Ancient Mariner

"In addition to achieving an unnamed immortality in Coleridge's epic poem, few people know that during a remarkable three-year odyssey British explorer Samuel Hearne became the first European to reach the Arctic Ocean and stand on the northernmost shore of the Americas. McGoogan skillfully demonstrates that Hearne was far more complex, accomplished, and influential than history has until now acknowledged." "Hearne's posthumously published journal, the first book about an Arctic sojourn, describes a trek of 3,500 miles marked by hardship, hunger, and disappointment, and ameliorated only by his friendship with the indomitable Dene leader Matonabbee. Their epic journey culminated in the notorious massacre at "Bloody Falls," where the Dene preyed on a helpless band of Inuit. Hearne witnessed the slaughter, and it would haunt him for the rest of his life; indeed, his report of the brutal incident has influenced Western understanding of native peoples for two centuries." "In an inspired example of literary sleuthing, McGoogan determines that Samuel Taylor Coleridge, six years before writing "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," encountered Hearne, who spoke of his guilt at seeing so many murdered so brutally. As the poet heard the traveler's painful stories, he was stirred to write about an old sailor haunted by his memories of a barbarous act."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.