The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October

1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English

poet, literary critic and philosopher who,

with his friend William Wordsworth, was a

founder of the Romantic Movement in

England and a member of the Lake

Poets. He is probably best known for his

poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

and Kubla Khan, as well as for his major

prose work Biographia Literaria. His

critical work, especially on Shakespeare,

was highly influential, and he helped

introduce German idealist philosophy to

English-speaking culture..

An Ancient Mariner

stops one (of three)

on his way to a

wedding.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

The wedding

guest is

mesmerized by

the Mariner’s

passion and

begins listening to

the story.

The Mariner’s Tale:

Their ship is driven south, by a storm, to a place of “mist and snow.”

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!”

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

Surrounded by

ice.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

An albatross

appears.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

The albatross

leads them out

of the fog.

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.

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.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

“Death” and “Life

in Death” roll dice

for the lives of

the ship’s crew.

“Life in Death”

wins.

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.”

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

The dead men

awaken and the

Mariner directs

his ghostly crew

North.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

As the Mariner returns to his home port, the spirits of his crew leave their bodies.

He receives forgiveness (shrieve) from a hermit.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

The Mariner’s

ship sinks.

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

Many critics see the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” as an allegory of some kind of fall,

like…

Of Coleridge -

Of Lucifer - Of Adam & Eve - …forbidden fruit …cast into hell

…opium?

“…the very deep did rot…”

“…slimy things …

Slimy sea”

“I shot the albatross”

“…and I had done a hellish thing…”

“witch‟s oils, / …burnt green, and blue and

white”

Phantasmagoria! A shifting series or succession of things seen or imagined, as in a dream.

STRUCTURE:

Sin, Punishment, Redemption…

Shelley’s Interpretation?

(Frankenstein)

“poetry gives most pleasure when only generally and not perfectly understood"

- Coleridge

Many critics maintain, as Christopher Lamb does, that the „Ancient Mariner‟ is a work of complete

and pure imagination. As…

No single interpretation seems to fit the entire poem…

In essence, it is a very imaginative and unusual piece…

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 Gods own head”

- “Hid in mist”

- “dungeon-grate” “blessed them unawares”

Crew distanced from God