JR Hilcher
English 12
Mrs. Mavrikos
8 March 2014
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Research Paper
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was published in 1798 by the notorious author Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a first person account of a sailor who had just returned from a long sea voyage. At the beginning, The Mariner decides to stop a man who is on his way to a wedding celebration, as this happens, the Mariner decides to narrate what happened on his trip.
The Mariner, a tan man that is extremely old and malnourished with “a glittering eye” begins his story with his ship getting caught in a treacherous storm and being driven south towards the equator. As the Mariner is in the beginning of his story, the people hear the wedding bells ring. An albatross then appears and becomes friendly with the shipmates, the bird leads them out of Antarctica. The Mariner then shoots the albatross. After he shot the bird, his shipmates are aggravated with the Mariner, they believed that this bird was the miracle that lead their ship out of the South.
Nevertheless, as the weather changed and got better they were happy that the Mariner killed the bird. The shipmates were wrong in supporting the killing of the bird, as the spirits wrath pushed the ship into tumultuous, uncharted waters and the spirits made them face arid conditions which led to dehydration. The shipmates then decide to change their mind again about what happened to the bird and then they confront the Mariner and make him wear the dead bird around his neck.
The Mariner then sees a ship in the water nearby, his mouth is dry because he is dehydrated so he sucks his own blood so he can yell to the incoming ship. The shipmates are happy because they thi...
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...ple as the final lines of the poem.
“He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great andsmall;
` For the dear God who loveth us
He made and loveth all…” and that is that one should love and respect God and all things on the earth.”
This work is a staple in British Literature, it has moral values that will never cease in our world. It has biblical allegories referring to Jesus Christ. The albatross hung around the neck refers to Jesus dying on the cross and The Mariner shooting the albatross is compared to Jesus. The sun and the moon symbolize God as does the Albatross. That in itself is a reason to use this book in life as It can really help one get moral values and live life to the fullest. This poem should be known as a moral lesson by everyone because the lessons told in this story are ones one should never forget.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Part 1 a old man stops one man out of three that were walking down the street to go to a wedding the man is a relation of the married the man tries to get away but the old man grabs the man with his skinny hand the man is held there by the glitter of the old man's eye the man is listening intently "Like a three years' child" the old man has the man's attention the wedding guest sat down on a stone the mariner went on with his story the boat was anchored by a kirk KIRK- church EFTSOONS - unhand me ship was sailing south because sun came up on the left side of the boat they sailed closer to the equator every day because the sun came overhead MINSTRIL - musicians the bride has started to walk down the isle and the music is playing the old man carries on there was a storm at the equator the storm drove them to the south pole the storm was very strong they went through mist and then it started to snow it became very cold they went by very large chunks of ice floating through the water (icebergs) there was nothing but ice and snow and there was no animals, just ice an albatross flew over after a few days the men were happy to see it because they needed hope the men fed it the ice broke in front of the boat and then they sailed through the ice to safety a good south wind helped them sail north the bird followed them KEN - know something NE'ER - never VESPERS -days the bird stayed with them for nine days the ancient mariner shot the albatross with his cross bow HOLLOW - called albatross PART II burst of sea - ship wake there was no more bird following the boat (the felt alone again) they ran out of food the people on the boat cursed at the mariner for killing their omen of good luck the wind had stopped Gods own head - sun averred - swear, agree to they thought that the bird had brought the fog because the fog had cleared after the bird died the breeze stopped and the boat stopped the sky was clear and it was very hot they were at the equator because the sun at noon was above the mast they stayed there for a few days without wind it was like they were a painting "Water, water, everywhere," they could not see anything
The seagulls in this story are used to symbolize human frailty and nature’s indifference to it. As the men continue their journey through the fierce waves, Crane incorporates the use of imagery to describe the nature around them by giving it gloomy colors that are often used to represent death. Toward the end of the story, as the men are still hoping to be rescued, they encounter a shark swimming around the boat that symbolizes that something bad is about to happen. At the end of the story, readers learn that the Oiler, Billie, dies, but if one pays close enough attention to the detail used in this story there is enough evidence to foreshadow the death of one character. In this story, “The Open Boat,” Stephen Crane uses imagery and symbolism through the use of colors and objects in nature to depict the characters lack of power over
There are four men stranded on a boat who are introduced in the beginning of the story. The cook, the oiler, the correspondent, and the captain are all on a boat that "a man ought to have a bath tub larger than" (360). As the men fight the crest of each wave they encounter, it is obvious that this is a desperate situation. Showing their powerlessness the narrator describes a group of birds as sitting ."..comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the dinghy, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland" (363). Even though the men are in grave danger, the sun rises and sets and a shark even swims by but seems to have no need for the men in the boat. The men even believe that the waves are harsh on them and want to capsize the boat. The narrator explains that "[the waves were] nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats" (361). Even though it is obvious that the ocean always has waves, it is hard fo...
Mary Shelley’s gothic book Frankenstein shows allusions and shares comparisons with Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge. Some of these can be found in the first 16 pages of the novel, in Robert Walton’s letters. Whilst stuck in the ice on page nine, Robert sees a figure on a sled, and writes, “a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge and guided the dogs...We were, as we believed, many hundred miles from any land” (Shelley 9). The man in the sledge comes as an omen to Robert and his crew. Far from civilization, the person that is seen by them is a sign of the future. Similarly, in Rime of The Ancient Mariner, an omen presents itself to them, “At length did cross an Albatross: Through
The story possesses amazingly vivid description. This attention to detail affords the reader the greatest degree of reading pleasure. Crane paints such glorious images in reader's mind with his eloquence. "The morning appeared finally, in its splendor, with a sky of pure blue, and the sunlight flamed on the tips of waves"(387). Artistic sentences of such caliber are not often found. The reader is left with a terrific vision of the perilous sea maintaining its beauty amongst the violence of the wind. "Their back- bones had become thoroughly used to balancing in the boat and they now rode this wild colt of a dinghy like circus men"(378). Here, again, Crane uses splendid detail to capture the essence of the chaotic situation.
In the story, the older mariner decided to shoot the bird as a joke. He didn’t think much of it at that time, but as we all know, it made a very big consequences. It is believed that the reason why the mariners got stuck in the dead water was because he shot the bird. The bird was supposed to be a good omen of luck, but since he was shot and killed, they had bad luck. So due to the fact that they are stuck in dead water, they ran out of water and food so the mariners begin die. This really shows that because of our bad life actions, your consequences are death of your fellow people and the only living people around you die. This may be a little far fetch to our daily lives. But this does show that a simple joke can turn into a deadly without anyone knowing
Captain Zedraprinadae, or Captain Zed, was with his pirate friend, Samantha, or Sammy. They were sailing to The Edge Of The Sea, which was said to hold much treasure, but none that left for it returned. In the middle of a beautiful sunrise, land was spotted. "Land Hoy, Land Hoy!" the First Mate screamed. Zed just simply nodded, trying to concentrate. He just couldn't though. The fact they were actually going to the Edge of the Sea amazed him, and left him awestruck. Once the ship was parked in the sea, Sammy and Zed went to have a gander, to see if there was any treasure. "Cap'n are ye sure that there be treasure here? I don't see anythin'." "I am sure Samantha. I didn't see any water past this though." "Then we be at the end a the world, Cap'n Z! Let's look around for anything!" Sammy joyfully skipped forward, in that slight gallop skip she had. She gasped in awe when she found a cave.
“Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are the more necessary it is to be plain”(Samuel Taylor Coleridge). Exactly what Samuel Taylor said was what he did, he let the reader use his imagination to figure out what the Albatross is throughout the story of the Mariner. Due to Samuels ways of writing his pieces of work there are many interpretations as to what the Albatros is, either good or evil, or what his significance is. Many events happened throughout this piece of work by Coleridge and in every single one the albatross is involved, Such as when the he is able to sleep or able to drink water after it has fallen off, Showing that the Albatross was a major factor in the plot of this story. The Significance of the Albatros can be seen in the events it is connected to, such as, the albatross bringing the wind or creating the fog, it is a substitute as a cross or a curse for killing it, and it falling off of the Mariner's neck.
"With my crossbow I shot the Albatross"(Coleridge 446). The killing of the albatross in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was very much a loveless act as proposed by Guthrie. In this action the mariner acts lovelessly towards the albatross which is one of God’s creatures. By killing the albatross he grows further away from God and opens himself to punishment. " His fellows openly disapproved of the deed. They were thus not guilty with the mariner, and the Polar Spirit could not punish him without punishing them; so the fair breeze went on blowing” (Guthrie 202). Guthrie proposes that it is the innocence of the crew that is protecting them, but it is actually their closeness to God that is protecting them. While the mariner is guilty of lacking
The mariner reconciles his sins when he realizes what nature really is and what it means to him. All around his ship, he witnesses, "slimy things did crawl with legs upon the slimy sea" and he questions "the curse in the Dead man's eyes". This shows his contempt for the creatures that Nature provides for all people. The mariner begins to find his salvation when he begins to look on the 'slimy things' as creatures of strange beauty. When "the mariner begins to find his salvation when he begins to look on the 'slimy things' as creatures of strange beauty" he understands the Albatross is a symbol of nature and he realizes what he had done wrong. The mariner is forgiven after sufficient penance. The mariner's experience represents a renewal of the impulse of love towards other living things. Once he reconciles his punishment is lifted. The bird, which is hung around his neck as a punishment, falls into the water and makes the change from punishment to penance.
The catalyst for the emergence of Christian symbolism occurs when the mariner commits a sin by murdering one of God’s creatures. By killing the albatross, he inevitably brings about a series of trials amongst himself and those aboard the ship. Though the significance of this sin is first unseen by the mariner, supernatural forces quickly condemn his actions as a severe crime against nature. With no real reason, the mariner kills the albatross and soon realizes the magnitude of his actions. Viewed beyond simply a good luck charm, “At length did cross an Albatross, Through the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God’s name” (ll. 63-6). The idea of the Albatross representing Jesus Christ is a direct parallel in the Christian religion. The death of the Albatross is reminiscent of the death of Jesus in that both died as a result of another’s sin and betrayal of God’s word. Similar accounts of betrayal are portrayed ...
As the ancient Mariner described his adventures at sea to the Wedding-Guest, the Guest became saddened because he identified his own selfish ways with those of the Mariner. The mariner told the Guest that he and his ship-mates were lucky because at the beginning of their voyage they had good weather. The mariner only saw what was on the surface -- he did not see the good weather as evidence that Someone was guiding them. Also, when he shot the Albatross, the Mariner did not have any reason for doing so. The Albatross did nothing wrong, yet the Mariner thought nothing of it and without thinking of the significance of the act, he killed the bird. At this, the Guest was reminded of how self-absorbed he, too, was, and the sinful nature of man. At the beginning of the poem he was very much intent on arriving at the wedding on time. He did not care at all about what it was that the Mariner had to tell him; he did not want to be detained even if the Mariner was in trouble. Instead, he spoke rudely to the mariner, calling him a "gray-beard loon", and tried to go on his own way.
First off, in the story The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the storyteller tells a story about a man who has done what he has not, which is killing an Albatross. An Albatross in this story was a bird, representing the winds of the sea. In order to sail the sea back then ships needed wind to carry them along the sea with their sails. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has to parts of this story where something bad happens, causing a burden for one of the men on the ship. Due to the speaker shooting the Albatross, soon his shipmate’s will all die leaving the Albatross that he killed around his neck as a burden. An understanding of this means that while he killed this Albatross the man was then cursed and stuck in the sea slowly drifting into the polar ice waters and nearly getting stuck and then all of a sudden out of the blue they get out of this dangerous place and settle down in a deserted place where there are no currents to drift them to land. According to the shipmates on deck...
After the death of the albatross which “In this case…stands for all animals.” (Hochman 148), their ship is left stranded on a barren, windless sea. The shooting itself is senseless, the act without meaning. “That is, killing an animal apart from the purpose of survival, Coleridge seems to say, is a crime, i.e., murder, notably against the animal but against all of nature, especially one policed by spirits.” (Hochman 148). After drifting for days or perhaps even weeks, the crew is visited by the spirits of death and living-death. The spirit of death claims the lives of the crew while the spirit of living-death curses the ancient mariner to spend eternity on the windless sea. Lost and now alone on an endless ocean, the ocean mariner gives up hope of ever knowing anything else, and in his effort to shut out the blistering sun and taunting waves, he begs for a chance to repent. “Ironically, it is the “slimy”, “rotten” creatures themselves that finally comfort the Ancient Mariner and allow him to pray.” (GradeSaver, 4). Although, the Ancient Mariner experiences an interlude or of peace with the sounds of the skylark and gentle whispers of the wind, this “…does not transform him in the way the blessing of the water snakes did. The act of blessing
In his epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge critiques the Gothic convention of the explained supernatural (in particular explanation in the form of divine intervention) through his portrayal of the tension between Christian themes and the sublimity of the archaic both within the poem itself as well as in the external preface and marginal glosses accompanying the poem. I intend to argue that despite the seemingly inherent Christian morality present on the surface of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge subtly draws attention to a pre-Christian subtext, which holds the insignificance of humanity and the unknowability of the universe in high regard. Through his characterization of the Ancient Mariner and his