Mariner - (Studies in Theology and the Arts) by Malcolm Guite (Paperback)

About the Book

Poet and theologian Malcolm Guite leads readers on a journey with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose own life paralleled the experience in his famous poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." On this theological voyage, Guite draws out the continuing relevance of this work and the ability of poetry to communicate the truths of humanity's fallenness, our need for grace, and the possibility of redemption.

Book Synopsis

Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is often regarded as having heralded the beginning of the Romantic era in British literature. The poem narrates the story of a sailor who has returned home from a long voyage having suffered great loss, yet survived.

In this Studies in Theology and the Arts volume, poet and theologian Malcolm Guite leads readers on a journey with Coleridge, whose own life paralleled the experience of the mariner. On this theological voyage, Guite draws out the continuing relevance of this work and the ability of poetry to communicate the truths of humanity's fallenness, our need for grace, and the possibility of redemption.

The Studies in Theology and the Arts series encourages Christians to thoughtfully engage with the relationship between their faith and artistic expression, with contributions from both theologians and artists on a range of artistic media including visual art, music, poetry, literature, film, and more.

Review Quotes

"Mariner is an examination of Coleridge's stormy life, his most famous work, and his theological insights about the imagination. Malcolm Guite navigates these swirling waters with a steady hand, combining a poet's knack for specificity and a theologian's concern for the transcendent. Guite's tethering of minute autobiographical detail and big ideas shores up the ancient mariner's own advice: 'He prayeth best, who loveth best / All things both great and small.'"

--Philip Tallon, assistant professor of theology at Houston Baptist University and author of The Poetics of Evil

"Malcolm Guite has established himself as one of the leading Christian poets of our time. This positions him to offer a distinctive reading of a poetic giant of the past, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. As expected, Mariner is exceptionally rich, penetrating, and absorbing."

--Jeremy Begbie, professor of theology, director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts, Duke Divinity School, Duke University

"Malcolm Guite's Mariner gives us insight into the growth of Coleridge's mind and a close reading of his greatest poem. In Guite's biographical and textual criticism, modern readers are reminded of the Christian foundations of Coleridge's work. Guite is both an accomplished Christian minister and poet and perhaps one of the few modern souls able to accompany Coleridge on the harrowing spiritual and psychological journey of the Ancient Mariner. Readers of this excellent book have the rare opportunity to take a similar voyage."

--Gregory Maillet, professor of English, Crandall University, coauthor of Christianity and Literature: Philosophical Foundations and Critical Practice

"With great skill, Malcolm Guite has combined able scholarship, poetic eloquence, a grasp of history, and a penetrating spiritual intelligence to unpack and reweave the threads of Coleridge's wondrous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Engrossing and eminently readable."

--Luci Shaw, poet, writer in residence, Regent College, author of Thumbprint in the Clay

About the Author

Malcolm Guite (PhD, Durham) is the chaplain at Girton College, Cambridge, where he also teaches in the Faculty of Divinity. He is a priest, poet, and songwriter, and he travels and speaks regularly throughout the UK and North America. He is the author of Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination as well as several collections of poems, including Parable and Paradox: Sonnets on the Sayings of Jesus and Other Poems; Waiting on the Word: A Poem a Day for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany; The Word in the Wilderness: A Poem a Day for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter; and Sounding the Seasons.