notes of rime of ancient mariner

While it can be beautiful and frightening (often simultaneously), the natural world's
power in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is unuestionable! "n a mo#e typical of
Romantic poets both preceding and following $oleridge, and especially typical of his
colleague, William Wordsworth, $oleridge emphasi%es the way in which the natural
world dwarfs and asserts its awesome power o#er man!
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" occurs in the natural, physical world&the land and
ocean! 'owe#er, the wor( has popularly been interpreted as an allegory of man's
connection to the spiritual, metaphysical world! "n the epigraph, )urnet spea(s of
man's urge to "classify" things since Adam named the animals! The Ancient Mariner
shoots the Albatross as if to pro#e that it is not an airy spirit, but rather a mortal
creature* in a symbolic way, he tries to "classify" the Albatross! +i(e all natural things,
the Albatross is intimately tied to the spiritual world, and thus begins the Ancient
Mariner's punishment by the spiritual world by means of the natural world! Rather
than address him directly* the supernatural communicates through the natural! The
ocean, sun, and lac( of wind and rain punish the Ancient Mariner and his shipmates!
When the dead men come ali#e to curse the Ancient Mariner with their eyes, things
that are natural&their corpses&are inhabited by a powerful spirit
The Ancient Mariner essentially preaches closeness to ,od through prayer and the
willingness to show respect to all of ,od's creatures! 'e also says that he -nds no
greater .oy than in .oining others in prayer/
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is in many ways a portrait of imprisonment and its
inherent loneliness and torment! The -rst instance of imprisonment occurs when the
sailors are swept by a storm into the "rime!" The ice is "mast&high", and the captain
cannot steer the ship through it! The sailors' con-nement in the disorienting "rime"
foreshadows the Ancient Mariner's later imprisonment within a bewildered limbo&li(e
e0istence! "n the beginning of the poem, the ship is a #ehicle of ad#enture, and the
sailors set out in one another's happy company! 'owe#er, once the Ancient Mariner
shoots the Albatross, it uic(ly becomes a prison! Without wind to sail the ship, the
sailors lose all control o#er their fate! They are cut o1 from ci#ili%ation, e#en though
they ha#e each other's company! They are imprisoned further by thirst, which
silences them and e1ecti#ely puts them in isolation* they are denied the basic human
ability to communicate! When the other sailors drop dead, the ship becomes a
pri#ate prison for the Ancient Mariner!
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a tale of retribution, since the Ancient Mariner
spends most of the poem paying for his one, impulsi#e error of (illing the Albatross!
The spiritual world a#enges the Albatross's death by wrea(ing physical and
psychological ha#oc on the Ancient Mariner and his shipmates! 2#en before the
sailors die, their punishment is e0tensi#e* they become delirious from a debilitating
state of thirst, their lips ba(e blac( in the sun, and they must endure the torment of
seeing water all around them while being unable to drin( it for its saltiness!
2#entually the sailors all die, their souls 3ying either to hea#en or hell!
Though he ne#er dies & and may ne#er, in a sense & the Ancient Mariner spea(s from
beyond the gra#e to warn others about the harsh, permanent conseuences of
momentary foolishness, sel-shness, and disrespect of the natural world!
Themes of the poem e0amine the ideas of crime and punishment in the poem, and
the poet's attitude to the natural world! The albatross is a 4pious bird of good omen5*
the mariner (ills it for no reason (most readers in 6789, li(e people in some other
countries today, would see nothing wrong in a man's (illing of a bird)* at -rst his
fellow sailors blame him, then when the fog goes they appro#e of his action (and so
share his guilt)* when they are becalmed they change their minds again and blame
him, hanging the dead bird around his nec(* :eath and +ife&in&:eath dice for the
crew and the latter wins the mariner* when he returns to land, he -nds he has to tell
his tale* he ends his narrati#e by reminding the wedding guest of the need to lo#e
4man and bird and beast5* in the poem, the ;olar <pirit is said to lo#e the albatross,
and two other spirits discuss the mariner's fate! To understand the poem's attitude to
the natural world, you should loo( at the way the albatross is presented in the poem
and the changing attitude of the mariner to the water sna(es!
The supernatural/ The poem is full of strange, macabre, uncanny or 4,othic5
elements! ,othic horror -ction was #ery popular at the time it was written! :iscuss
how these elements appear in the poem! =ou should consider
the strange weather* the albatross as a bird of 4good omen5* :eath and +ife&in&
death*
the spirit from 4the land of mist and snow5, and the two spirits the mariner hears in
his trance*
the angelic spirits which mo#e the bodies of the dead men* the madness of the pilot
and his boy*
the mariner's 4strange power of speech5, and anything else of interest!
Imagery This poem is #ery #i#id, as the poet describes some spectacular scenes!
These are often memorable in themsel#es but also stand for (symboli%e) other things,
for the people in the poem as much as the reader, sometimes! 2lsewhere
comparisons are made to describe things, as when the becalmed #essel is said to be
4As idle as a painted ship>upon a painted ocean5! ?ind some of the more stri(ing or
memorable images (there are lots of them@) and discuss the use the poet ma(es of
them!
Sound efects The poet uses e1ects of rhyme, alliteration (same initial consonant)
and pacing (as in the line "?or the s(y and the sea, and the sea and the s(y" which
suggests the slow passing of time and the mariner's weariness) and other e1ects of
sound! :iscuss how these are used by $oleridge to re&enforce ideas in the poem!
+anguage study $oleridge uses many dialect (regional non&standard) words, and
archaic (old&fashioned) spellings of standard words! Why does he do thisA :iscuss
particular e0amples of unusual words or spellings!