Simon Lee:
Ballads are lyrical poems with short lines that tell a narrative. One example of a ballad is William Wordsworth’s “Simon Lee, The Old Huntsman.” The poem is set in a pastoral place called Cardigan, at the home of an old man. Simon Lee spent his youth as a successful huntsman, eventually settling down with his hardworking wife, Ruth. As a narrative, it has a small timeline starting when Wordsworth comes across the man trying to remove an old tree stump from his property. Wordsworth, noticing that the old man's strength is failing, offers to assist him and is able to remove the stump in a single blow. Simon thanks Wordsworth and the poet uses this narrative as an opening for conversations on men who, unlike the old huntsman, are less likely to express gratitude.
In the article “Contested Emotions: Pity and Gratitude from the Stoics to Swift and Wordsworth,” published in the 130th volume of the fifth issue of the PLMA journal, there is a more in-depth study of the relationship between Gratitude and works such as Simon Lee. Adam Potkay, the author of the 2015 article, references the ancient Stoics in his writing stating that “ Pity and gratitude are, as Wordsworth knew, concerns of moral philosophy, ancient and modern…”(1332). Wordsworth’s pity for the old huntsman is meant to be seen as a redeeming quality, especially when his recognition of the huntsman’s struggles is considered. When the moral and ethical concerns of poets are being considered, pity or the ability to have sympathy for others was seen as a favorable trait. Unfortunately for Wordsworth, this same trait was more of a weakness for philosophers. To a philosopher pity would be seen as a form of “unnecessary suffering for the one who pities, grounded in a mistaken view of what constitutes privation…” (1333). By looking at the differences between the still thriving views of stoics and comparing them to the sympathetic writings of poets, people have the chance to find the positives of both ways of thinking and use them to their benefit.
Citation for article:
- Potkay, Adam. “Contested Emotions: Pity and Gratitude from the Stoics to Swift and Wordsworth.” Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. 130, no. 5, 2015, pp. 1332–1346., https://doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2015.130.5.1332.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
Some ballads are much longer than Wordsworth's “Simon Lee.” The ballad “The Rime of The Ancient Mariner” is a poem that is divided into not one or two, but seven full parts, each with its own importance to the work. The poem starts by introducing the narrator. The mariner is described as someone who has stopped at a wedding with glittering eyes, ready to share his story with the first person who will listen. His captive audience, a young attendee, is thrust right into the story with no further introduction of the storyteller.
The narrative begins at the beginning of the mariner’s journey and follows him throughout his adventure. After a biblical storm, the mariner and his crew are awed at the glacial beauty and lifelessness of the ocean. An Albatross appears to the men who view it as a good omen, but the mariner decides to kill it with his crossbow. The rest of the journey is taken over by tragedy as the mariner it forced to live through the consequences of his actions with the bird hanging from his neck. All of his men die and the mariner is left alone on the ship surrounded by his fallen comrades. As night falls, the mariner, inspired by the beauty of nature around his ship starts to pray and the albatross falls from his neck as a sign of him being forgiven. His ship, powered by spiritual means, races towards his home, and when he reaches the harbor, the mariner speaks first to a well-known hermit. The mariner confesses his sins and ends his story, telling his captive audience member that now he tells his story wherever he goes out of compulsion.
The article “Diagnosing 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner': Shipwreck, historicism, traumatology” published by the Johns Hopkins University press dissects the poem and explains the work's categorization as a “supreme crystallization of the spirit of maritime expansion.” This 2016 article, found in the 55th volume and the fourth issue of the journal was written by Diman Walford Davies and speaks on three main topics: shipwreck, historicism, and traumatology. In his article, Mr. Davies makes references to the ways that trauma is described in the poem. He states that “Melancholy,” “mania,” “nostalgia” and “hysteria” were all available to Coleridge as terms describing some of the symptoms associated with the syndrome we now know as PTSD” meaning that writers like Coleridge were able to use terminology that was more socially accepted to open dialogue on issues that are more understood today. The Rime of The Ancient Mariner uses a traumatic experience and makes it into a livable point for the Mariner. Through the retelling of his experience, he is able to find peace with himself and with the ways that the experience changed him.
Citation:
Davies, Damian Walford. “Diagnosing ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’: Shipwreck, Historicism, Traumatology.” Studies in Romanticism, vol. 55, no. 4, Dec. 2016, p. 503. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsglr.A485937088&site=eds-live&scope=site.
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