Played
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/28
Reader
David Walliams
Author + actor
Recorded in London W1---
And now this spell was snapt: once more
I viewed the ocean green,
And looked far forth, yet little saw
Of what had else been seen—Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made:
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring—
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/27
Reader
Rupert Everett
Actor + author
Recorded in Wiltshire---
I woke, and we were sailing on
As in a gentle weather:
'Twas night, calm night, the moon was high;
The dead men stood together.All stood together on the deck,
For a charnel-dungeon fitter:
All fixed on me their stony eyes,
That in the Moon did glitter.The pang, the curse, with which they died,
Had never passed away:
I could not draw my eyes from theirs,
Nor turn them up to pray.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/26
Reader
Zeb Soanes + Cleo Silvestre
Radio announcer + Actress
Recorded in Canonbury, London---
First Voice
'But tell me, tell me! speak again,
Thy soft response renewing—
What makes that ship drive on so fast?
What is the ocean doing?'Second Voice
Still as a slave before his lord,
The ocean hath no blast;
His great bright eye most silently
Up to the Moon is cast—If he may know which way to go;
For she guides him smooth or grim.
See, brother, see! how graciously
She looketh down on him.'First Voice
'But why drives on that ship so fast,
Without or wave or wind?'Second Voice
'The air is cut away before,
And closes from behind.Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high!
Or we shall be belated:
For slow and slow that ship will go,
When the Mariner's trance is abated.'---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/25
Reader
Chris Watson
Naturalist + sound artist
Recorded on Blyth beach,
Northumberland---
How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not to declare;
But ere my living life returned,
I heard and in my soul discerned
Two voices in the air.'Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man?
By him who died on cross,
With his cruel bow he laid full low
The harmless Albatross.The spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man
Who shot him with his bow.'The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew:
Quoth he, 'The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do.'---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/24
Reader
Maggi Hambling
Artist
Recorded in South London---
Till noon we quietly sailed on,
Yet never a breeze did breathe:
Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
Moved onward from beneath.Under the keel nine fathom deep,
From the land of mist and snow,
The spirit slid: and it was he
That made the ship to go.
The sails at noon left off their tune,
And the ship stood still also.The Sun, right up above the mast,
Had fixed her to the ocean:
But in a minute she 'gan stir,
With a short uneasy motion—
Backwards and forwards half her length
With a short uneasy motion.Then like a pawing horse let go,
She made a sudden bound:
It flung the blood into my head,
And I fell down in a swound.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/21
Reader
Neil Tennant
Singer + songwriter
Recorded at Studio PSB, London---
The loud wind never reached the ship,
Yet now the ship moved on!
Beneath the lightning and the Moon
The dead men gave a groan.They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
It had been strange, even in a dream,
To have seen those dead men rise.The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
Yet never a breeze up-blew;
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont to do;
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools—
We were a ghastly crew.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/20
Reader
Cerys Matthews
Singer + Author
Recorded at the Stags Head,
Fitzrovia, London---
And soon I heard a roaring wind:
It did not come anear;
But with its sound it shook the sails,
That were so thin and sere.The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between.And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the sails did sigh like sedge,
And the rain poured down from one black cloud;
The Moon was at its edge.The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
The Moon was at its side:
Like waters shot from some high crag,
The lightning fell with never a jag,
A river steep and wide.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/19
Reader
Deborah Warner
Opera director
Recorded in Islington, London---
Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole!
To Mary Queen the praise be given!
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
That slid into my soul.The silly buckets on the deck,
That had so long remained,
I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
And when I awoke, it rained.My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;
Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank.I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
I was so light—almost
I thought that I had died in sleep,
And was a blessed ghost.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/17
Reader
Olivia Laing
Author
Recorded at Emmanuel College Chapel,
Cambridge---
An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.The moving Moon went up the sky,
And no where did abide:
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside—Her beams bemocked the sultry main,
Like April hoar-frost spread;
But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
The charmèd water burnt alway
A still and awful red.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/16
Reader
Alan Cumming
Actor
Recorded in New York City---
I looked upon the rotting sea,
And drew my eyes away;
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;
But or ever a prayer had gusht,
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.I closed my lids, and kept them close,
And the balls like pulses beat;
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
Lay dead like a load on my weary eye,
And the dead were at my feet.The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
Nor rot nor reek did they:
The look with which they looked on me
Had never passed away.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/15
Reader
Marianne Faithfull
Singer, songwriter, actor
Recorded in West London---
'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand.I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
And thy skinny hand, so brown.'—
Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!
This body dropt not down.Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/14
Reader
Cyrus Larcombe Moore
Poet
Recorded at St Mary's Church,
Ottery St Mary, Devon---
One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,
Too quick for groan or sigh,
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
And cursed me with his eye.Four times fifty living men,
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.The souls did from their bodies fly,—
They fled to bliss or woe!
And every soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my cross-bow!---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/11
Reader
Robert Macfarlane
Author
Recorded at Emmanuel College Chapel,
Cambridge---
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
Agape they heard me call:
Gramercy! they for joy did grin,
And all at once their breath drew in.
As they were drinking all.See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
Hither to work us weal;
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!The western wave was all a-flame.
The day was well nigh done!
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun;
When that strange shape drove suddenly
Betwixt us and the Sun.And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,
(Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
As if through a dungeon-grate he peered
With broad and burning face.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/10
Reader
Beth Gibbons
Singer + songwriter---
There passed a weary time. Each throat
Was parched, and glazed each eye.
A weary time! a weary time!
How glazed each weary eye,When looking westward, I beheld
A something in the sky.At first it seemed a little speck,
And then it seemed a mist;
It moved and moved, and took at last
A certain shape, I wist.A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared and neared:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tacked and veered.With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail!---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/9
Reader
Iggy Pop
Singer + songwriter
Recorded in Miami---
About, about, in reel and rout
The death-fires danced at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white.And some in dreams assurèd were
Of the Spirit that plagued us so;
Nine fathom deep he had followed us
From the land of mist and snow.And every tongue, through utter drought,
Was withered at the root;
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/6
Reader
Hilary Mantel
Author
Recorded at St Mary's Church,
Ottery St Mary, Devon,
Coleridge's 'sweet birthplace'---
The Sun now rose upon the right:
Out of the sea came he,
Still hid in mist, and on the left
Went down into the sea.And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,
Nor any day for food or play
Came to the mariner's hollo!And I had done a hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/5
Reader
Willem Dafoe
ActorArtwork
Gordon Cheung
Albatross Glitch---
And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo!In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.''God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—
Why look'st thou so?'—With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth.
The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/4
Reader
Peter Wilson
Polar guide
Filmed + recorded by Eric Wehrmeister,
Point Wild, Antarctica
Lat: 61°05 S
Lon: 54°52 W---
And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken—
The ice was all between.The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/3
Reader
Samuel West
Actor + director
Recorded in Islington, London---
And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong:
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye we fled.And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth. The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK.
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Discover more: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/reading/2
Reader:
Jeanette Winterson
Author
Recorded at The Charterhouse, London---
'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
The Sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.
Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon—'
The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.
The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.
The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
---
You can find the Ancient Mariner Big Read here: https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/
---
Copyright: The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth.
The Ancient Mariner Big Read is not for profit and cannot be sold, either as a whole or in part, without permission from The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, UK. - Show more
