SOURCE: "The Meaning of 'The Ancient Mariner'," in Critical Inquiry, Vol. 8, No. 1, Autumn, 1981, pp. 35-67.
In the following excerpt, McGann argues that Coleridge's revisions of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" reflect the author's evolving theory of literary criticism, which derived from Biblical analysis. According to McGann, the marginal glosses added to the 1817 version of the poem, in particular, create the effect of a work of great antiquity that has passed through various versions and redactions.
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