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The rime of the ancient mariner use of symbolism
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Religious themes within the realm of the ancient mariner
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In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” religion is prominent and important in the process of the story evolving. These religions elements, specifically Catholicism, work along side the superstitious components of the poem to express both the author’s feelings and also add to the mystery of the plot. By analyzing the Catholic imagery, the blessing of the water snakes, and the superstitious elements of the story, Coleridge’s personal religious preferences emerge, and the religious background of the story is made clear. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” has been talked and written about since it was drafted in 1798. One of the most obvious underlying aspects of the poem is the integration of religious parallels into Coleridge’s work. Because
One of the most obvious parallels is between Christ and the Albatross. This is a topic Alice Chandler expands on in her essay, and she points this parallel out many times throughout the poem. “The word ‘penance,’ for example, occurs three times in the text and gloss; and when the First Voice swears, it is ‘By him who died on the cross.’ When we Remember that the Albatross itself died by the ‘crossbow’ and afterwards replaces the cross on the Mariner’s neck, it is not hard to equate the lines” (Chandler 409). As Chandler points out, this connection is very obvious to the reader. Not only is the Albatross sacrificed as a Christ-like figure, he is also hung around the Mariner’s neck like a crucifix. Besides thinking logically about this connection, it is also printed for the reader in the poem. “Ah! Well a-day! What evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung,” (Coleridge
These religious aspects include the connections to the Book of Revelation, connections to Christ, and also important religious events like the blessing of the water snakes. “Beyond the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track Was a flash of golden fire” (Coleridge 13). One very interesting feature about blessing the water snakes is that Coleridge chose snakes to bless over any other creature. In the Bible, the serpent is a symbol of the Devil, and throughout history, the snake has been an evil creature. Looking back at the blessing, the Mariner seems to not even think about blessing the snakes. This is very similar to how he killed the Albatross, quick and thoughtless. The act and forgiveness both being thoughtless brings the story back to its chief lesson, the unconditional love of God for all of his creation. It does not matter what the reasoning is behind someone’s asking for forgiveness. All that matters to God is that if a sin is committed, the person that committed the sin asks for
The main theme of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem is to learn from your mistakes. After telling his tale to the Wedding Guest, the Ancient Mariner realized that the murder of the Albatross was a mistake and lived a life of penance. The act of murder was an impulsive act because the Mariner felt threatened by the Albatross their actions. The deaths of both birds brought about memories from both the Ancient Mariner and Hagar which they shared with other people, the Wedding Guest and Murray F. Lees. These memories help them to realize the mistakes they made. Through their own personal recollections, the Ancient Mariner and Hagar both achieved a better understanding of their lives and in turn were able to die with a sense of contentment and relief.
Coleridge and Poe are both known for writing incredible horror stories. There most famous stories are The Raven, Poe, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge. Both stories were the first of their kind and were written around the same time. These poems have many things in common and many other things not in common. The main focus here is the symbolism of the birds in the poem. The poems are in fact based around the birds and their meanings. There are three main points to compare between the symbolism of the birds, they are; the birds both being an omen, the birds giving a feeling of remorse or prosperity, and the birds creating a false hope.
First of all, both symbols used in these poems can be compared according to their appearance. Both the raven and the albatross are birds. The albatross is described as a huge bird that soared over the ship as almost a godly symbol. The raven on the other hand is black as the night and has eyes that pierce into the soul. It also had a ghastly grim look to it that almost predicted something ominous. When this raven comes to the main character in The Raven, he is immediately frightened because of the stereotype of black birds bringing an evil omen.
In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Coleridge, The Ancient Mariner is telling his story to a bypassing guest at the wedding, and he is describing the experience of being alone at sea surrounded by only water and his dead crewmates. Coleridge creates dramatic suspense and mystery in this passage through the uses of repetition, simile and imagery.
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.
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...
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.
He has to feel a pain in his chest that becomes unbearable until he sees a certain soul that is the right one to tell. No matter what. In the long poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge has three lessons about human life: supernatural, pride, and suffering. In “Rime” by Sam Coleridge, the mariner goes through many supernatural events that scare him into submission. Coleridge does a great job of describing the scenery around the boat that the mariner resides in.
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.
In The Rime of The Ancient Mariner, the form structure of the poem is made simple by giving the reader a distinct amount of information. Its frame depicts a story- within a story, by allowing the speaker of the poem to be the narrator and direct the action to another character. First there is the story of The Mariner and the wedding guest, then The Mariner telling his own tale to the wedding guest about his voyage. The reader has a limited amount of information regarding the thoughts of both characters and is only receiving information from The Mariner.
Overall “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is poem that seems like a simple story told by a sailor about his woes at sea. But Coleridge uses many details to make symbols throughout the story for the reader to interpret and see the connections between it and religion. Whether it be through the Christ like albatross, which most would just see as a simple bird, or the woman on the boat showing how the lifestyle might be fun but ultimate leads to nothing we see that these small details create a bigger story than what is just on the cover.
The mariner realized that his pride blinded him to the fact that the life of the albatross, and subsequently the lives all of God’s creatures, was just as valuable as his. He was cursed because he thoughtlessly killed the Albatross. However, after he finally realized the gravity of his actions, he found forgiveness. Ambitious actions committed without contemplating the consequences are the cause of human fallibility. Only through further ambition and perseverance can one hope to ease the consequences that may arise. The goals that Life-in-Death set the mariner towards, forgiveness and love, were only reached because of the mariner’s further actions. Human ambition can be somewhat fickle in nature; it can hurt or help depending on if one considers
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 ...
However, in the two works by Coleridge, the imagination takes on different roles in each world. In the Ancient Mariner, the imagination is the substance that holds all life together, much like how the millio...
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 ...