The Rime of The Ancient Mariner By: Samantha Greenblatt, Ben Yost, and Eshna Kumar

Summary The Rime of The Ancient Mariner was published in 1798 and takes place around the same time as published. The poem takes places in a wedding hall and on a ship. The Mariner, the narrator, tells a wedding guest a story about his voyage across the ocean. He does this periodically, or whenever there is a wedding. At first the story seems cheerful and the guest is intrigued. But soon the story takes a turn of events.

The Mariner talks about how his crew was stuck at sea during a storm. However, an Albatross, a sea bird known for good luck, was following them. The crew thought it was good luck, but the Mariner disagreed and killed the bird. The crew was angry until they realized the birds death caused the fog to go away. What they didn’t realize was worse events were coming.

They got stranded without any food or water. After some time they were so thirsty that they couldn’t talk. Being as furious as they were, the hung the corpse of the Albatross around the Mariners neck. Later, he swallowed his own blood to cure his thirst and yelled to his crew that he had seen a sail. They immediately went to it, thinking they were saved. The issue is that it was actually evil spirits. They killed everyone except the Mariner. He somehow survived for 7 days and nights until he was rescued. The story ends by the wedding guest no longer attending the wedding and becoming a sadder, yet wiser, man.

Mood Two feelings we experienced while reading The Rime of The Ancient Mariner are solemn and tense. In stanza 37, when the ship comes toward the crew, it says “Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one.” This stanza made us feel solemn because it talks about the crew dying. The mood was also tense because while reading the poem you didn’t know what the crew’s fate would be. It made us feel worried and nervous on the crew’s behalf.