The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “It is the ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “The Wedding Guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The brighteyed Mariner. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l The Mariner’s Tale: “And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold…” Immigrant song

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “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

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “At length did cross an Albatross, Through the fog it came; As if it has been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God’s name. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “The ice did split with a thunder fit; The helmsman steered us through!”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “With my crossbow I shot the Albatross. ” l “And the good south wind still blew behind…”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l BUT… l “As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean. ” l “Water, water, every where, and all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “Ah! Welladay! What evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “Through utter drought all dumb we stood. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “The game is done! I’ve won!”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “Each turned his face with a ghastly pang, and cursed me with his eye” l “With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, they dropped down one by one. ” l “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 l “Alone, all, all alone, alone on a wide sea! And never a saint took pity on my soul in agony. ” l “Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, and yet I could not die. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “Beyond the shadow of the ship, I watched the watersnakes” l “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 l “The selfsame moment I could pray; And from my neck so free The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “The helmsman steered, the ship moved on…”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “The man hath penance done, And penance more will do. ” (594) “Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows, a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. ” (595)

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “It reached the ship, it split the bay; The ship went down like lead. ” “Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, The boat spun round and round. ”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner l “ A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn. ”

Milton Parallels? (Frankenstein) STRUCTURE: Sin, Punishment, Redemption… Of Lucifer - Of Adam & Eve - …cast into hell …forbidden fruit “…slimy things … “I shot the albatross” Slimy sea” “…and I had done a hellish thing…” “…the very deep did rot…” Cain? Beowulf (Paradise Lost) Shelley’s Interpretation? Many critics see the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” as an allegory of some kind of fall, like… Of Coleridge …opium? Phantasmagoria! A shifting series or succession of things seen or imagined, as in a dream.

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” Crew distanced from God “blessed them unawares”

Vs. Some critics maintain that this ballad was an exploration, by Coleridge, into the science vs. spirituality debate: There are many mysterious fantastical images, the “glittering eye” with its “strange power…” the “polar spirits” and “seraph band…” He was at a point in his life where he was more concerned with the rational than the empirical, this poem was an exploration of the former. The Latin preface says, “Human cleverness has always sought knowledge of these things, never attained it. ”