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Theme Of Symbolism In Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

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Philosophical points are illustrated in many different forms throughout any story, sometimes by not directly stating the author's point, discussion amongst the readers can take place debating the authors purpose for using certain words. This debate, in fact, strengthens the point that the author is attempting to make by drawing attention to certain details. This usually happens in descriptive imagery, but can take other forms as well.
In the poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge begins at a wedding and an old man grabs the groom from the wedding to tell him his tragedy. The Mariner does this to punish himself for his deeds. Coleridge could have written the poem this way to point out how some men believe that by doing some arbitrary challenging task that they could absolve themselves of their previous actions, even though nothing can change what did happen. By starting the poem this way, he informs the reader that the Mariner regrets what is to come.
The mariner later tells the groom that he had killed an albatross for sport which was harmlessly flying parallel to the crew's boat for the past few days. “In revenge for this cruelty, the Mariner and his crew are pursued “from the land of mist and snow”” ("unchainedromantics.weebly.com"). So, I am drawn to the conclusion that that Coleridge is trying to point out about how some believe so strongly in superstitions that they blame any future bad endeavors on a previous action. Present-day, we know this condition as

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