The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 183

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834) The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834) Type of Work: Lyrical fantasy ballad Setting A sailing ship traveling the seas; late Medieval period Principal Characters The Ancient Mariner, a sailor-storyteller The Wedding Guest, a listener The Ship's Crew The Allbatross, a symbolic representation of God's creatures - and Man's guilt The Hermit, a rescuer representing God Story Overveiw (Coleridge introduces his tale by describing an old gray-headed sailor who approaches three young men headed for a wedding celebration and compels one of them, the groom's next-of-kin, to hear his story. O Wedding-Guest! this sent both been Alone on a wide wide sea: So lonely 'twas, that God himself Scarce seemed there to be. At first the intrusion is resented, but the stor is remarkable indeed, and the listener - who, of course, represents you, the reader - soon falls captive to the building suspense, responding at first with fear and then with horror as the tale unfolds.) There was little apprehension among the ship's crew as they sailed clear of the harbor, bound for the open sea. Several days out, however, a storm arose and the vessel was driven before the wind in a constant southerly direction, headed toward the South Pole. As it entered the "land of ice, and of fearful sounds, where no living thing was to be seen," a feeling of foreboding came over the helpless inmates; and so it was with great relief that the crew eventually greeted the sight of an albatross - a huge seabird - flying through the fog toward them. ("As if it had been a Christian soul," the Ancient Mariner tells his listener, "We hailed it in God's name.") Everyone took this as a good omen, and the bird followed the ship faithfully as it returned northward. Then, one day, weary of the bird's incessant and now unnerving presence, the Mariner shot the albatross with his crossbow - and brought the curse down upon them all. The south wind continued to propel them northward, but somehow the old sailor realized he had done "a hellish thing"; retribution would soon follow, in the form of loneliness and spiritual anguish, like that of Adam when he fell from God's grace. The crew at first berated their mate for killing the bird that had brought the change in the breeze. But as the ship made its way out of the fog and mist and continued on, they decided it must be the bird that had brought the mist. Perhaps their shipmate had rightfully killed it after all. The vessel sailed on northward until it reached the equator, where the breeze ceased and the craft became becalmed. After days without a breath of wind, it was decided by all that an avenging spirit had followed them from the land of mist and snow, leaving them surrounded only by foul water. With the unabsolved curse thus restored, the thirsting crew angrily hung the dead albatross around the Mariner's neck, as a symbol of his guilt. Time lost all meaning. The lips of the men baked and their eyes glazed over for want of water. I looked to heaven, and tried to pray; But or ever a prayer had gusht, A wicked whisper came, and made My heart as dry as dust. Then the old sailor saw a speck on the horizon, which, as it wafted towards them, became a sail. The men waited in silent dread. This could be no earthly ship - it moved along the water without the slightest breeze. Wide-eyed and trembling, the crew looked on as this skeleton ship came alongside their own. On its deck the Mariner saw two spectres: a Woman, Life-in-Death; and her mate, Death himself. They were casting dice to see which of them would take control of the drifting ship. Death won the entire ship's crew - all but the Ancient Mariner, who was won by the Woman; he alone would live on, to expiate his sin against Nature. There followed a ghastly scene as the sun dropped into the sea and night came over the silent waters. One by one the two hundred men on board turned toward the Mariner, denounced him with a soulful stare - for they could not speak - and dropped dead upon the deck. As their souls flew from their bodies and sped past the old seaman, the sound was "like the whizz of my crossbow" when he shot the albatross. (The Wedding Guest by this time is terrified of the Ancient Mariner, who he thinks must be a ghost; but assuring him he is indeed mortal, the