"Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (cross-post from curr. board)

[Lucy in Australia]

We seem to have hit a bit of a wall with this poem. I find myself having to spoon-feed DS12 because he just doesn't get it, can't understand it, blah, blah, blah... We had similar troubles with "The Canterbury Tales" last year. This child reads on an adult level and can usually force himself to work through difficult material, even if it's something he's not enjoying. Not this time, though. For those of you who have successfully tackled this piece of writing: help! Do I keep plodding on, even if I have to tackle it sentence by sentence, or is there a more effective way? TIA

[In The Great White North]

Maybe it's the age?

 

I loved it when I had it in English class in high school. My dc (11 & 14) hated it. I even found an audio version to listen to in the car. They just didn't get it at all.

 

I think I might try again in a couple of years.

[Harriet Vane]

I have a couple thoughts.

 

One is that he may have some burn-out and need to try a different pace for a short time. Can you give him something in a simpler style to read? (Still quality literature, of course.)

 

Another thought is that it may not be a style he likes or is attuned to. We all have more affinity to some things than others.

 

I would leave it and return to it in a couple years. It IS a rich, dense, mature work that many do not study until the college level.

 

Another thought, whether you persevere with it now or at another time: Don't kill this beautiful poem by slogging through it one laborious line at a time. Take it in large, rich chunks. Plan to read it more than once--the first time needs to be in big chunks, as close to straight through as can be managed. The second time can be at a slower pace, asking questions and dialoguing about some of the basics. Once you've immersed in it twice, then you start to have a feel for the language, and it becomes easier, and you can dissect it in better depth and detail.

 

Having said that, though, your son is young and may just be a little weary. Go to something else, in a different style. Come back to this poem in a few years and see if it goes better at that time.

[Lucy in Australia]

Thank you! It's nice to get an objective point of view. Yes, he is probably too immature and one of my fears was to "spoil" the poem for him forever :) I think we'll just leave it alone for now.

[Janice H]

I had to read it twice; it was an annotated version with beautiful engravings by Dore.

 

Then I later found a cassette tape with actor Christopher Plummer reading it. That was when I realized I should have listened to it first; poetry should be heard. I found the books and tape through the public library. (Both may be out of print now.)

[Peela]

Hi Lucy,

We did Ancient Mariner a couple of years ago. The way I did it was just to read it aloud with as much expression as I could, and see what they actually picked up (it was new to me at the time, too). They both managed to pick up the general gist of the storyline and were intrigued by it- but they certainly didn't understand it all. I didn't expect them to though. We just got what we could out of it in a couple of sessions and moved on. We will tackle it again next time through.

Same with Canterbury Tales- but even now I won't choose a very archaic version.