Literary Commentary for Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of The Ancient Mariner in Seven Parts” is a romantic phantasy lay written in 1817. The rubric states the escapades and journeys of a curst crewman. The narrative is told by an all-knowing storyteller with the usage of the iambic tetrameter and trimeter. Within the all-knowing storyteller there is another character. the ancient Mariner who tells his narrative to the nuptials Guest. The rhyme strategy is abcb. The secret plan starts with the Mariner drawing aside the nuptials Guest to state him his narrative.

The Mariner compels the nuptials Guest to listen to him utilizing his glistening oculus. In his narrative. the Mariner tells how he set out in a sea ocean trip with two hundred work forces to the South. During the ocean trip they come across an millstone. which is seen as a good portents for the crewmans as it guides them through the sea. For no ground the Mariner shoots the bird with his crossbow. His fellow crewmans scold him for killing the holy bird but when nil seems to go on they allow him be. This makes them spouses in the offense. As clip passed the expletive starts to demo itself.

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The air current stops as the crewmans run out of H2O. One by one each of them die. except the Mariner. Before they die the work forces make the Mariner wear the dead Albatross around his cervix as a mark of his load. They die their eyes unfastened and cuss the Mariner one time more. The Mariner is left entirely in the sea witnessing slimed animals climb upon the deck and swim in the sea. When he appreciates the “slimy creatures’” beauty and blesses them the expletive on him starts to raise and the millstone falls from his cervix. sinking in the sea.

The verse form continues with the nature and the supernatural universe stepping in and assisting him return back place. besides make up one’s minding on his destiny. At the terminal he eventually arrives place. his ship sinks and he is rescued by a Hermit who announces him his destiny. In the verse form Coleridge extremely makes usage of poetic devices such as symbolism. sarcasm. personification. metaphor. simile and onomatopoeia. Coleridge used onomatopoeia most often on the elements of nature. It helps convey the verse form to life. as sounds tend to trip memories. Personification excessively. is normally used on the nature.

It makes them look as if they have a head of their ain and are more powerful than they truly are. The millstone as a symbol is can hold many significances harmonizing to the position of the reader. From a spiritual position it can be seen as the Christian psyche. and supported by “At length did traverse an Albatross: / Thorough the fog it came/ As if it had been a Christian soul/ We hailed it in God’s name” lines in the verse form. When the work forces make the Mariner hang the dead millstone around his cervix. it is a symbol of his offense and the load it brings.

Besides Coleridge used sarcasm from clip to clip to stress the unusual and graphic images. For illustration: “Water H2O every where/ Nor any bead to imbibe. ” . It is besides dry that the Mariner doesn’t rather appreciate the Albatross. but blessed the serpents in the sea. which he referred to as ugly/disgusting slimy animals. Although The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is said to be based on pious subjects. there is more to it than faith. It has many subjects such as ; offense and penalty. pride and humbleness. expiation. adult male versus nature and the supernatural playing on the natural universe.

The supernatural forces are active all through the verse form. It is non rather clear where they belong to. They could be elements from a Christian God or it could be from a heathen universe. or it could h-just be nature moving on the Mariner. Regardless of what and where they are it is clear that they are penalizing the Mariner for killing the millstone. Besides it is non clear why the Mariner shot the bird. It could be pride. or it could be because he possessed the power to kill and he used it. still someway he defied the nature.

Subsequently in the verse form the seraphs say that the bird loved the work forces and guided them but the work forces betrayed and killed it. They besides say that the Mariner did some repentance but he has more repentance to make. The Mariner is obliged to state his narrative to other people until he dies so others will larn from his errors. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a prophylactic narrative which can be interpreted in many ways. It is ill-defined whether what Mariner tells the nuptials Guest is really existent or if he was merely hallucinating.

There are many parts in the verse form that are ill-defined. Since Coleridge published the verse form at that place have been many readings. Some people thought the full verse form was an fable for the poet’s hunt for redemption. others said that it was influenced by Plato’s work. From the point of a high school pupil. the verse form can be taken as a Christian verse form since it has many mentions to it. Besides it is non likely that one will be able to understand the whole verse form without holding any cognition about faith and the supernatural at all.

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