![\"Mariner-Donwood\"](\"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Mariner-Donwood-700x700.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Curated by The Arts Institute<\/a> of The University of Plymouth:<\/p>\n “The Ancient Mariner Big Read is an inclusive, immersive work of audio and visual art from the 21st century that reflects the sweeping majesty and abiding influence of Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u2019s 18th century epic poem.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Divided into forty episodes<\/a>, the multimedia project combines each reading with a piece of visual art like the one\u00a0above1<\/a><\/sup>, created by Stanley Donwood, for the eleventh instalment.<\/p>\n The list of readers is varied and each one brings a unique voice to their given section of the ballad. The moment when the mariner shoots the albatross is delivered with added menace by Willem Defoe; while Olivia Laing\u2019s reading is steeped in sorrow as she describes the \u201ccurse in a dead man\u2019s eye!\u201d<\/p>\n At less than two minutes per instalment, the poem is made readily digestible. And the combination of ambient sound and distinct delivery bring each section of the poem into sharper relief.<\/p>\n Returning to Laing\u2019s section of the poem, for example, I was struck anew by the following two stanzas:<\/p>\n \u201cThe moving Moon went up the sky, Her beams bemocked the sultry main, The juxtaposition of the moonlight with the bloody sea distinctly captures the beauty of Coleridge\u2019s writing while conveying imagery that is inherently melancholy and horrifying. This instalment also provided my favourite image2<\/a><\/sup> thus far (above), created by Desmond Morris.\u00a0Like Coleridge, he perfectly captures the contrast between the beautiful and the grotesque.<\/p>\n As of this morning, the project reached the half-way point but it’s never too late to jump in. Each episode can be enjoyed in various places, including YouTube and Spotify. However, the richest experience comes from the project website<\/a>\u00a0itself where each reading is complemented with the art work, contextual information, critical commentary, \u00a0and the relevant stanzas of the poem.<\/p>\n So pull up a chair and listen to the “bright-eyed” mariner’s tale.<\/p>\n Curated by The Arts Institute of The University of Plymouth: “The Ancient Mariner Big Read is an inclusive, immersive work of audio and visual art from the 21st century that reflects the sweeping majesty and abiding influence of Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u2019s 18th century epic poem.” Divided into forty episodes, the multimedia project combines each reading … Continue reading The Ancient Mariner Big Read<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[918,180],"tags":[1130,611,1128,521,1136,14,16,1131,1139,1133,881,94,1129,1135,1132,1134],"class_list":["post-20601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-education-2","tag-ancient","tag-art","tag-big-read","tag-culture","tag-desmond-morris","tag-education","tag-literature","tag-mariner","tag-multi-media","tag-plymouth","tag-podcast","tag-poetry","tag-rime","tag-samuel-taylor-coleridge","tag-stanley-donwood","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20601"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20827,"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20601\/revisions\/20827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mariner-Morris\"](\"https:\/\/jamesmichie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Mariner-Morris-700x554.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nAnd no where did abide:
\nSoftly she was going up,
\nAnd a star or two beside\u2014<\/p>\n
\nLike April hoar-frost spread;
\nBut where the ship\u2019s huge shadow lay,
\nThe charm\u00e8d water burnt alway
\nA still and awful red.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n