If you have been following my progress through A Book of Narrative Verse you will know that I have been finding it hard work. You will also know that I am not a fan of poetry.
Why? I have no idea. It may be because I am unwilling, or too lazy to work out and fully appreciate what the poem means. I persist with it because I don't want to miss out on something beautiful.
This morning that persistence paid off. I read the Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. My Dad likes this poem and when I was growing up he would quote lines from it. When he quoted them it sounded like those words reverberated through time. I think at some point he studied the poem.
I also know a little bit about Coleridge. I think he used to turn up at Wordsworth's house to indulge his opium habit. Something his wife didn't appreciate, hence why he didn't do it at home.
Anyway when I came to read it this morning I found that I could understand it and that I enjoyed it. In my mind I was all at sea with the Ancient Mariner and the Albatross! Maybe I need to know something about the poem and the poet before I try reading poetry.
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