Alijon Rahmatov
Professor Peer
ENG 2850
4 October, 2016
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a poem about a lone sailor who survives disastrous journey. I have to be honest with you Coleridge’s poem was more challenging to read than the other works that we’ve read. Not only because of the language that it was written but also it was packed with interesting symbols and images, which require more time to analyze it. Coleridge’s poem is rich with religious and natural symbolism. I found many references to the Christian religion throughout the poem. One example of religious symbolism is the Albatross. The moment when mariners meet the Albatross, they call it in God’s name as if it was a Christian soul. I believe that the Albatross is a reference to Jesus. Like Jesus in Christianity, here the Albatross was sent to help mariners. However, it was killed be the Mariner which leads to the discussion question: why does the mariner kill the Albatross? “Instead of the cross, the Albatross about my neck was hung.”(367)It seems to me that the act of killing the bird represents the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And the Mariner here represents people, who have to carry the burden of sins.
On the other hand, I see the Albatross as a symbol of balance in nature which was broken when the Mariner killed it. The nature punishes them by putting a curse on him and killing the rest of his crew. The author depicts the nature as a supernatural with weird creatures. Here even the storm is compared to a huge flying creature that chases their ship.
O happy living things! No tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware. (370)
As we can see the Mariner comes to realize the significance of these creatures only when he was cursed. The author’s message is that we need to respect the natural world and its creations.
Another interesting thing in this poem was at the beginning when the Mariner stops the wedding guest. He stopes only one of the guests but not all three. And the wedding guest couldn’t leave him, “yet he cannot choose but hear” (364). Was he hypnotized by the glittering eyes of the mariner? What is the meaning behind it? There is something special about his eyes. He could hold a guest against his will. Perhaps his eyes has something magical which is a part of his punishment. At the end of the poem the Mariner says, “that moment that his face I see, I know the man that must hear me” (560). What kind of a man is he looking for? Does it mean that the wedding guest was a chosen one?
This reading give me a different feeling with the other readings and I think this one is more difficult to read. I think Coleridge’s poems will include some religious content. I agree with you that the Albatross is a reference to Jesus .A bird represent beauty, noble and pure.Albatross in this poem is like Jesus Christ, rescuing the people from death. Therefore, I confused about why does the mariner kill the Albatross? I think that he wanted to be Jesus Christ, carry the sins from the others people but seems like he did this in a wrong way. Albatross is representing good thing in the Christian point of view. The Mariner wants to expiate now because he killed it. Until he saw the third person, I think the crime of mariner can be washed because the third looks like the real Jesus Christ but also devil sometimes to remind mariner that people should pray from heart.”He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. “(610) To conclude, I think this poem is reminding us we have to pray well from our heart. The one who really loves people and animals and everything in earth, can achieve what he want in the pray.
I think the Albatross is a reference to balance of nature. From this poem, we can see that the Albatross is innocent, it doesn’t want to hurt the mariners. However, the mariner killed it with no reason. Because of this behavior, the nature punish him by horrible environment, thirst and loneliness. All his shipmates are died from thirst and only he survives. He hopes he can die with them, but he couldn’t. “Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony. ” He suffers from loneliness. Finally, he realizes the beauty of nature, which makes things better. We should love not only ourselves, but also birds and beasts We are parts of nature. It is important to keep harmonious relationship between human beings and nature.
I agree that this poem was very difficult to read, as I still don’t quite understand certain parts of it. However, while reading through it, I must say that I admired Coleridge’s sense of imagination. He used his imagination very creatively to create a visual effect for his readers. I also agree that throughout the poem, he compares nature with God constantly. He actually writes a lot about nature as he embraces it. I agree with the comment above in which the Mariner ended up alone in the end. While reading the introduction about Coleridge himself before reading the poem, it made me wonder about his addiction to drugs and wanting to commit to suicide. Did his addiction make him have a huge imagination and put him into deep thought? Comparing him to the Mariner at the end of the poem, do you think he felt lonely at times as the Mariner did when everyone died and left him? If so, do you think it had some sort of influence or impact on his poetry?
I agree that The Rime of the Ancient Mariner poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a bit difficult to interpret. Therefore based on my own analytical view, I believe this poem refelects on human nature. Based on the poem, the mariner faces an inner struggle over the crime he has committed, and must understand his actions. He kills the innocent Albatross and does not remorse his sin throughout the poem. It is only at the end of the poem, he ask for forgiveness. Furthermore, this is a similar lesson towards how human nature is, we commit sins knowing that it is a sin, however we still don’t ask for forgiveness nor do we acknowledge our sin until we accept what we did is wrong. Once we accept our sin, that is when we ask for forgiveness and find a way to repent for it.
In my opinion Alijon’s analysis was excellent. The poem was certainly difficult and required our attention to the slightest details. I agree with a lot of points made in analysis, as I had very similar feelings wile reading the poem. I also believe that there is plenty of Christian symbolism, specifically regarding the Albatross. Christianity does very often speak of a bird representing Christ, thus the Albatross is definitely metaphorically compared to it. I found the shooting of the bird rather controversial and could not understand the point of that action at first, therefore it was really interesting to read how Alijon compared it to crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It does make sense to me after all, and its fascinating how closely the story of sailors killing the bird and their guilt, reflects on the biblical story of crucifying Jesus, how it represents the sin.
Undoubtedly, Coleridge had an incredible imagination but I wonder, was he under the influence while he was writing this poem? Super hard to read due to the archaic wording used in this poem. That definitely explains why people had a tuff time reading it to the extent it withdrew them from it. In my opinion, strange plot, which again to me it raises the question, was he intoxicated or high when he wrote this “piece of art”? Consequently, for a man who consumed opium and abused alcohol (explosive combination) it wouldn’t be awkward for them to express themselves as he did. Opium drives people to hallucinations; your mind embodies itself into an abyss where you imagine things beyond nature. “The Albatross did follow, and every day -for food- or play, came to the mariners hollo.” Perhaps in one of his inductions, instead of seeing the albatross as a savior, he saw it as a threat ready to attack. For instance, a crow who flies above his prey waiting for the moment to attack and eat. Similarly, the use of Alcohol, which makes individuals do the undo-able. I guess there’s more conscious of what alcohol make people do when they are drunk (clumsy things). However, this is poetry and I am not highly driven by it. Therefore, it is only my opinion completely deviated out of the reality of the box.