Author: Ano Sensei
Format: Video
Subject Matter: Ancient Mariner, Coleridge, heavy metal, Iron Maiden, marginal gloss, narrative voice, popular culture, Romantic Poetry, Steve Harris
Related content:
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- • Iron Maiden & the Professor: Who’s Done More to Bring Young People to Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner? (Study Guide)
- • Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Textual Comparison: 1798 and 1817 (Study Guide)
- • Shelley: Ode to the West Wind – Form and Technique (Study Guide)
- • Wordsworth: Tintern Abbey – Reading & Analysis (Playlist) (Video Playlist)
The Ancient Mariner: Did Iron Maiden do more for Coleridge than the professor?
The British heavy metal band Iron Maiden's 1984 epic "Rime ...of the Ancient Mariner" has introduced Coleridge's poem to millions of fans worldwide. As a professor of English literature, I take a critical look at Steve Harris's composition and the band's delivery, featuring Bruce Dickinson's vocals, focusing on the way Harris skillfully weaves together Coleridge's original poem, his 1817 gloss, and his own words to create a heavy metal masterpiece. What gets lost - and what is gained - in the process? Find out the secret to making old poems cool!
Topics covered:
— Harris's use of Coleridge's 1817 gloss rather than the original 1798 poem
— The two passages quoted word for word from Coleridge
— The shift from subjective to omniscient narrator
— Harris's development of the Christian redemption theme
— The contrast between lyrical content and musical delivery
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