Both Sun and moon play significant roles in this old poem, in a symbolic and supernatural way, in order to reinforce the mood that Samuel Taylor Coleridge has attempted to create in his use of old legends and superstitions. The role that the sun and moon play in this tale of cursed sailors is an old one, retold over and over the years that Coleridge adapted for his own. Although mentioned several times before, the Sun makes its first significant appearance in the seventh stanza of the second part. Before then, one will find both Sun and Moon mentioned many times purely for the reader’s enrichment. The repeated mention leads the reader to believe that it will soon become important by foreshadowing without making it of any greater appearance than mentioning it to describe the scenery in the aforementioned place in the poem.
Here Coleridge describes the Sun as “The bloody Sun, at noon.” This use of capitalizing such a common word as Sun only goes further to tell the reader to keep an eye out for something not quite right there. For those unfamiliar with old sailors’ traditions, they may either skip right over this passage, or read too much into it as a sign of impending doom. An old phrase arises from the history books to describe this perfectly that reads, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight, Red say at morning, sailor take warning.” When one takes a closer look at this, they might see that it describes storm patterns, but when one realise’s that the Sun is blood-red at noon — during the day — could this not be a bad omen of sorts? Further along, it mentions the sun “flecked with bars… as if through a dungeon-grate he peered.” It eventually turns out that those bars of prison are the shadows of Death’s dead and dying ship, but does this not allude to the approaching change in life that the Ancient Mariner suffers? He becomes trapped in life, to wander the earth forever, spreading his story — a prison of freedom, a cell made out of eternal life. A curse disguised as the world’s greatest blessing. He goes further to describe the boat when he says the line, “Are those her ribs through which the Sun/ Did peer, as through a grate?” This is, on one level, merely continuing the same vein of interpretation as mentioned before, both veins.
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Describe Northups life before slavery. Explain how he became a slave, and how he finally escaped Early life. Solomon was born in New York in 1808. His father was a former slave who had been freed by his master in his will. Somehow his father Mistus managed to make sure that his children received an education that was better than the usual for Americans of African descent including learning to play ...
But on another level, it describes the weariness of the Ancient Mariner, and the old and eaten-away shape his body has taken on over the years — his ribs sharp and bony against even the baggy of rags. Later, it discusses a very old superstition that many may not be familiar with — the legend of the Moon as guardian of the dead, and keeper of the souls that have passed on. More than once, it is alluded to that the Moon is keeping the sailors’s oils safe, and that the Moon is holding them captive where they lie, as well. Once it even mentions that the Ancient Mariner sees the cold and pale unfeeling light of the moon reflected in the dead men’s cold black unfeeling eyes. Is it a coincidence that the images stirred up are extraordinarily similar to one another? No, of course not, it isn’t a coincidence in the least, for Coleridge knew exactly what he was doing. So as one can see, the Moon and Sun, whether duly noted, or pointed out afterwards, play very significant roles in this poem of old, this story of adventure and curse beneath the Sun of the Seven Seas.
Coleridge is an amazing writer and perfectly captured the spirit of the supernatural when discussing old sailors’ tales and the legends behind the Sun and Moon. And the next time someone reads this poem, maybe they will be a little more wary of those mysterious objects they once took for granted that hang in the sky, silent.
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... changing angles (relative positions) of the earth, the moon and the sun, as the moon orbits the earth. If you’d like to examine ... have wondered why, at a new moon, the moon doesn’t block the sun, and at a full moon, why the earth doesn’t block sunlight ... during the year, the earth, moon, and sun do in fact “line up”. When the moon blocks the sun or a part of it, ...
