“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Paul Gustave Doré: A Study of the Para-text

Abstract

The thesis traces the features and properties of the artistic adaptation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in Paul Gustave Doré’s para-text. It tackles with study and analysis the poem together with its visualized parallel para-text focusing on the reintroduction of the thematic, semiotic, semantic and dramatic aspects of the poem.The study reveals how the text of “The Rime” influenced the creation of Doré’s para-text on the thematic and the symbolic levels with respect to the artistic adaptation of the poem’s setting, atmosphere, symbolism and characterization. The thesis also reveals the influence of the linguistic signs on the details of visual adaptation. Hence it traces the imagistic dialogism of influence and impact between the written text and its parallel visual presentation and the degrees of similarity, contrast and visual criticism. The Thesis is thus divided into three chapters: The first chapter entitled “From Poem to Plate”. It contains the theoretical foundation of the thesis including the reference to: Gerard Genette’sParaText, Reception Theory with reference to H. R. Jauss and Robert Holub, the extension and influence of Reception Theory on Stuart Sillars’ and Harlow Hyde’s discussion of talented and critical reception.The chapter also sheds light on the common Romantic features between Coleridge and Doré. It projects the negative and positive criticisms addressed to/against the poem. It further introduces the artistic techniques of adaptation employed by Doré in his creation of his parallel para-text of “The Rime”. Chapter two entitled “Techniques of Presentation and Adaptation – MiseenScen”. It discusses Doré’s introduction of the poem’s dramatic line of narration, its archaic, Gothic, romantic, and dramatic aspects through the creation of the setting and the lighting schemes in the different types of scenes. The chapter primarily focuses on the adaptation of the poetic atmosphere and its artistic visual reintroduction through setting, lighting, and the employment of the artistic techniques of visual symbolism and repetition. It also includes a study of the costumes and styles of architecture that Doré employed in his para-text and to which degree they match with the details given by Coleridge in “The Rime”. Chapter three is entitled “Characters form Poetry to Plate”. It explores the technique of characterization of “The Rime” and of its parallel para-text. The chapter discusses the features of characters in the text and compares it to characterization and the portrayal of characters in the para-text. It includes focusing of the degrees of accuracy and freedom of presentation in the process of adaptation of “The Rime”. The chapter is thus concerned with the portrayal of the character of the Mariner, and other ordinary, extraordinary and supernatural characters. It also traces the spiritualdevelopment of the Mariner in the text and its presentation in the para-text. In addition, it explores the manifestation of the thematic and symbolic aspects that the Mariner represents with respect to the Romantic and the Christian contexts.