Christian and Biblical References Hidden Within “the Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea sand.” (Coleridge, 124-127, pt IV). The Mariner assures him that his is not a dead person. The Mariner then goes on to say that, ”The Many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie:...” (Coleridge, 236-237, pt IV) In that beginning sentence he now begins to realize that totality of his mistakes. He is taking in all of what is happening, and is putting together to say in the rest of the sentence, “And a thousand thousand slimy things lived on; and so did I.” (Coleridge, 238-239, pt IV.) “I looked upon the rotting sea, and drew my eyes away… and there the dead men lay.” (Coleridge, 240-243, pt IV) Things are deteriorating onboard the ship, still the Mariner is facing his decision. The author uses the word rotting to symbolize the rottenness of the choice that was made, and the effects that are brought about. The Mariner continues to think about what is happening, and then he says, “O happy, living things! No tongue their beauty might declare: A spring of love gushed from my heart, and I blessed them unaware:...” (Coleridge, 282-285, pt IV) What that shows is that he is trying to fix rationalize what is happening. He then see the true beauty of what he took for granted. After that happened this happened the, “...Albatross fell off…”

radiance” (Seifter, 82). The flowing lines, rhymes, and imagery of light and dark give the

The symbolism in the “Rhyme of the ancient mariner” is said to be an impossible representation of the Christian story of reconciliation from sin, redemption and forgiveness for that sin, but the symbolism in this poem clearly contradicts those views. The poem is one of a great sin committed against nature and the supernatural - being God - and how the wrong doer was redeemed from that sin and his journey into realigning what he had done. The Mariner was punished for his sin by the supernatural and forces of nature while he was glorified by his crew mates for his skill that was shown in killing the albatross with a crossbow. This is often true in Biblical stories and modern day where one is glorified for earthly talents and is given fame, but what they are famous for contradicts God and his law. Other aspects of Christianity are embedded in this poem as well that are easily overlooked like when the Mariner prays to some force he does not know. He is guilty for his transgression and knows what he has done is wrong although the sin was committed with ill will not intended. Lastly this poem displays a value important to Christianity, but also to all other ideologies and the is the topic of justice for crimes committed and the Christian aspect of thats once justice is served salvation is needed and redemption takes place. All of these values presented by symbolism throughout this poem all point toward the idea that the story of the Mariner was meant to serve as an example of the

The Mariner’s tale suggests a larger lesson about human life, expressing that humans are not superior to the rest of Creation and nature. Humans and all other life are equal inhabitants on planet Earth and must therefore treat each other with respect

By killing the albatross, the Mariner sets in motion Christianity’s idea that all except Jesus are sinners, but through repentance one can seek forgiveness and ultimately salvation. However, Coleridge poses a dichotomy regarding the transparency of forgiveness in this ballad. After the Mariner blesses the snakes, the reader presumes the curse was lifted and forgiveness was granted. Although the “Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea” (288-91), the Mariner was compelled to serve a long-term penance of continually repeating his tale, also serving as a constant reminder of his sin. Where as Christianity teaches that by repenting one achieves forgiveness, Coleridge enacts the idea of retribution in order for the Mariner to ultimately attain God’s forgiveness. For example, one of nature’s punishments taunts the Mariner with extreme thirst, causing him to cry out:

The passage personifies the ocean by talking of its playful nature of the currents “weaving in and out of one another” and its ability to change, as it has a mind of its own. The last sentence within the passage states “it was not dead but alive” the use of short sentencing emphasised its point and indicates its importance. However this short verse changes the mood of the passage, the reader is confronted by the abrupt word “dead” this single word changes the tone of the sentence and explores that along with the capability to be alive there also is the capability to be dead. This foreshadows the next passage and the future of the ocean.

Furthermore, the Mariner’s imprisonment is symbolized by ships. The sailor’s adventure is set about on a ship with one another’s merry company. Unfortunately, control over their ship is lost just as their luck. It quickly becomes a private prison for the Mariner following the sailors’ pitiful deaths. Ghost ships, Death and Life in Death, are seen arriving, playing a game of dice. This seals the Mariner and fellow sailor’s fate. The Mariner imprisons others by compelling them to listen to his story. “And he stoppeth one of three. –By the long grey beard and glittering eye, now wherefore stoppest thou me?” (Part 1, Stanza

like blood with leaping shadows of dense black at their feet. Then down he swooped straight

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. 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.

Using the senses of seeing, feeling, and hearing in The Rise of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Coleridge demonstrates the use of many sensory details. The appearance of the Ancient Mariner, the Nightmare Life-in

He illustrates his belief that he does not need the good luck of the Albatross. He decides to severe his bonds with the universal cycle of life and love. Following the execution of the Albatross, the Mariner’s luck suddenly changes. He experiences the punishment that comes with the moral error of killing the Albatross. The punishment is isolation and alienation from everything but himself. Thereafter, the "Nightmare," the life in death, kills his crew. He is lost at sea, left alone in the night to suffer, and he has detached from his natural cycle. The Mariner proclaims his misery when he says, "Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! / And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony". To the Mariner, nature has become foreign. The execution of the Albatross causes physical and spiritual decay.

Judas and the mariner can be seen as the typical, universal sinner who betrays God by transgressing against Him. In this poem’s case,

The lines that follow deal with death and punishment.  Part 3, describes how the sailors' "throats unslaked, with black lips baked, We could nor laugh nor wail; Through utter drought all dumb we stood!  I bit my arm, I sucked the blood, And cried, A sail! A sail! "  Then all the shipmates die "Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one."  And so the ancient mariner was "Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea!  A never a saint took pity on My soul in agony."  He sat

Four varying viewpoints exist concerning what or who the mariner represents, the first being the superficial idea that he is simply the wise old man who imparts wisdom to the younger generations (Williams 1116). Going beyond the literal connotation, the most common and supported argument it that the mariner represents the Christian sinner. The diction chosen by Coleridge often alludes to Christianity, examples include “Christian soul”, ”God’s name”, “[i]nstead of the cross…about my neck was hung”, and “Dear Lord in Heaven” (Coleridge 1616-1632). Howard Creed believes that the mariner is symbolically a poet, due to the fact that he learns “the great truth about the world they live in” and then attempts to communicate it to others through the art of a story (221). The final possibility is that the mariner represents a mother. Repeated connection to conventionally female things like the sea, motherhood, spontaneity/irrationality, and nature begins to support this conclusion. The role of instructing the young, in this case the wedding guest whom “listens like a three years’ child” is also traditionally female, further developing the argument (Coleridge 1616). Overall, the poem is an exemplar at employing Coleridge’s idea of symbol to use the ordinary to show the transcendent, especially Christianity, yielding that the second option is the preeminent choice.

As for the narrator in “The Seafarer”, Christianity and the belief of an afterlife saves him from ending his own life prior to believing in a place much better than his present and the endorsement of “The Measurer” if he lives on. Besides Christianity being a huge impact in this poem, the author also uses many of the techniques listed by Foster such as using season and weather to symbolize his harsh conditions. As stated by Foster, “seasons have stood for the same set of meanings,” winter, the time of “Death and rebirth, growth and harvest and death”(189-190). In “The Seafarer, the speaker clearly uses the winter weather to show his demise, and also his will of death. Yet besides his suffering, the winter also brought his growth. In that winter time, he realized his goal of life, to repay the debt he owed to his creator. Despite winter conditions, the “hail [that] fell to the ground” also symbolized as a realization as shown by Foster “It’s more than just rain or snow”, this realization revelates in the form of being enlightened religiously (69). Besides hail symbolizing a realization, the entire seafaring trip also exemplifies an important concept, Baptism, or a “rising from the dead”(169). As the speaker started on, his present was no more than a “dead life,” yet, later on, the speaker seems to “[rise] from the dead” as he realizes his demise, after the entire trip out to the sea, he returns and realizes that he had been dead all along, and that “life pertains to the love of the Lord, hope in heaven,” not “[performing] the greatest glories”(84,