Realizing that I had little poetry on my British reading list, I decided to add Rime of the Ancient Mariner to my ever-expanding "to read" pile. It's short- easily readable in a sitting- and good. It ably fulfills what, to me, is the most important rule of poetry- it rhymes- and it's also a good story.
Rime concerns a sailor who sets out to explore the seas. After a run of good fortune and bad, said sailor shoots a trailing albatross. His crew doesn't know whether to thank him or hate him- they don't know if the albatross was a source of their good luck, or their bad. Apparently, though, it's the latter, because the entire crew, save the main sailor, is later killed when they come upon a ghost ship or something, where Death, some woman, and Al Gore are playing cards, gambling for the fate of the explorers. Death wins, obviously, though the sailor is force to remain alive as punishment for his crime. He's adrift at sea for some time, prompting him to make the famous "water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink" statement. Thankfully, the crew is reanimated as zombies for some reason, and the sailor is able to return home. A hermit on shore sees the returning ship, rows out to meet it, the ship sinks, the sailor's adrift, the hermit picks him up, and the sailor spends the rest of his days telling all he encounters his tale.
I was admittedly lost at times- but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Rating: A-
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