The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge

An Ancient Mariner stops one (of three) on his way to a wedding. The guest is hypnotized by the Mariner’s “glittering eye”. How does the Mariner know who to detain? The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner The wedding guest begins listening to the story even though he hears music from the wedding celebration.

The Mariner’s Tale: Their ship is driven south, by a storm, to a place of “mist and snow.” Look for metaphors, similes, alliteration, enjambment, personification, synecdoche, onomatopoeia, inversion and irony. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!” Symbolism of the moon, sun, stars. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Surrounded by mist, snow and ice. Antarctica. Symbolism: the weather, ice, wind. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

An albatross appears. It comes when they call everyday, plays, and eats. Symbolism of the albatross (figure of salvation, a Christian soul). The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The albatross leads them out of the fog. Good omen. According to superstition, it is bad luck to kill one. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Mariner shoots the albatross. At first the crew condemns him, but when a favorable breeze appears, they justify his action. This implicates them in his crime. Symbolism of colors (green, blue, white, red, black, yellow) The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Later, the wind stops and the ship is stranded for days, “As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.” “Water, water, every where, and all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink.” The crew blames the Mariner for no wind and hangs the albatross around his neck as punishment. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

A ghost ship approaches with a Specter-Woman and her Death-Mate as crew. Symbolism of supernatural Death and life in death roll dice for the men. Tone of terror. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Specter woman, Life in Death wins and her mate, Death takes the lives of the 200 sailors. The Mariner is the prize of Life in Death. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“Each turned his face with a ghastly pang, and cursed me with his eye” “With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, they dropped down one by one.” “The souls did from their bodies fly, - They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it passed me by, Like the whizz of my cross-bow!” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“Alone, alone, all, all alone, alone on a wide wide sea! And never a saint took pity on my soul in agony.” “Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, and yet I could not die.” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“Beyond the shadow of the ship, I watched the water- snakes” “O happy living things! No tongue their beauty might declare: A spring of love gushed from my heart, and I blessed them unaware” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The curse is lifted and the albatross falls from his neck and sinks “like lead into the sea.” Climax of poem. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The dead men awaken and the Mariner directs his ghostly crew North. A spirit moves the ship homeward. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

As the Mariner returns to his home port, the spirits of his crew leave their bodies. They are guided by angels. A boat arrives carrying the Pilot, the Pilot’s boy and a Hermit. The Pilot symbolizes the grace of God. The Hermit represents redemption and forgiveness. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Mariner’s ship sinks. The ship “hath a fiendish look”. The mariner is rescued by the Pilot. The mariner rows and the Pilot’s boy observes that “the Devil knows how to row”. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The story concluded, the wedding guest leaves “a sadder and a wiser man.” The Mariner must tell his tale to warn others (redemption). The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

WHAT WAS COLERIDGE’S ALBATROSS? Is the poem an allegory of some sort of fall? Of Adam and Eve? forbidden fruit? “I shot the albatross.” “…and I had done a hellish thing.” “We were first to ever burst into that silent sea.” Of Lucifer cast into hell? “slimy things did crawl with legs…” “The very deep did rot.” “slimy sea”. “a charnel dungeon” STRUCTURE: SIN, PUNISHMENT, REDEMPTION

Purely inspirational?Dark gothic?  “cursed me with his eye”  “Life-in-death”  “spectre bark” Gustav Doré’s Dark Etches…

Coleridge felt a deep sense of sin, for his opium addiction. The poem could be his way of fathoming his feelings. The “strange power” of the Ancient Mariner, as his difficult feelings. “mingled strangely with my fears” “I know that man … must hear me” / “To him my tale I teach” Hence, his sensitivity and saying that the poem should not be analyzed? (“poetry gives most pleasure when only generally and not perfectly understood“)

“Instead of the cross, the Albatross/ About my neck was hung” “I had killed the bird / That made the breeze to blow” “Hailed it in God’s name” “Christian soul” “Crimson red like God’s own head” - “Hid in mist” - “dungeon-grate” “blessed them unawares” Crew distanced from God