Aamena Rangwala : The Ancient Rime Mariner

Biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born 21 October 1772, Ottery Saint Mary, United Kingdom. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets.

He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd.

He is also known for his well-known works such as Kubla Khans, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and critical work Biographia Literaria.

He wrote highly influential work, particularly his works on William Shakespeare. He also attempted to introduce the philosophy of the German Idealist to English culture.

He coined terms and phrases in his English language; for example, the phrase “willing suspension of disbelief.” He had been an influential figure in American transcendentalism and inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Features of Coleridge's Poetry

Treatment of the Supernatural: He treats the supernatural in such a manner that it becomes convincing and at the same time, in some sense, a criticism of life.

Suspension of Disbelief: The way in which Coleridge has achieved the willing suspension of disbelief has been even explained beautifully in the book The Romantic Imagination by Bowra.

Satisfying Writing Style: The poems of his are not phantasmagoria of unconnected events but a coherent whole by exploiting our acquaintance with dreams and has in its own right as something intelligible and satisfying.

Realism: He exercises imaginative realism.

Medievalism present: Medievalism is present everywhere in Coleridge's poetry. The whole Rime of Ancient Mariner is wrought with the color and glamor of the Middle Ages.

Summary of The Ancient Rime Mariner

In the beginning of the poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, is about an ancient mariner who stops a wedding guest. The wedding guest was the groom’s best man. The mariner started telling him a strange tale. At this point in the poem, the wedding was about to begin. A group of guests from the wedding was on their way to the feast. One of them, who was the groom’s best man, stopped. He was running late. He was hurrying to the wedding hall. He could hear the music from the hall; he knew that the bride had entered. He was not interested in listening to the sailor but the mariner held his hand and forced him to sit and listen to him.
The mariner started saying that when the ship left the harbor, everything was very joyful and cheerful. They sailed leaving behind the church, the hill and the lighthouse. The sun shone very brightly and they were sailing very happily. But their happiness did not last for long because they were hit by a tyrannous storm and the wind changed the course of the ship towards the south direction. Nevertheless, the ship kept on advancing. In the meanwhile, the guest could hear the ritual of the wedding had started but he could not leave the sailor.
The old sailor continued saying that, as they kept moving ahead in the storm, they met with huge icebergs all around. The ship got stuck in those icebergs and they were making loud noises when cracking. Then they saw an albatross come from nowhere and perched on the ship.
The bird was considered to be a messenger of God. They thought that there could be land nearby. The albatross hovered on the icebergs that blocked their journey. The huge mass of ice broke into two, making way for the ship. The sailors on board thought that the bird was a good omen because they were able to commence their voyage once again. After escaping the storm, the ship had to face severe cold and mist. Visibility became very poor and it was getting difficult to navigate. The bird accompanied along with the ship and they could surpass the mist. The crew members were happy because they thought that the bird brought the favourable conditions and fed the bird. The sailors played with the bird. The bird stuck around for nine days with the ship. One day, the old mariner in the spur of the moment shot the bird with a bow and an arrow. The other sailors became very angry with the mariner and cursed him for his deeds. After the death of the bird, the sunshine returned and the weather became better. All the sailors felt that it was the right decision to kill the bird because it brought the storm and the mist.
After a few days of the comfortable voyage, the wind stopped blowing and the ship came to a halt. The sun was getting hotter and hotter. They could not find a single drop of drinking water. Only they could see seawater all around. The sea became very quiet and seemed like it was burning in flames. Soon, the sailors realized that killing the bird caused misery to them. They got very angry with the old mariner and cursed him for what he did. They replaced the cross from his neck with the dead bird. The old sailor then started feeling guilty for killing it, so he shared his tale with the strangers.

The Ancient Rime Mariner Characters

Ancient Mariner

The poem's protagonist. He is unnaturally old, with skinny, deeply-tanned limbs and a "glittering eye." He sets sail from his native country with two hundred other men who are all saved from a strange, icy patch of ocean when they are kind to an Albatross that lives there. Impulsively and inexplicably, he shoots the Albatross with his crossbow and is punished for his crime by a spirit who loved the Albatross. He is cursed to be haunted indefinitely by his dead shipmates, and to be compelled to tell the tale of his downfall at random times. Each time he is compelled to share his story with someone, he feels a physical agony that is abated only temporarily once he finishes telling the tale.

Wedding Guest

One of three people on their way to a wedding reception; he is next of kin to the bridegroom. The Ancient Mariner stops him, and despite his protests compels him to sit and listen to the entirety of his story. He is afraid of the Ancient Mariner and yearns to join the merriment of the wedding celebration, but after he hears the Ancient Mariner's story, he becomes both "sadder and...wiser."

The Sailors

Two hundred seamen who set sail with the Ancient Mariner one clear, sunny day and find themselves in the icy world of the "rime" after a storm, from which the Albatross frees them. They feed and play with the Albatross until the Ancient Mariner inexplicably kills it. They begin to suffer from debilitating heat and thirst. They hang the Albatross's corpse around the Ancient Mariner's neck to punish him. When Life-in-Death wins the Ancient Mariner's soul, the sailors' souls are left to Death and they curse the Ancient Mariner with their eyes before dying suddenly. Even though their souls fly out, their bodies refuse to rot and lie open-eyed on the deck, continuously cursing the Ancient Mariner. After the rain returns, the sailors come alive and silently man the ship, singing beautiful melodies. When the ship reaches the harbor, they once again curse the Ancient Mariner with their eyes and then disappear, leaving only their corpses behind. The Ancient Mariner is destined to suffer the curse of a living death and continually be haunted by their cursing eyes.

Albatross

A great, white sea bird that presumably saves the sailors from the icy world of the "rime" by allowing them to steer through the ice and sending them a good, strong wind. The Albatross, however, also makes a strange mist follow the ship. It flies alongside the ship, plays with the sailors, and eats their food, until the Ancient Mariner shoots it with his crossbow. Its corpse is hung around the Ancient Mariner's neck as a reminder of his crime and falls off only when he is able to appreciate the beauty of nature and pray once more. The Albatross is loved by a powerful spirit who wreaks havoc on and kills the sailors while leaving the Ancient Mariner to the special agony of Life-in-Death.

Life-in-Death

This haunting figure is found, along with Death, on the ghost ship that approaches the Mariner and the Sailors when their own ship is becalmed after the Mariner’s killing of the albatross. Life-in-Death is described as having red lips, yellow hair, and white skin. She throws dice with Death and wins the Mariner’s soul, and given the Mariner’s subsequent inability to pray until he has completed his penance, there is the suggestion that he truly experiences a kind of life-in-death, not in the sense of being a zombie, but in the sense of being cut off from both the natural and spiritual worlds even as he continues to exist, until he completes his penance.

First Voice and Second Voice

These two voices, the First Voice and Second Voice, are introduced at the end of Part Six in the poem, and continue into the beginning of Part Seven. The voices are supernatural spirits that discuss the penance the Mariner has done and the continued penance that will be required of him.