“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.