Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s use of symbolism in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner lends the work to adults as a complex web of representation, rather than a simple story about a sailor. The author uses the story of a sailor and his adventures to reveal aspects of life. This tale follows the Mariner and his crew as they travel between the equator and the South Pole, and then back to England. Without the symbols, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner would be simply a poem about an old mariner who is telling a story about killing a bird to a guest at a wedding. Of course, anyone who reads the poem can see that there is more to it than just a simple telling of a story.
The first symbol in the poem is the wedding that the guest and the Mariner are at. This is a highly significant detail, because Coleridge could have made the story telling take place at any setting, but he chose a wedding. The reason for this was because a wedding is a very religious and very happy occasion. Weddings symbolize new beginnings and happiness. The reason that Coleridge decided to have this horrid tale told at a wedding could be for any number of reasons. I feel that the setting was chosen because of the new beginnings implied. As the Mariner tells his tale, the guest is held captive and when the story is done, the guest becomes essentially a new man and goes off to live the rest of his life. Had the tale taken place at a funeral, the heavy feeling of ending would have destroyed the symbolism of new beginnings. It could have been an ending for life, for happiness, and for everything else. If this had happened, then the fact that he rose the next day would not have been as significant. Therefore, the wedding is a very important symbol for this poem.
Another significant symbol throughout the poem is the albatross. It first appears in the first section and it is a symbol of good omen for the sailors. The albatross is a white bird, which is probably the reason why many Christians of the time saw it as a holy symbol. Because it was a white bird, which was a sign of righteousness, it therefore was considered a good omen. In this poem, the albatross symbolizes good fortune. When the Mariner kills the albatross, for absolutely no reason, the good fortune that has come upon the ship leaves. Symbolically, the Mariner did not kill a simple seabird, but instead an omen of good fortune, which is why...
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...riner took a gamble with his religion, and now the pair is taking a gamble for his life. Life-In-Death ultimately wins over Death in the game, and the Mariner’s shipmates die at his feet, yet he lives on.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a highly significant poem of a complex web of representation that is very dependent on symbolism. The symbols of the wedding, the albatross, the blood that the Mariner sucks in order to announce the ship and the game between Death and Life-In-Death are only a few of the symbols that add meaning and depth to the poem. If it were not for the symbols, the poem would simply be the story of a Mariner telling his tale to a wedding guest, and then the poem would have no meaning to anyone. When reading this poem, the reader can feel much like the wedding guest, entranced and hypnotized by the storyteller. This is because of the symbolism exhibited through the poem. Even if the reader of the poem does not fully understand the symbols in the verse, the intuitive mind will catch them and understand the detailed meaning. The symbols themselves in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are therefore the part of the poem that makes it so intense and interesting.
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.
The reader might not understand how to interpret the stanza; they could interpret however they wanted to. Coleridge placed the glosses in so that the reader would understand the Mariner woke up and realized that he had done his penance. These...
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.
He describes how he was “Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide, wide sea!” (232-233). He persistently uses the word “alone” to explain his emotion during the situation, highlighting the fact that there was absolutely no one to guide him, and it was most likely that he would die alone in the sea. By enforcing the fact that the Mariner was so “alone”, Coleridge builds suspense by leading the reader to ponder how the Mariner survived to tell his story to the wedding guest. Being “alone” is an extremely terrifying thought, especially if one were stranded in the “wide, wide sea”, so connecting this common association of the word alone to the Mariner’s fear, Coleridge alerts the reader to how hopeless his situation
In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the author uses the story of a sailor and his adventures to reveal aspects of life. This tale follows the Mariner and his crew as they travel between the equator and the south pole, and then back to England. The author's use of symbolism lends the work to adults as a complex web of representation, rather than a children's book about a sailor.First, in the poem, the ship symbolizes the body of man. The ship experiences trials and tribulations just as a real person does. Its carrying the Mariner (symbolizing the individual soul) and crew shows that Coleridge saw the body as a mere vessel of the soul. This symbol of a boat is an especially powerful one, because one steers a ship to an extent, yet its fate lies in the hands of the winds and currents.Secondly, the albatross symbolizes Christ. Just as the Mariner senselessly slays the bird, man crucifies Christ whose perfection is unchallenged. Even though Christ represents mankind's one chance at achieving Heaven, man continues to persecute Him. The albatross symbolizes the sailors' one chance at deliverance from icy death and the Mariner shoots him.Thirdly, the South Pole symbolizes Hell. No visible wind blows the unfortunate crew toward the South Pole. Rather, an unseen force pulls them there. Such is the case when the world's temptations lure one to Hell. Just as the sailors approach far to close to this icy purgatory, their Redeemer, the albatross, or at least his spirit, leads them safely back in the right direction.Fourthly, in the poem England symbolizes Heaven. When the Mariner first sees his country, a great sense of hope and joy overcome him. At the point when the Mariner is about to enter Heaven, the body, symbolized by the ship, must die.
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.
Two voices in the air" (lines 97-98). The Mariner described two spirits as mist and snow having a discussion about the ancient Mariner and what he had done to the Albatross. 5).So as one can see "The Rime and the Ancient Mariner written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge has supernatural elements in this poem. I feel that the supernatural catches the reader or audience's attention because it is out of the ordinary.
The Mariner’s motivation to share his tale also demonstrates the repressive and psychological nature of the frame. As the Mariner recounts his experiences on the ship and his punishment for shooting the albatross, his tale becomes a parable about respecting the natural world. The Mariner conveys this moral to the wedding-guest in the end-frame of the poem, as he states, “He prayeth well, who loveth well / Both man and bird and beast […] For the dear God who loveth us, / He made and loveth all” (Coleridge 612-617). Here, the Mariner appeals to a divine authority, and directly correlates the order of nature with God’s will. In doing so, he warns the wedding-guest that to think oneself above nature– as he did when he shot the albatross– is to think oneself above God. However, while this is the moral understanding the Mariner wishes to pass on, imparting wisdom is not his only motivation. As the Mariner states,
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.
He starts the story immediately with a lot of detail creating the setting of where the mariner is going and to whom the mariner is going to tell his tale. He chooses three men on their way to a wedding and one in particular we know as the “wedding guest.” When we think of a wedding we think of a happy event where two people are united under the grace of god. The mariner stops him from going in this event though and tells him the story, at the end of which he tells him that he doesn't need anything but god to be happy. The detail and emphasis of the wedding symbolizes temporary happiness on earth. The mariner explains that loving god and having him in your life is “Oh sweeter than the marriage feast, 'Tis sweeter far to me” (Coleridge, lines 86-87). Here the mariner is saying that the temporary happiness on earth that one may get from a marriage celebration is nice but it is nowhere near as good as the love of god you get from making a religious transformation. Coleridge explains all of the sing and drinking and happiness going on in the wedding as the mariner is telling the story but in the end the mariner tells the guest that none of that is as good as the love of god. And we can see that wedding guest actually learns something from the story because he decides to not go into the wedding but rather “and now the wedding-guest. Turned from the bridegroom's door. He went ...
...ous allegory represents Christian ideals such as sin, forgiveness, and prayer. In addition, Coleridge’s use of language and form contribute to the message conveyed in the text. The form fluctuates throughout the text by use of different rhyme schemes, loose meter, and stanzas in length varying four to nine lines. The variety of form could be representative the array of interpretations of this text. Coleridge conveys profound religious meaning by using symbolic language with interpretive representations. Although his use of elevated language possibly narrowed the audience, that could have been his intentions due to the complexities of this philosophical poem. In the end, Coleridge’s depiction of the Mariner’s journey ultimately conveys the Christian ideal, which is to love and appreciate all creatures created by God, whether Albatross or snake.
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...
According to Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia, an allegory is described as a fictional literary narrative or artistic expression that conveys a symbolic meaning parallel to but distinct from, and more important than, the literal meaning. This is true in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is an allegory that symbolizes the inherent struggle of humans facing the ideas of sin and redemption. In writing this poem, Coleridge spent four months of sustained writing upon his purpose of supposing that supernatural situations are real. This purpose is seen clearly in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", which demonstrates salvation, and the power of sympathetic imagination. The story of the ancient mariner takes place on a sea voyage around the horn of Africa and through the Pacific Ocean to England, which Coleridge uses to symbolize the pass into the spirit world of guilt, retribution, and rebirth.