The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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The Rime of theAncient Mariner

• By
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• 1772-1834

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Lyrical Ballads

• Published in 1798 with William Wordsworth
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner opens the Lyrical
  Ballads

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Plot

• Stops the wedding guest to tell his tale

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Ancient Mariner

• long gray beard and glittering eye
• It is the eye that holds the attention of the
  Wedding Guest
• Suggests the supernatural

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Ancient Mariner

• Romantic Elements
• The Wedding Guest he beat his breast, 
• Yet he cannot choose but hear 
• And thus spake on that ancient man, 
• The bright-eyed Mariner (37-40).
• Elements of supernatural
• Must hear the tale
• Purpose and part of the Mariners penance

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Ancient Mariner

• At length did cross an Albatross, 
• Through the fog it came  
• As if it had been a Christian soul, 
• We hailed it in Gods name (63-66).
• Albatross suggests a religious connotation
• Freed from the ice when it comes

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Ancient Mariner

• Major Change
• God save thee, ancient Mariner! 
•  From the fiends, that plague thee thus! 
• Why lookst thou so?With my crossbow 
• I shot the ALBATROSS (79-82).
• Needlessly kills the albatross
• Once he begins to appreciate nature, the curse is
  broken and he is able to pray.

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Symbols

• Albatross
• Symbol of nature
• Dies at the hands of the Mariner
• Loves the Mariner
• Demonstrates natures desire to harmonize with
  humanity

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Ancient Mariner

• Guilt of killing Albatross
• And I had done a hellish thing, 
• And it would work em woe 
• For all averred, I had killed the bird 
• That made the breeze to blow. 
• Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay, 
• That made the breeze to blow! (91-96).
• Crew blames Mariner
• Foreshadows bad omen

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Ancient Mariner

• Symbolization of Albatross
• Ah! welladay! what evil looks 
• Had I from old and young! 
• Instead of the cross, the Albatross 
• About my neck was hung (139-142).
• Symbol of his senseless killing
• Symbol of guilt

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Ancient Mariner

• Curse
• One after one, by the star-dogged Moon, 
• Too quick for groan or sigh, 
• Each turned his face with a  ghastly  pang, 
• And cursed me with his eye.  
• One after another, Four times fifty living men, 
• (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) 
• With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, 
• They dropped down one by one (212-219)
• Mariners actions cause death of his crew
• Furthers his guilt
• He lives and his men die because of his hand
• Relates to Life-in-death winning
• Mariner needs to understand the nature of life
  and harmony of man and nature

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Ancient Mariner

• Forgiveness
• O happy, living things! no tongue 
• Their beauty might declare 
• A spring of love gushed from my heart,  
• And I blessed them unaware
•   Sure my kind saint took pity on me, 
• And I blessed them unaware (282-287)
• Blesses the beauty of the water snakes
• Reinstates the harmony of man and nature

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Ancient Mariner

• Forgiveness
• They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, 
• Nor spake, nor moved their eyes 
• It had been strange, even in a dream, 
• To have seen those dead men rise (331-334).
• He is forgiven when he is in harmony and blesses
  nature

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Wedding Guest

• Cannot escape the eye of the Mariner
• Fearful of the Mariner
• Believes that he is a ghost
• Why is the Wedding Guest chosen by the Mariner?
• Possesses a similar flaw
• Lack of harmony with nature

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Hermit

• This Hermit good lives in that wood 
• Which slopes down to the sea. 
• How loudly his sweet voice he rears! 
• He loves to talk with marineres 
• That come from a far countree (514-518).
• Religious man/priest
• Kneels three times a day
• In tune with nature
• His cushion is a moss covered stump
• Therefore, he is painted in a positive light by
  Coleridge

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Themes

• Religion
• Divine Intervention
• No waves or wind in the ocean
• Allows the boat to travel at incredible speeds
• With the condition of the boat, it should not
  realistically be able to sail

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Themes

• Religion
• Forgiveness and Penance
• Needs the Hermit to forgive him
• In order to be forgiven, the Mariner must perform
  his penance

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Themes

• Creating a Harmony Between Humanity and Nature
• The Mariners mission is to warn people who
  display the characteristic that at one time
  dominated his life
• Find people who are not in sync with nature
• Tell them his story
• Change their ways
• Harmonize humanity with nature