A Biographical Analysis of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is a somewhat lengthy poem concerning the paranormal activities of a sea mariner and his crew. The work was constructed to be the beginning piece in Lyrical Ballads, a two-volume set written by William Wordsworth and Coleridge. Wordsworth intended to, in his volume, make the ordinary seem extraordinary, while Coleridge aimed to make the extraordinary ordinary. “The Rime” was first published in 1798. Despite the current popularity of the piece, it was harshly criticized upon being first published. One of “The Rime’s” toughest opponents was Wordsworth himself, who claimed that the poem had “neither …show more content…
In the poem, the death of the albatross is an event that can be directly correlated to Coleridge’s life, particularly in the death of his father. Samuel was born on October 21, 1772, and was the youngest among his ten siblings (Fry, 3). At age six, he began attending King’s School, where his father happened to be the headmaster (Fry, 3). Coleridge’s father, Reverend John Coleridge, died three years later (Fry, 3). After the death, an undereducated and inadequate gentleman replaced Samuel’s father as headmaster (Fry, 3). As a result of this, Coleridge was forced to move to London to pursue his education at Christ’s Hospital (Fry, 3). The death and resulting move was very damaging to Samuel, who was only nine at the time. The death of the albatross is quite similar from the standpoint that it was the event that gave rise to the Mariner’s problems. The Mariner killed the bird in order to support the crew in their time of great hunger and thirst (Coleridge, 32). The death of the bird was at first followed by good luck. The fog and frost that had once consumed the seas around the Mariner and his crew is replaced by good weather (Coleridge, 34). This break in treacherous conditions is only temporary, though. Upon arriving in the Pacific, the wind ceases to blow and the ship stops (Coleridge, 34). A
The poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a truly imaginative work utilizing the familiar yet timeless themes of good fortune, the power of Mother Nature, and adventurous voyages over the sea. The Mariner relates the bone-chilling tale of his adventure to a guest at a wedding in his native country. Although the guest succumbs to the Mariner’s tale, he is eager to get to the wedding, which is about to start. Coleridge chose this occasion for the poem as a form of irony, by providing a stark contrast between the two atmospheres and situations in his poem. The moods of weddings are usually joyful and jubilant, emphasizing love and the union between
The use of repetition as a means of drawing attention to specific, words or ideas is prominent throughout “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and it serves as a means to orient the reader towards certain aspects of the text that the narrative voice deems important. Throughout “Part 4”, words that refer to the sight of the Mariner are reiterated, thus reinforcing the significance of perspective within the text. Through the “glittering eye” of the Mariner, readers are given a glimpse of what he claims to have seen on the voyage
The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is about a Mariner who was the author of his own ruins and salvation. Throughout this poem, the Mariner faced many adversities that he created and simultaneously found freedom to his mistakes. To begin, the Mariner’s biggest mistake that he did was killing the albatross. An albatross is defined as an “ very large, chiefly white oceanic bird with long, narrow wings, found mainly in the southern oceans.” (dictionary.com) This was evident when he said “Why look'st thou so?'—With my cross-bow I shot the ALBATROSS”(part1, 20). The albatross helped him and his crew members navigate through the sea, created wind so the boat can sail, and was referred to as Jesus. The Mariner even remarked “At length did cross an Albatross, Thorough the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in
An author on Raven Talk.com writes that, “we have lost our reverence and respect for Nature and for life,” (Raymond), and the Mariner demonstrates that lack of respect. It is then that he watches the animals around him, and discovers that he has a respect for them and life in general. He finally realizes that his action of killing the Albatross was a mistake, and the natural world immediately responds by picking up the wind to take him
They all wholly agree it is the Mariner’s fault for shooting the bird. A ghost ship appears and afterwards, a strange illness, for want of a better term, besieges the crew. The Mariner is
The poems’ histories will be kept brief as they are not the focus of the paper; so, put simply, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and was published in 1798 in a collaborative volume entitled Lyrical Ballads (“Samuel Taylor Coleridge”). For further historical context, it was during this year that the US Navy was originally formed (“Historical Events in 1798”). And while the origin of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is pretty straightforward, that of “The Seafarer” is more complicated. Originally it was anonymously included in a tenth-century text called The Exeter Book (Shmoop Editorial Team), but the more well known version is its reinterpretation by Ezra Pound, published in 1912 (“The Seafarer: RPO”). However, since Pound changed many of the original details and themes (“The Seafarer: RPO”), we’re going to be looking at an English translation of the original poem. Again, for further historical context, it was during the tenth century that the Chinese started making paper money, the Byzantine empire underwent a revival, and the feudal knight was popularized (“10th century - Oxford Reference”). Despite both poems being published nearly 800 years apart, they share a great many similarities. So without further ado, let’s delve into the surface similarities between the two poems.
The next symbolic theme in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is that of retribution. In lines 143-146 Coleridge illustrates a time of draught for the sailors on the voyage. Without any water to drink they are suffering. This symbolizes the spiritual draught that humans face in Christianity. Without the love for Christ humans are thirsting for spiritual enlightenment and forgiveness--without which they suffer.
Samuel became very bitter in his later years he was unable to finish a lot of his projects due to his older age. Samuels memory failed at this point. Samuel had huge rages and nasty bouts of paranoia. He was very depressed and tried to assuage by smoking cigars, reading in bed, and playing endless hours of cards.
In the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge uses the method of storytelling to acknowledge and implement the reader into the situations that the Mariner faces. Coleridge does this by implementing vivid imagery into his poem to create a tale that we the readers can easily follow such as the tales we tell one another today to learn or understand different concepts in modern day life.
In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a wedding guest is cornered by a sailor with a glittery eye and then proceeds to listen to the Mariner’s story. In the story, the Mariner is on a voyage and he make the rash decision to kill the albatross, which is a sign of luck. Initially the act seemed to benefit the sailors. However, the weather change and the ship was sent into unstable waters. During this time the sailors, except the Mariner, resorted to cannibalism and ended up dying. The survivor encountered the supernatural world and spirit that helped him escape the jail he was trapped in. When it was thought that death was the Mariner’s only true escape, he happened upon a coast where three men helped him to shore.
The Rime of The Ancient Mariner is a poem written by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and it focuses itself on a tale of an Ancient Mariner who is cursed for life, while he has to live telling the story of his errors in order for people to not commit the same mistakes through religious allegories, conveying different themes portraying Christianity. Although the tale of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is not religious in itself, since it does not follow any traditional Christian themes, there are multiple of instances in which The Mariner sends a hidden message towards the audience. This message is supported through Coleridge's symbolism to many biblical terms, which are found throughout the poem, for example the "mysterious wind" hitting
“Tennyson’s father, a violent temper, responded to his virtual disinheritance by indulging in drugs and alcohol”, () it took a dramatic toll on the family. In 1827 Alfred enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge. “There he met Arthur Hallam, a brilliant undergraduate who became Tennyson’s closest friend and ardent admirer of his poetry”. () Tennyson’s life was finally on the right path and with the friendship of Hallam inspired him to write more and be more in-depth with his poetry, but in 1831 Alfred’s father died turning the rest of the family into shattered. Because of the events and his siblings suffering from drug addiction, mental and physical illness, Alfred forcefully left school early departing away from Hallam to take care of his family. Life after the father’s death wasn’t easy on the children; “were one of his brothers suffered a mental
The friendship of Coleridge and Wordsworth is one of the most literary, productive relationships among the poets of the Romantic Period. Coleridge and Wordsworth were “together on daily basis since July 1797” (Matlak 72). Wordsworth’s poetic career was “reconstructed, if not entirely created through the process of a poetic exchange that made his earlier importance an affective power” (73). At the same time, Wordsworth contributed similarly to Coleridge’s literary career. For example, many of Rime of the Ancient Mariner’s imagery and narrative events were suggested by Wordsworth (Matlak 83.) An early important example of their literary partnership was their Lyrical Ballads. As this friendship lasted until the death of Coleridge, many of the
In 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge published his poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Several editions followed this, the most notable being the 1815 version, which included a gloss. This poem has grown to become well known and debated, especially concerning the message that Coleridge was attempting to impart. The interpretation of the poem as a whole and of various characters, settings, and objects has been the subject of numerous essays, papers, books, and lectures. There are approximately four things that are major symbols in this work, along with the possibility that the structure itself is symbolic.