Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” written in 1797, has been widely discussed throughout literary history. In this story, the Mariner and his crew travel around the world and then back to England. Although critics have come up with many different interpretations of this poem, one idea that has remained prevalent throughout these discussions is the apparent religious symbolism present throughout this story. “The Ancient Mariner” contains natural, gothic, and biblical symbolism; however, the religious and natural symbolism, which coincide with one another, play the most important roles in this poem. It is the apocalyptic and natural symbolism that dominates the core of this epic tale (Piper 43).
Coleridges use of symbolism offers a unique and supernatural feel to his work. This tale of an old sailor illustrates a love dilemma while using biblical references.
The biblical symbolism found in this poem mainly reflects the Apocalypse, as it deals with the Mariner’s revelation that good will triumph over evil, and his acceptance of all nature as God’s creation. The poem’s ship is symbolic of the body of man. Just as man experiences everyday setbacks and emotions, the ship must endure everyday issues, as well. The ship carries the Mariner and his crew, just as the body carries the soul. From this analogy, one can correlate that the Mariner and his crew symbolize the spirit of man. Coleridge makes an important point when he stresses the fact that no matter how skillfully man steers a boat, the boat’s fate depends upon the winds and currents.
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Some Readers think the ballad form limit's their interest in The Ancient Mariner. What is you view of Coleridge's use of this form? In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge employs the ballad form to contrast the traditional with the exotic through this he forms a poem full of supernatural elements that is easily accessible. The ballad form was a typical form of medieval poetry that was ...
Therefore, according to Coleridge, enjoying life’s greatest things, such as love, is more important than mastering a skill. It is impossible to believe that Coleridge was not thinking of the mysterious wind that blows on the Mariner, without any awareness of the wind as a Biblical symbol of the Holy Spirit. Coleridge could also not associate the murder of the albatross with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The reader is told that the Polar Spirit loved the bird that loved the man who shot him with his bow. It is doubtful that someone with Coleridge’s Christian background and faith could fail to see here an analogy with God who loved his son who loved the men that killed him (Coleridge 169).
When the Mariner impulsively kills the bird, Coleridge is referring to how Christ was crucified for similar reasons.
the albatross is hung around the Mariner’s neck like a crucifix. Even the cross in cross-bow hints at the murder of Jesus, which logically places the albatross as a symbol for Christ and the Mariner’s one chance at rescue from death– and the Mariner kills the bird (180).
Coleridge depicts spiritual places in his work. The South Pole symbolizes Hell. The crew cannot see a wind that is pulling them toward the South Pole. It seems, instead, that an unseen force is pulling them in that direction. Coleridge is showing how the world’s temptations lure one to Hell. Coleridge showed a lack of love and compassion when he shot the albatross, and his actions were leading him to Hell.
However, just as they get close, the spirit of the albatross, leads them back to safety. The albatross still love the Mariner even after it was shot by him. England symbolizes Heaven in the story. When the Mariner first sees his country, a great sense of hope and joy overcome him. At the point when the Mariner is about to enter Heaven, the body, symbolized by the ship, must die. For this reason, the ship sinks. When the Pilot and his boy see the ship sinking, they go to retrieve the Mariner, just as angels retrieve a newly departed soul and carry it to Heaven.
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Scholars believe that Coleridge deliberately created these symbols and images with Christian meaning in mind. The Apocalypse is heavily reflected upon throughout this poem as Coleridge combined the vivid colors, the ocean, and the death fires of The Ancient Mariner with the terror and desolation of the days of wrath in the Apocalypse (Piper 48).
The segment of the poem after the Mariner kills the Albatross is a description of the emptiness and desolation that the Mariners experience, and the curse that is over the ship (103-27).
This section of the poem has tremendous correspondence to the apocalyptic story. The language and form in this part represent the images and words, which have traditionally described the wrath of God and the guilt of man in Christian terms. It is at this point in the poem that the Mariner feels guilty for having killed the Albatross and for the deaths of his shipmates.
However, it is directly after this description that the Mariner observes the beauty of the water snakes and forms a respect for the presence of God in nature. In this poem Coleridge uses the wrath and guilt of the Apocalypse, but adds his own ideas of divine love and conversion, which lead to paradise. Even though the Mariner must continue with his penance, he is free of God’s wrath and is able to appreciate and love all of nature as God’s creations. Throughout the poem there are many examples of biblical symbolism in nature. Coleridge uses different elements of nature, such as the sea, as symbols of religious thought or beliefs. The sea is where the decisive events, the moments of eternal choice, temptation, and redemption occur (Piper 49).
While at sea, the Mariner makes the eternal choice to kill the Albatross.
This choice is perpetual because once the Mariner has committed the act of murder, there is nothing he can do to reverse this action. As a result of the Mariner’s decision, a curse falls over the ship and the Mariner is sentenced to everlasting penance– which serves as a reminder to the Mariner of the choice that he made. The Mariner is caught in “Life-in-Death” because of his incident with the albatross and is stuck in this loveless state until he is finally able to look at the “slimy things” in the ocean and bless them unaware.” Coleridge seems to be talking about the dryness of the Mariner’s spirit and how it prevents him from loving others and himself. Coleridge uses this example to reveal his feelings about love and how they apply to nature. However, even after the death of his soul, the Mariner experiences redemption when he recognizes and learns to love all of God’s creations. Coleridge’s thoughts and feelings where rarely affected by his beliefs, especially the Apocalypse. The apocalyptic story deals with God’s freeing the soul of man from the pains of sin and death, and lifting it into paradise.
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Transcendentalists were people that believed that anyone could find god directly in nature. God is good therefor all natural events seen to be tragic pestilence death disaster can be explained on a spiritual level. Death is simply a part of the cycle of life. Being in nature can reveal that we are connected to god as well as nature. The class went on a nature walk to be connect to god and find a ...
After the Mariner kills the albatross, he feels as if he is under some sort of curse (Harding 146).
However, the Mariner goes through a conversion, which releases his soul from the pains of sin and death so that he can once again obtain happiness. There are two essential steps in this conversion process. The first step occurs when imaginative, mythological powers of nature appearance so that any, even the slightest willful acts seem to bring down a incredible vengeance– the Mariner partakes in the killing of the albatross, and thus a terrible cure is cast over the ship. The second part of this conversion process takes place at the greatest moment of hopelessness. At this point, the presence of divine love within humankind appears and emphasizes the appearance of the natural world (48).
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is not a direct religious sermon, but there are many strong references to the Christian religion throughout the poem, which one can only assume stem from Coleridge’s own religious beliefs. Although Coleridge did not take the religious images in this poem directly from the Bible, much of his inspiration for the poem seemed to be based on religious ideas, especially that of the Apocalypse. Coleridge integrates natural symbols, which are associated with the religious symbols, in to this poem in order to further emphasize his belief that God is present everywhere in nature, and that one can sent into this state of paradise when this love for God is discovered. In representing the aspects of salvation with concepts of the sea, Coleridge makes his message of repentance and humility easier to understand. By using imagery from the Apocalypse and religious symbolism in nature, Coleridge created an incredible poem which expresses how the realization of divine love within oneself has the power to heal pain and suffering. Works Cited Coleridge, Samuel Taylor . The Annotated Ancient Mariner.
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E. E. Cummings "anyone lived in a pretty how town" I first read this poem and I thought of love, two people in love. Anyone and noone are in love and that is what matters to them, to be in love with each other and with life. It involves the day, the night, and how the weather changes. The seasons revolve and the children grow up to become adults. As I read the poem I realized there were three ...
Intro. Martin Gardner. New York: 1965, 1-33, 169-90. Harding, Anthony John. Coleridge and the Inspired Word. Mcgill-Queens U.P.:1985.
48, 146. Piper, H.W. The Singing of Mount Abora: Coleridge’s Use of Biblical Imagery and Natural Symbolism in Poetry and Philosophy. Associated Univ. Presses:1987. 43-48, 103-27..
