The Rime of an Ancient Mariner

• Andrew Green- “terrifying crescendo of punishment”
• Andrew Green- Christian confession of absolution leads to permanent release but the mariners doesn’t
• Coleridge takes us into spiritual realms
• Coleridge transmogrifies the bird into a symbolic spiritual force
• Context- Coleridge

  • Studied God and religious beliefs
  • opium addict
  • romantic poet
• Historical- uses inspiration from James cook
• Themes- nature, supernatural, sin, redemption, guilt, revenge, death, life, freedom, imprisonment, isolation, madness, morality, religion, salvation, sacrifice, survival, time, truth, wisdom, youth
• Narrative structure- first person narrative
• Social- sailors were seen as criminals, outcasts and sinners
• Romanticism: a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.
• Interested in supernatural and nature
• Structure and Form

  • Ballad
  • Crime referenced at end of each part
  • Mostly four line stanza’s-gradually get longer
  • Outer and inner narrative
• Helped champion one life principle
• Rylan- The mariners crime was both against ecological and Christianity
• Marginal glosses- provide summary
• TROTAM is a moral allegory
• Took inspiration from the flying dutchman legend
• Part 1

  • Stops wedding guest
  • See criminal appearance of mariner-gothic
  • Outer narrative framework
  • MOTIVELESS CRIME
• Part 2

  • Sun comes up
  • Realises his error immediately
  • Sailors condemn the mariner but then endorse it
  • Nature provides punishment
  • albatross placed round his neck
• Part 3

  • Life and death boat, play for his life
  • nature is chaotic ‘stars rushed out’
  • death gets the sailors, life gets the mariner
• • Part 4
  • Flashes back to wedding guest
  • Trapped in his own crime and punishment
• Part 5

  • Mariners is reconnected with god but given further punishment
  • Mariners crime contaminates nature
  • Turns to nature for answers
  • Redemption- albatross sinks
  • Throws ship over equator
• Part 6

  • First and second voice continue into the sixth part
  • Mariner wakes up next to dead sailors
  • dead crew judge him
• Part 7

  • First two stanza’s describe Holy Hermit
  • Pilot, Pilot boy and hermit approach ship
  • Mariner is rescued
  • Finishes with how sad the mariner is
• Use of colour to represent emotional world
• Symbolism - Albatross represents sin and redemption