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Role of Nature in poetry
The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Nature in poetry
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The connection of man and nature in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner can be interpreted in many different ways regarding the question of the relationship between the man and the nature. According to Geoffrey H. Hartman "Coleridge's poem traces the 'dim and perilous way' of a soul that has broken with nature and feels the burdenous guilt of selfhood" (48). Robert Penn Warren explains his perception and “the primary theme in this poem as the theme of sacramental vision, or the theme of the 'One Life'” (348). In this essay I would like to concentrate on identifying the relationship and connection of man, as an individual, and the nature. This relation is very regular in the works of the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge, who ofttimes write about strong connection and intense feelings of the poet himself and the nature and also use imaginary in nature. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner the nature can be identified as a character itself, especially when acting as if by the hand of God. In the first part of the poem, the Mariner starts his journey on the ship and perceives nature just with his senses. He sees it solely as a force, that will help him get to his desired destination. “And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he Was tyrannous and strong : He struck with o'ertaking wings, And chased us south along.” (41-44) This piece of the poem is full of the images of nature. The image of sun and the moon can be find throughout the whole work, but in this part it probably poses as a symbol of rationality and intellect. Its function differs from the function of the moon and its light shines its rays of light on things to make them clearer, more comprehensible and earthly. T... ... middle of paper ... ...dds “In Coleridge's sacramental universe a crime against Nature is a crime against God. [Gose] finds in the Fall an analogy for the Mariner's symbolic killing of the albatross” (156). Other critics do not concur with this view and according to them the punishment does not really justify the deed. According to them there is no redemption or restitution, but the punishment only aims to a world of chaos. Warren however argues, that this crucial part of the poem can not be just blatantly read without understanding, but must be seen as a crime made by mankind against the nature. He states: “We cannot blandly pass by such a crucial event as the shooting of the Albatross with merely a literal reading, the kind of reading which Lowes, among others, gives it - the kind of reading which makes the bird but a bird; the bird has a symbolic role in a symbolic pattern.” (355)
The significance of sighting the Albatross represents the first living creature the crew has seen, while stranded in the barren South Pole. When the Mariner shoots the bird, he is faced with judgements passed by his crewmates and natural obstacles that occur for minor periods, punishments passed by god are done mentally...
...n 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 confinement in the disorienting rime foreshadows the Ancient Mariner's later imprisonment within a bewildered limbo-esq existence. In the beginning of the poem, the ship is a vehicle of adventure, and the sailors set out in one another's happy company. However, once the Ancient Mariner shoots the Albatross, it quickly becomes a prison. Without wind to sail the ship, the sailors lose all control over their fate. They are cut off from civilization, even though they have each other's company. They are imprisoned further by thirst, which silences them and effectively puts them in isolation; they are denied the basic human ability to communicate. When the other sailors drop dead, the ship becomes a private prison for the Ancient Mariner.
The poems of imagination are musical and creative. The tones in the poems are eerie and bring about a supernatural element. The poems I have selected are spooky tales. There is a lot of focus on character and each poem has cinematic components at play. In “Rime,” there are seven parts and it is told in a framed narrative. The focus is on the ancient mariner, “It is an ancient Mariner, / And he stoppeth one of three. / ‘By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,” the mariner is forced to tell his tragic tale in order to feel better. With the focus on character, and story, it strays away from the natural elements that Coleridge incorporates in conversational poems. However, they do contain lessons. At the end of “Rime,” we know, “He prayeth best, / who loveth best/ All things both great and small, / this emphasizes that we must love all things and brings in the universal element. However, it is still filled with imagination, and it is hard to apply it to daily life. It reads more like a story, as does the poem, “Christabel.” The poem is quite similar to “Rime,” it is a story that explores the supernatural. The evil character Geraldine curses Christabel who is young and innocent. The text plays with the themes of good and evil and contains dark and wicked imagery. While both poems are innovative and entertaining, they do not give the same feelings and
...This is probably my favorite poem that I’ve ever read. It has such influence on so many popular ideas today. It talks about loving and respecting nature, which I agree with completely. When I hear of people killing animals just for fun, it makes me mad. It’s hard to make me mad, but one thing that never fails is total lack of respect for nature, or anything, for that matter. I think we should all take a good hard look at a certain stanza of this poem again. “He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.” If everyone understood these lines, and took them to heart, Coleridge would be very pleased, and the mariner’s penance would have not been served in vain. The world would be a better place. Man and nature would no longer be “out of tune.” This is the romantic poem of romantic poems.
To begin with, the killing of the albatross signified the love that Christ had among his people, and the execution he was forced upon in order for the hope of reassurance of his people. “Is it he? quoth one, “Is this the man? By him who died on cross, With his cruel bow he laid full low The harmless Albatross. The spirit who bideth by himself In the land of mist and snow, He loved the bird that loved the man Who shot him with his bow.” (Lines 398-405). Samuel Coleridge dignifies the crucifixion of Jesus Christ with the execution of the albatross. Religious symbolism reflects the apocalypse meaning throughout the killing of the albatross.
This action against nature is rather extreme, for he takes this thought of death lightly. The Albatross, as a representative of nature, means nothing to the Mariner. These thoughts are quickly changed, though, as Nature begins to start the punishment for his crimes commence when there is, "Water, water, everywhere nor any drop to drink." He is punished harshly for killing the symbol of nature that everyone reveres. He is beaten down by the sun with its rays and is taunted by the endless sight of water that he cannot drink.
The Mariner is not in the hands of a merciful God because his agony always returns. He asks for forgiveness of his agony but still after he tells his tale the agony returns at random times. A merciful God would grant permanent mercy. For all, the Mariner has been through death and hardship of his crew because of the killing of the albatross. The thought of his crime is enough agony but the Mariner's agony returns until he has to relive the tragedy of the killing of his crew by telling his tale to another person.
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 ...
“The ice was here, the ice was there, the ice as all around: it cracked and growled, and roared and howled.” (58-60) Before the Albatross arrived, the ship was trapped. The ocean was gloomy and doomed, and painted a sense of hopelessness. Once the Albatross arrived, the ship took off again. “And a good spring wind sprung up behind; The Albatross did follow.”
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the first of many stories in this time era of the Romantics. It is a very different story from any other authors in this era for the dark and eerie sense that is told in the story. Samuel Taylor Coleridge gives his readers a new look on the Romantics in the rimes. There are seven rimes, which could be seven chapters to tell the story. First we are in the present day; at a wedding the ancient mariner is telling his story to all the people. Then, we jump into the story he tells them. It is about how he was cursed when he shot the albatross and messed with Mother Nature. So Mother Nature made put the dead bird around his neck and death and her maiden came for a visit. All of the other sailors on the ship suddenly died in the presence of death while the mariner was stuck in a no wind zone. He begins to pray and feel remorse for killing the bird, so the bird falls off his neck and death brings his old sailors partially back to life so he can get home. This is the first time zombies have ever been imagined. Once he gets home, he begins his lifelong penanc...
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.
[3] Coleridge exercises biblical allusions to depict an array of unfortunate events the Mariner bought upon himself and the wedding guest.[4] The Mariner saw the Albatross “ As it had been a Christian soul We hailed it in God’s name” (65-66). [5]The Albatross symbolizes the dove in Noah’s ark that lead the boat to safety thus the Mariner
An odd sensation, full of guilt and anxiety, overcomes the mariner when he crosses a potential target. The only relief that the man can find comes after the interpretation of his story. This struggle of the sailor is due to the curse condemned on him for slaying the albatross. He is forced to tell a horrifying tale, and be used as an example to pass on a crucial message. “He prayeth best, who loveth best/ All things both great and small;/ For the dear God who loveth us,/ He made and loveth all.” The seaman travels the world, picking out the people who need to experience the message passed through his oral legend. Each person is chosen because of their lack of knowledge towards living things, and the importance of them all. The history of the sailor leaves an impression on the distinct listeners, and they always depart as wiser
Though the interpretation that the Mariner’s cursed immortal life is an accursed state of penance for his lack of reverence for one of God’s creatures could certainly be made given Coleridge’s clear vested interest in deny the explained supernatural as attributed to the divine, it is more likely that the Mariner’s governed by a force more ancient and, in a manner of speaking, more holistic than the God of Christianity. The Mariner’s rationale behind killing the Albatross is certainly rather ambiguous as Coleridge seems to give little credence to the event itself in the grand scheme of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner I interpret the Mariner’s subtextual motivations not as an effort on Coleridge’s behalf to showcase an instance of spiting God, but rather as a moment of mankind’s ill-advised assertion of dominance over the natural world. This harkens back to philosophies of Thomas Burnet from Archaeologiae philosophicae in which it is suggested that the writing, publication, and widespread popularity of the Bible is an effort on the part of humankind of assert dominance over the unknown through crafting a Creation mythology. Later in The Rime, when the Mariner is surrounded by
In discussing the symbolism of guilt in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", it is important to understand that in the eyes of the Romantics God was one with Nature. Because of this belief a sin against Nature was seen as a sin against God. In line 82 of the poem, the Mariner simply says, "I shot the Albatross." In saying this, the reader often questions why the bird was shot. There is no explanation. The Albatross was shot without reason or motive very much like the sin of humans. Here the poem begins to take on its allegorical purpose in which the Albatross symbolizes not only sin, but possibly Jesus as well. In Christianity, Jesus died upon the cross for the sins of humanity. He was punished in order for ...