“The Ancient Mariner” Is a Work of Creative Genius in Which Spiritual Truth Forms the Essence of the Poem
Abstract
The latter part of the eighteenth century witnessed. a great change in literature as well as in government. The growth of democracy was accompanied by "liberalism in literature." There was a growing tendency to be free from the bonds of classicism. Genius cried out against rigid adherence to rules and formulas, imagination gained the ascendency over the intellect and matter over form. The cultured town of the classicists was replaced by the rugged country of the romanticists and the aristocratic, well-bred class of the former was superseded by the ordinary hard-handed laborer of the latter. Deep and sympathetic feeling for wild and solitary nature developed poetry of wonder and mystery, and reflection on the emotions of man produced poetry of the universal truths of human nature. The beauties of nature and the soul of man were the sources of inspiration that brought forth sublime outbursts of song. Coleridge and Wordsworth were two young poets who came under the spell of romanticism in the last decade of the eighteenth century. They were not content to find their inspiration in the traditional and literary world of nature. They turned to the actual world - to nature as she is - and there they found the truth and beauty which they sought.
Subject Area
Literature|Spirituality
Recommended Citation
Kelley, Mary Titus, "“The Ancient Mariner” Is a Work of Creative Genius in Which Spiritual Truth Forms the Essence of the Poem" (1923). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI31189700.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI31189700
