Tuesday 3 February 2009
Coleridge's Constant Commentary
I, for one, found all of Coleridge's little side notes to be fascinating. Not necessarily because I thought what he said in them was interesting, but more because I just had to wonder what compelled him to include so many. I have never seen another poet explain his or her poetry from the sidelines quite like he did. Reading Rime of the Ancient Mariner along with all of the margin notes felt kind of like watching a movie with commentary from the director. They were certainly helpful, as I admit there were some sections I probably would have glossed over if I hadn't read the margin notes and understood what exactly was going on. I still haven't been able to decide whether or not Coleridge's commentary adds or detracts to the overall feeling of the poem though, and in hindsight it probably may have been a good idea to read it once through without reading the margin notes first and then gone back again for a closer look. After all, nobody watches a movie for the first time time while listening to the commentary. On the other hand, the notes were, in a way, their own sort of poetry. They added a dimension to the poem that I've never seen done anywhere else.
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I like the comparison to a director's commentary. I hadn't thought of that. It's so true!
ReplyDeleteI agree that you should probably wait until after reading through once before you read the commentary. I actually didn't really like the notes that he wrote. I found myself constantly looking at the notes without meaning to, which made it difficult to appreciate the poem itself. It was kind of like trying to read while you had the cliffnotes version right next to you.
ReplyDelete"The ship suddenly sinketh?" I'm still trying to understand why this needed to be explained. Doesn't "The ship went down like lead" explain that even better? On the other hand, he throws in some explanations that I would have been completely lost without. My opinion as to why Coleridge went about his commentary was for their (Coleridge and Wordsworth) pursuit to make poetry more prosaic. And I felt the commentary helped keep the storyline; it's all for the sake of the vernacular story. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to piggy back on this one, too. For me, the notes were perfect. I think I should have read through it first without looking at the notes, but hindsight is always 20/20, right? The reason I loved the notes so much was not only because they helped to tell the story of the poem (helped the reader understand what was happening) but also the language used to help the reader understand. I love that he didn't outline every single line of the poem, either. Some of that beautiful imagery was left to the readers mind. He only noted the facts (which I greatly appreciated since I didn't fully understand what was happening). He did not interpret the emotion. I agree that some of the notes were somewhat unnecessary, like "the ship suddenly sinketh," but I appreciate that they were there.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see how the notes would be insightful, but I found their location off to the side of the margin very distracting. It took away from the flow of the poem. If they were foot notes, that would be a lot better in my mind, but I am not about to tell Coleridge how to write a poem...
ReplyDeleteI actually lost intrest in the poem because of the side notes. But I will have to reread the peom and ignore the side notes altogether and then see what I can get out of it. Thanks for your first comment on this topic Greg, it was interesting!
ReplyDeleteI loved the side notes but was also very distracted by them. I couldn't keep up with the flow of the poem because I kept stopping to read in the margins. lol. I finally had to go through and read all of the side notes, hoping I would remember them, and then I read the poem through without stopping. So, if the notes distracted you, try it again without reading them. It certainly helped me.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the the poem show's it's out-datedness by requiring side notes for me to understand the references being made, or if even in his time his references where unfamiliar. I thought that it was a nicely flowing poem, but with the addition of the note it was like reading a short story instead. I felt he went past poetic images to a plot, character development and a conclusion/climax.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of artistically worded images... I think he did an un-earthly job in SHOWing the reader. He gave us just enough info to set the scene, but in certain places, didn't get too descriptive... he let our minds fill in the rest, and give ourselves goosebumps!