This edition of Coleridge's classic Romantic poem reprints the 1798 and 1817 texts (on facing pages to encourage comparison) along with critical essays, newly commissioned or revised for students, that examine "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" from five contemporary critical perspectives. Each critical essay is accompanied by a succinct introduction to the history, principles, and practice of the critical perspective, and by a bibliography that promotes further exploration of that approach.