This edition of Coleridge's classic Romantic poem reprints the 1798 and 1817 texts along with critical essays, newly commissioned or revised for students, that read “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” from 5 contemporary critical perspectives: reader response, Marxist, psychoanalytic, deconstructionist, and new historical. An additional essay demonstrates how these various approaches can be combined. The text and essays are complemented by introductions (biographical and critical, with bibliographies) and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms.

William Wordsworth (17701850) permanently enlarged the range of English poetry both in subject matter and treatment.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (17721834) is best known for his magical early poems and highly imaginative criticism.
Michael Schmidt is the author of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist “Lives of the Poets” and the director of the writing school at Manchester Metropolitan University.