ballads . Another version of the poem was published in the 1817 collection entitled Sibylline Leaves (see 1817 in poetry). </P> <P> On a surface level the poem explores a violation of nature and the resulting psychological effects on the mariner and on all those who hear him . According to Jerome McGann the poem is like a salvation story . The poem's structure is multi-layered text based on Coleridge's interest in Higher Criticism . "Like the Iliad or Paradise Lost or any great historical product, the Rime is a work of transhistorical rather than so - called universal significance . This verbal distinction is important because it calls attention to a real one . Like The Divine Comedy or any other poem, the Rime is not valued or used always or everywhere or by everyone in the same way or for the same reasons ." </P> <P> George Whalley, in his 1946--47 essay, "The Mariner and the Albatross", suggests that the Ancient Mariner is an autobiographical portrait of Coleridge himself, comparing the mariner's loneliness with Coleridge's own feelings of loneliness expressed in his letters and journals . </P>

Iron maiden rime of the ancient mariner meaning
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