"He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast."
(The full poem: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html)
I was reminded of my favourite work of poetry today.
While reading up on current events on a news website, an RSPCA awareness advert flashed on the right-hand side of my computer screen. It was a picture of an ill-looking bear, and there was a description of the kind of cruelty bears suffer at the hands of bile-farmers and baiters. Those of you who know me well, know that cruelty to animals is the one thought that I cannot even begin to entertain without weeping. This RSPCA advertisement was heart-wrenching to say the least, and it took me some moments to compose myself and keep from choking on my own tears.
Few people would equate the Rime of the Ancient Mariner with an RSPCA campaign, as I have done. Nevertheless, it is for this very principle that the Rime is so important to me, and today I felt moved to read through it again. Always a wonderful literary experience.
The story of the Ancient Mariner truly possesses my will each and every time I study it, and I cannot help but come away "sadder and wiser" at the truth found within. The way the Mariner sought to "teach, by his own example, love and reverence to all things that God made and loveth", steered my heart further to a very well-known, very comforting verse:
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father knowing..."
This was written by the Greatest Poet of all time.
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Oh I love that poem too! The Rime of the Ancient Mariner can be read in such a varying degree of ways. I find it great to see you read one facet of it as God watching over us. This poem has been a favorite of mine for quite some time and I was truly blessed to be able to study it at uni...
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely to see that someone loves this poem as much as me!
Hey gorgeous Tafline! Thanks so much for your comment. I guess the way I read the poem isn't so much from the angle that God is watching over US...I feel it is more getting the point across that God is watching over animals, :P and it is perhaps a warning to those who treat animals in a reckless or cruel manner. That's the main point I take from the piece anyway!
ReplyDeleteHow do you read the poem? I know one of my close male friends (who happens to have a strong phobia of marriage), sees the Mariner as a necessary diversion to the distraction of attending a wedding! Ha.(And yes Benjamin, I know you read my blog!)
Would be keenly interested to hear anyone else's thoughts on the poem as well.
Thanks again Tafline...miss you. Mwah