Category: Unit 2: Ghosts & Transformations

After reading and reciting some of the lines of the ballad The Ancient Mariner I can say it was a confusing ballad to read because you had to infer a lot of sruff and have a lot of background knowledge. The good part about this ballad is that it is short and the reader doesn’t have to remember it for a long time. Moving on to the recitation, I found it really easy to memorize what we had to, but struggled a little bit on the recitation part and staying on character. Overall, in my opinion it was an average story and I will forget about it really soon.

Personally, I did not love reading this book, I found it interesting but it was very confusing for me, I didn’t understood much about what was going on and everything was very confusing, besides that the parts that I did understand were interesting, reading this for me was also hard since I had never read something like this which made it hard and confusing, I also had some trouble making notes since I couldn’t understand many parts. This was something different that I think it was a challenge for me but at the end I tried my best to understand, and I found this book different that others we have read in English class, and it was something very interesting with good ideas and lessons through the book. It also had many ideas that you could take as lessons , at the end this book was hard to read and confusing but interesting .



Reciting this was a little hard I had to memorize everything and sometimes it can be hard since you know it and memorize it but when it’s time to read it being nervous makes you forget, and that happened to me in one part, besides that I think I did a pretty good job since I didn’t receive any help and I was able to say the whole thing by myself without help and recite it very good. i don’t love this type of activities since for some people it can be hard speaking on public, and it is something we have to work with but personally i don’t like memorizing this since usually its harder and you can forget it very easily.

Overall, I think that “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a nice poem. I liked the plot, and I found it really interesting how the story pressed along, between the Mariner shooting the Albatross, and the sudden misfortunes that happened to the crew soon afterwards.  but I didn’t really like reading the poem due to the language that was used in the writing. I feel that I would’ve been more engaged in the poem if the language was easier to understand, at least to me. This poem slightly reminded me about the Story of Joseph, despite the languages being different from each other I still  I found the poem quite difficult to follow because although I had pages on pages of notes, I still couldn’t really piece together what was happening when the time came around for the quiz. In fairness, this could’ve simply been my error, and my notes were not thorough enough, but I have never had this sort of issue before when I have used my notes for quizzes on other stories.

As for the recitation on the five stanzas, I think I performed good, and I had everything memorized, despite my mind going blank as I was silently standing in front of everyone with my best efforts to try and gather my thoughts, which I was eventually able to grasp. I feel that I definitely could have done a better job on creating a sense of character, because I was mainly thinking more of memorization than emphasizing my words, or making appropriate pauses and rests to have a flow as I was reciting the stanzas. Other than the small snippet that I blanked on in the middle, I think that the rest of the recitation went well for the most part.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner really did hit different compared to other stories we have read this year. Unlike the others, it uses psychologic tactics to not only take the readers attention, but to also keep them at nerve until the climax has passed. This did prove to be a very successful tactic since cliff-hangers (which happened here and there) occurred right at the end of a certain chapters creating a suspense forcing the reader to read on. This passage (like all the others) doesn’t hold a message, but before you say anything let me show you what I mean; books and passages don’t deliver messages, it just brings us information which we chose to interpret in many ways and take out a lesson out of them. In this exact passage I have learned that we must value the small and big things that happen throughout our little adventure (life), as well as you never realise how valuable someone is until they are gone. Unfortunately this lesson I have learned the hard way when I was younger, since my grandfather has passed away from cancer in 2019, as well as my dog passing away.

Due to my inability of working on memorizing the 5 stanzas (due to my sickness) I had to resort to procrastination (I understand this is a very bad habit but try not to use it often) in order to not fail this assignment. The whole memorization took no longer than a ferry from Vancouver Island to Mainland (1.35 hours), and I must say that I was comfortable with presenting these stanzas.

However, despite me practicing over and over, getting to the point of where I “not only got it right, but couldn’t get it wrong” (Mr. Herv Kejgal, old Music Teacher, a wise man who has taught me valuable lessons for life). This self confidence was soon dissipated as I was called up to the front of the class in seemingly no time, which has lead me to be nervous. The nervousness has caused me to forget one of the lines, which made me a little more nervous. I did however come to realize that I had to keep my tempo, which has allowed me to deal with the nervousness as all I did was take long, deep, breaths in order to calm myself down; and wouldn’t you know it, it worked! After such a rollercoaster I finally sat down with a strong sense of relief and belief in myself for next time:

As the overall lesson, I have now seen what procrastinating would do to me if I kept it up (quite a bit of students failed to memorize their scripts causing them to get a low mark, which is very unfortunate for them, hence why this post covers this topic.

–Iaroslav Serg Pyrozhok

Hi, I’m going to tell you what I liked and disliked about The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. A few things I liked from this ‘book’ were the ghost ship and how the Mariner paid the price for killing the poor, innocent albatross. Things I didn’t like about this book were the way it was written, sometimes it was so hard to understand that I honestly just skipped over completely and proceeded to throw the paper across the room; the fact that the poor wedding guest had to stand and listen to this old man yap for the whole wedding was honestly the saddest part, like let the wedding guest go enjoy himself.

Now, for the recitation… I swear I practiced it, it’s just hard to speak out loud in front of a crowd sometimes. Out of everything we’ve done this term, this was it. This is my #1 opp. I hope we never have to memorize and recite anything again (I know we will have to but I pray we don’t).

 

When I first started reading The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, I never thought I would have to memorize ballads from it later on. The story follows an ancient mariner who tells a story to a wedding guest who is stopped by his frightening glare. Before this, I had never thought of reading ballads as an actual form of reading. However, it was not as bad as I believed it would be. I greatly admired how each line was spaced enough to make me feel like I wasn’t reading a story at all, but a text message on my phone instead. The text itself, as could be expected in a Mr. Macknight classroom, did not make sense at all, which also made it considerably more exhausting to memorize. Also, the fact that we were forced to recite it afterward in front of our classmates made me and many others who struggle with public speaking not want to step foot in Brookes Westshore at all. Overall I’m not mad or sour over my grade I just don’t understand how making children feel bad in front of all their classmates relates to English or helps us in my future paths to greatness.

When I first started to memorise the five stanzas, I went over each stanza repeatedly one at a time until I knew that stanza off by heart. I continued to do this to the second stanza than reciting both until I knew the entire five stanzas. When I knew the five stanzas, I would say the whole thing in my head and practice with my friends. Because it was a poem, I found it easier to memorise it than say, a random section of a novel, because the last words of every line, rhyme with another. It also has a beat, or rhythm, to it which helps to know how many syllables are in each line.

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a very interesting ballad. It centers around the Ancient Mariner, an old man, who killed an Albatross for no apparent reason while working on a ship. This caused the ship to get stuck, and led to the death of his 200 crewmates. After a symbolic phantom ship containing “Death” and “Life in Death” came up to their ship, they both gambled on whether he would survive. Life in Death won, so the Mariner was left alive. After his crewmates died, he was left alone on the ship, cursed to float in the sea until he died. A wind that could not be felt caught the sails of the ship, and it eventually made its way back to England, where he had departed from, he was forced to do penance for killing the albatross in the form of being forced to tell people his story. This is told through the lens of the Mariner telling his story to a man going into a wedding.

I believe the story of the Ancient Mariner does draw some ties to Jekyll and Hyde with its narrative. It explores the immoral urges of man, and the consequences of such, through a strict lens of morality. The strict lens of morality, however, in Rime of the Ancient Mariner is strictly a Christian lens, while that of Jekyll and Hyde is a Victorian lens, which is partially Christian, but also encompasses ideals outside of that. I quite enjoyed this ballad. It was very well paced for something so short, and it was an interesting look into late-16th-century ideals. Beyond this, it was also a generally enjoyable story, and the rhythm of it kept it from being too tedious to read. For what reason, I do not know. Its main idea is the idea that every creature is important to their creator, no matter how obscene people interpret them to be. We can see this when the Mariner unconsciously blesses the sea-snakes, which he had previously called disgusting, and is able to pray again.

My experience memorizing the five stanzas of this play was, in fact, quite pleasant. I personally opted to memorize it around a week before, which was quite the help, and allowed me to be more confident. It reduced my stress tenfold, and allowed me to make my presentation very smooth.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner was a poem produced by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I found the book insanely confusing to understand at certain points. I liked this books’ plot though because I like the non-fiction, and the ghost crew and “Death & Life after death”. This book makes me think of what it would be like to have everyone you know be killed and you escaping back to your homeland, alive. At one part, I would think it would feel great to be back home, and you would usually feel victorious that you survived a chaotic trip. But at the same time, you wouldn’t be able to see your crew ever again and you would have flashing memories or maybe nightmares about the corpses laying on the ship. I would say that the ending made me feel sad, except I’m just happy the Mariner got back home safely whether he’s a ghost or not, because now he can go tell his story to a bunch of others! Over all the book and it’s non-fiction made me love it, I just wish it was written in an easier understanding way, and I hope to read more non-fiction books like we have been.

Now, to my experience trying to remember/recite the five stanzas. I didn’t have time and I kind of forgot to try and memorize it, so I only had Sunday and Monday to try and be able to recite it, which stressed me out a lot since I have a math summative coming up the day I’m writing this as well. Even though it was very stressful, I got one of my friends to help me through it. On the day of the recitation, I was pretty confident, but I know how things work, I went up there and I forgot most of the stanzas but I still completed it so I’m proud of myself because doing public speaking like that scares me. The weird part is I wasn’t too concerned with reciting it, it was more how was I going to stand so I don’t look weird. Either way, I feel like I did a good job and I’m so happy it’s over haha.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was an eye-catching read with many things to say about this Ballard, the main thing on my mind is that no matter how hard you struggled and fought to pronounce and recite the tricky old-time English words, you always had a drive to read the next line, and to find the rhyme within the stanzas’. Something I will always remember from this book was the Albatross, and how it hung around the Ancient Mariners neck as a symbol of sin.

— The selfsame moment I could pray;

And from my neck so free

The Albatross fell off, and sank

Like lead into the sea.” (Page 8 Stanza 7)

I had many questions about this stanza, I felt a significant change in the way I viewed the Ancient Mariner. Not only did he forgive the world around him, but it was just that, that released the sin weighted on his neck. Memorizing the 5 stanzas’ was not difficult considering it’s already in Rime, one thing would rhyme with the next which made the words easier to compare and contrast between the stanzas’. I think it was unrealistic to have such high expectations for a class of students, the most of whom were born and/or raised in non-English speaking nations. Applying the grading system incorrectly in this instance, with the bulk of the class receiving a 5 or lower, due to a small number of students exceeding expectations, is the reason for this.

‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is a narrative poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798. It is about the mariner who shoots an innocent Albatross which creates problems for him when his ship stops moving due to the doldrum. When the ship became static, it was on the equator at the time and did not move for many days. With direct sun, it got very hot and there was no water to drink. The mariner’s shipmates all died but he stayed alive. When he eventually gets back to England and confesses his journey and unfortunate events to the Hermit through a poem, he learns that his penance for killing the Albatross is to continue to tell his story to people.

Overall, I enjoyed the story of ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. I have never read a narrative poem until now and I found it fascinating how someone can tell a story through poetry. Even though the terminology was confusing at times, I was able to piece it together like a puzzle and try and figure it out along the way. Even though I liked how it was written, there were many parts where I was not expecting that to happen and seemed odd to me. Including when it wrote that ‘the dead men rose’ and how there was a ghost ship, ‘spectre barque’. But after finishing reading it, it fit together, and I understood what had happened.

I personally didnt like this book because the end was really boring. in my opinion it is a well written book, But it’s not the kind of book I like or would read.

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the story we read in English class, and I really liked this book, as someone whose first language is not English, I found this book interesting yet also understandable, compared to other books we have read I found this book easier to read than most books we read in English class. I liked this book because I found it really interesting, and I think this book at the end can have different perspectives or point of view about what happened at the end of the story, and it makes you think about how everyone has evil and good, and we should learn to make the good decisions and actions. I also liked that this book is a fictional book and I find fictional books very interesting and entertaining to read, this is one of the books that you just want to keep reading to know what happens next. Even if this book is a short book I enjoyed it a lot and the way that Dr Jekyll changed to Mr. Hyde and in one-point Mr. Hyde is getting control over him can be related to real life, even if this book is fictional I think it has many ideas that can relate to real life and situations that can happen. I also like the way this book tries to give you a message about human nature and how every human has good and bad in them, but it’s important to control yourself. At the end I really liked this book and enjoyed reading this could be one of my favorite books we have read in English class, and I really enjoyed it. 

This story is about how people can act completely different depending the situation and the context. The author uses the supernatural element of Mr. Hyde to emphasize how how a person’s personality can change and look completely different based on the context. Anther way that this story uses supernatural elements is how Jekyll keeps taking the drug even though he can see how obviously evil and self-destructive Hyde is. Even after Hyde kills someone, Jekyll keeps taking the drug until he gets stuck as Hyde. In conclusion, The story The Strange Chase of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde uses supernatural elements to communicate the dual nature of people and the self-destructiveness of addictions.

Overall, I think that “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was an adequate book.

I found the story a little tedious, almost how the author didn’t just get to the actual point of the story, especially in the last chapter, which was especially hard to read, particularly because it was tedious and boresome for me. Although I didn’t really enjoy the story a lot, I did like the messages that Stevenson conveyed throughout the novel. I really appreciated the message conveyed about the dualities of human nature, and I think it’s a good takeaway from the book. An example of such dualities could be those intrusive thoughts that you have from time to time, where you may be on a tall building and have those intrusive thoughts to jump off the edge. However, the reason for these thoughts generally isn’t because you have a messed up mind, but it’s simply that you as a person, have those thoughts because you are afraid of such things happening, like jumping off that edge. Another element I found interesting in the book was how Stevenson showcased morality, and consequences. For Dr. Jekyll, his thought process had the idea that if he was transformed into Mr. Hyde, he didn’t have to worry about the consequences, or morality, or anything about being a bad person. Who cares? It would be Mr. Hyde, not him, and he could live with the ability of being able to commit heinous actions whilst still being a good person on the other side. Point being, this reference also has a connection to those intrusive thoughts you can have, and I think the message does a nice job of swiftly making the reference.

As for my feelings on the characters, I’ll talk about Dr. Jekyll, since he and Mr. Hyde were both the main characters of the book. I felt that Dr. Jekyll took things that we think about, like intrusive thoughts, and turned it into something that gave him the ability to actually follow through with those thoughts, and I found it interesting how it was done. I see why he did it, and I really found it quite interesting because of how the key events in the book unfolded. I have a neutral stance on Dr. Jekyll, because I don’t really think that there is much to agree or disagree on, as most of us do have intrusive thoughts, and it is natural. However, the destruction and lives taken during the novel are tragic, and there’s no dispute against it, as well as the morality of still committing such actions at all is still terrible. Just because he was a different individual whilst committing such actions, it’s still just the principle behind the actions at all.

I feel that this story was adequate, but definitely not as good as the novels we have read as a class during this school year.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson. I personally thought the book was pretty good and interesting because I like all this weird magic type stuff with having 2 personalities and all of Jekyll’s transformations to Hyde kind of relating to bad habits. I just mostly like all these fictional stories because they open up an amazing imagination of what most wish could be, but won’t, so they get to read fictional books or movies/shows to experience a whole new special world.

One thing this book made me question, is how is it, when you’re a whole new or different person, the old you are still conscious, because Jekyll in the story says he doesn’t like doing the things he does as Hyde, so if you were still conscious in someone else body, wouldn’t you be able to stop your actions? It all made me pretty confused but that’s exactly why I love fiction. Wonder.

On the other hand, the ending, the ending made me a bit sad seeing a man that used to love his life now commit suicide (I believe so) just because someone else ruined it, and he had no power no more than say in the situation. Jekyll even said, that if it weren’t for his fear of death, he would have suicided a lot earlier. Even though it had quite a sad ending, the book was absolutely great and I hope to read more like it.

We have unfortunately come to terms with the evil that is committed in The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. While alcohol is considered a sin because it pulls a person further and further from consciousness, Henry Jekyll seems to have the same effect with this rather say “drug.” Many actual-life occurrences can be associated to this book to explain Henry Jekyll’s experience, yet Dr. Jekyll is a man who was encouraged to do evil by his “concoction.” As I comprehended it, Mr. Hyde embodied the damaging impact of illicit substances on human beings; given his “detestable” appearance and inhuman characteristics, we can see that he is the contradiction of Dr. Jekyll and, therefore, the result of stealing someone’s identity as well as a well-known case in the Victorian Era; Manic Depressive Psychosis, which is known for its delusional and hallucinative patients. Henry Jekyll, was the other side of which was enslaved to this drug in order to escape his “unhappy” lifestyle.

“Man is not truly one, but truly two.” (Pg 67)

Despite being a brief quotation, this captures the logic of the narrative in its entirety. In order to separate the two within him, Dr. Jekyll need the support of the potion. Though, from my viewpoint, Henry ultimately regretted the drug abuse he had committed on his body, hence the end where he gives up fighting to be his best self. The numerous “Imaginary elements” aim to blur the lines of the story’s true meaning, causing it to be an exercise in deception. If you didn’t appreciate Stevenson’s writing, it’s highly possible that you wouldn’t succeed in identifying the true elements. Stevenson himself experienced duality from an early age; his medical and mental illnesses prevented him from ever being a child. It is reported that in 1886, he was taking medicinal cocaine when he wrote this narrative, which gave rise to its two central characters, Jekyll and Hyde, who had originated from a recurring nightmere. Though the story is focused around its supernatural abilities and story-line, it’s a cover up for its true meaning.

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is an really interesting story that has and explains mysteries of human nature. The scientist Dr. Jekyll makes a potion that lets him reveal his darkest traits while cloning as Mr. Hyde. At first, Hyde’s appearance seems harmless, but as he becomes more evil, Jekyll’s friends begin to worry, especially Mr. Utterson. As Utterson looks into Mr. Hyde’s past, he discovers scary details about the dynamic between Jekyll and Hyde that lead to an unexpected realization about the conflict that exists in Jekyll.

When we read the first couple pages in class I assumed this book would be weird/strange and I was somewhat right, Honestly I did not really enjoy this book, if you like gothic fiction or horror fiction you would enjoy it. Overall it was very well written and an interesting book.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a mystery and gothic story. It was a complex book to read but interesting to follow along. The story follows Mr. Utterson who investigates some mysterious things that have been happening around London to do with his old friend Dr. Jekyll and a criminal name Hyde. Later in the book, we learn that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, which caught me off guard because I was not expecting that. He created this potion that turned him into evil Mr. Hyde so he could secretly do anything bad with no one ever knowing who it was.

I found this book a weird one and from the title, it really is a ‘strange case’. For a mystery novel, I found the first chapter well written when the author started the book off in a creepy setting, then Hyde tramples a small child, which would bring in questions about this strange man meaning that you would want to keep reading to find out more. For me, it was weird when Jekyll pulls out a potion that changes who he is physically and mentally. I can understand that people can mentally change, but physically changing back and forth seemed a bit odd. Throughout the whole novel up until this point, everything I was reading I though could be possible in reality. But as soon as Jekyll drank this potion and he changed into a new man, Hyde, a small dwarf-like man, it caught me off guard because this scene seemed to be very different than the rest of the storyline.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is an incredible story that provides a very interesting look into the human psyche, and pairs this with a harrowing tale of science pushed too far. Right off the bat, there is an eerie atmosphere and an air of suspense. The book makes everything feel completely off, in a way, especially within character interactions. There is a quintessentially Victorian-era formality to these interactions which contributes to this. As our modern world has eschewed such formalities, this leads to a “colder” atmosphere – there is barely any feeling of warmth to the characters, especially with Dr. Jekyll. A quote that perfectly exemplifies this is one said by Mr. Enfield. This is from Enfield’s explanation of what happened when Hyde tramples the little girl:

“Yes, it’s a bad story. For
my man was a fellow that nobody could have to do with, a really damnable man; and the person that drew the cheque is the very pink of the proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of your fellows who do what they call good. Black mail I suppose; an honest man paying through the nose for some of the capers of his youth. Blackmail House is what I call the place with the door, in consequence. Though even that, you know, is far from explaining all,” p9, p10

Separate from the formality of the dialog, the book also builds its tension very effectively. Very early on in the story, we get the idea that something is completely wrong with him, more so than the other characters, but the book keeps this subtle enough until things begin truly going awry, and you begin to make sense of why Jekyll is doing strange things, shutting himself in, and feigning sickness.

Within Jekyll’s explanatory letter, he delves into the idea of the duality of man, which is also affected by the lens of Victorian morality. This, in my opinion, explores the difficulty of conforming to strict morals due to the human nature of having “immoral” desires, thoughts, and actions. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a story that is most definitely ahead of its time, exploring ideas and beliefs that we are still trying to think about to this day, albeit through a less supernatural lens. The supernatural elements of this story, mainly the concoction created by Dr. Jekyll to turn himself into Hyde, create another level of nuance. This invites the reader to wonder about the possibility of how science can affect humans, and explores the idea of science destroying human nature, creating greed, addiction, and changing people for the worse.