The Rime of The Ancient Frankenstein?

 

"The Wanderer Above The Sea Fog" (3) An example of the sublime nature (1)

Mary Shelley (7)

Mary Shelley was the daughter of an acclaimed writer and feminist author (5). It goes without question that literature was a large factor in her upbringing. As a result, she was introduced to different types of genres and met many famous authors and writers during her lifetime. Of these many writers, one was Samuel Taylor Coleridge. As the story is told, her father had invited Coleridge to their home late one night. Coleridge was preparing to recite his poem as Mary and her sister were found hiding in an attempt to listen to his literary work. Mary's stepmother insisted that they go to bed, but Coleridge was able to convince her step mother to allow them to stay and listen. He went on to perform his now most famous poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (6). This poem left a profound impact on Mary Shelley that can now be credited as the source of inspiration for Frankenstein.

The inspiration for the epic came from a walk with Coleridge and William Wordsworth, another English Romantic poet. The two literary artists were walking in Nether Stowey, Somerset when they came upon a statue of a mariner near a local town's harbor. It was here that Coleridge supposedly stared out to sea while imaging the plot of his future epic (8). Inspiration was also drawn from a book that the men often talked about drawing inspiration from. The book, Voyage Round the World by way of the Great South Sea (1726), was written by Captain George Shelvocke and it holds the story of a sailor shooting and killing an albatross while out at sea (10). Coleridge also drew inspiration from other literary works such as the biblical story of Cain and The Flying Dutchman (10). 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (9)

Coleridge did write a Gothic ballad, "Christabel", that accompanies his epic poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Shelley was reading the ballad when she began to compose Frankenstein. (6) If you have read both works of art, then you know how similar the pieces truly are from a literary perspective. In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", the story of the sailor is being told to a guest at a wedding. This creates that outside perspective that is also highlighted in Frankenstein. From the letters from Walton to the retelling from Victor and then the shift to the creature's point of view just for it to come back full circle, just like the epic. This is called an embedded narrative, or a frame narrative. A story that Coleridge read as a scholar was Arabian Nights' Entertainment. (3) While this provides much more inspiration, a tale in this collection of stories is "One Thousand and One Nights". This story was written in the structure of an embedded narrative, which could have exposed Coleridge to the framework. (4)

Coleridge's epic and Shelley's novel also have many allusions and nods to the natural world and the idea of the unknown. For example, in the epic, the sailor kills the albatross, which leads to a series of misfortune for the crew of the ship and himself. In Frankenstein, Victor meddles with the natural order of life with a reanimation of lifeless bodies. This triggers a slew of deaths in the people closest to him (no worries, no spoilers here). Another example of the parallels are the journeys that the sailors set themselves on. In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", the crew finds themselves heading into a sea of ice and cold weather. In Frankenstein, Walton purposely sails into the treacherous seas of the Arctic in an attempt to discover the science behind the magnetic poles and their importance in the use of composes. 

With the understanding and knowledge of the history of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", it makes the appreciation for Frankenstein grow. It is easy to bypass the fact that literary works draw from different forms of inspiration, but the backstories are sometimes just as interesting as the main story itself. Mary Shelley drew inspiration from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who drew inspiration from a plethora of different sources. 

An Albatross (2)

Works Cited 

1) Compton, E.T.. "Groβglockner". Kristin Mills, 25 October 2018, http://www.kirstinmills.com/blog/frankenstein-travel-guide-shelley-sublime/

2) Doré, Gustav. "Engraving of The Rime of The Ancient Mariner". Poem of the week: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 26 October 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/oct/26/rime-ancient-mariner

3) Friedrich, Casper David. "The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog". Kristin Mills, 25 October 2018, http://www.kirstinmills.com/blog/frankenstein-travel-guide-shelley-sublime/

4) Hoh, Anchi. “A Thousand and One Nights: Arabian Story-Telling in World Literature.” A Thousand and One Nights: Arabian Story-Telling in World Literature | 4 Corners of the World: International Collections and Studies at the Library of Congress, 26 Oct. 2017, https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2017/10/a-thousand-and-one-nights-arabian-story-telling-in-world-literature/.

5) “Mary Shelley's Haunted Life.” McCarter Theatre Center, https://www.mccarter.org/season/2019-2020/edps/frankenstein/mary-shelleys-haunted-life/.

6) Mills, Kirstin. “Overheard Tales: Coleridge, Shelley and Frankenstein's Poetic Inspiration.” Kirstin Mills Art, Illustration, Academic Research and Teaching, 26 Oct. 2018, https://www.kirstinmills.com/blog/frankenstein-mary-shelley-coleridge-inspiration/.

7) Rothwell, Richard. "Portrait of Mary Shelley". Mary Shelley, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley

8) “Uncovered: The Man behind Coleridge's Ancient Mariner.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 31 Jan. 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/31/man-behind-coleridges-ancient-mariner.

9)Vandyke, Peter. "Colerdige in 1795". Samuel Taylor     Coleridge, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge 

10) “Voyage Round the World .” British Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/voyage-round-the-world.