The Mariner's Revenge

"The Mariner's Revenge" is a long, (quite strange) song by the band The Decemberists. When first showed the song by a friend, I was struck the darkness of the chorus, but also its ballad qualities, the length, the focus on telling a story, and even the unusual rhythm (though I doubt it is ballad rhythm precisely). Now, after reading "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" I see many many parallels between the song and the poem. Both involve a speaker within the poem captivating another character with a story from his life, in this case detailing the two's prior relationship through the speaker's mother. The setting also blends elements of the real and fantastic. As the song begins the narrator says "We are two mariners / Our ship's sole survivors / In this belly of a whale / It's ribs are ceiling beams / It's guts are carpeting." The song reverses the situation of "Rime," the story is being told in a fantastic setting while the story itself takes place in a realistic one. In the middle of the poem, the speaker here's his mother speak to him on the wind, which reminded me of the spirits of the dead sailors and how they interacted with the Ancient Mariner. The ending of the song also bears similarities to "Rime," the whale's attack leaves only The Mariner and his target alive inside the whale, much like how all but the Ancient Mariner drop dead in the poem. The whale itself parallels the great spirit which brings about the Ancient Mariner's suffering, creating extraordinary circumstances so that the Mariner's target might be punished. This too, reverses the situation of the poem, the narrator is not one who has been punished by nature but the tool by which nature, or some other force, is punishing another. The song is quite and experience, and I think it is worth a listen especially given its ties to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEmy2DBaeTc