The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Essay Example

? The Rime of the Ancient Mariner The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is regarded as one of the most unique works produced by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Written in 1797, the poem was first published a year later. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is an explicit embodiment of Romanticism. Imagination has been regarded as the most important dimension in the Romantic literature. Imagination refers to the capacity of imagining and creating mental images that are not present for the senses (Romanticismext 2011). In this regard, the poem dons the theme of imagination to a large degree. The poem has been interpreted and regarded as a tale describing the supernatural and the religious allegory. The supernatural aspect of the poem encompasses the Gothic tradition of superstition, magic spells, ominous ambiance and perfidious voyages (Bloom 2001). On the other hand the religious allegory narration of the poem compromises of a morality story that has been intricately placed in the events that unfold after the mariner killed the divine word. Despite the fact that the poem presented a unique blend of various themes, the circumstances in which the poem was devised by Coleridge were very ordinary. The poem is symbolic as opposed to a literary narrative; in fact Gupta (1995) states that the poem is “a representative, purgative-redemptive symbolic act”. The prime motivation for writing the poem was for the raising of money for a walking tour (Rueckert 1983). After the poem was completed by Coleridge, it turned out to be a much more intricate piece of work compared to the Gothic tradition which had a great impact on it. Bloom (2001) also observes that the poem was a modern renovation of the medial allegory, to which the poem has a number of things common with. The idea of the poem came from a strange dream that Coleridge’s neighbor saw and related it to him. His neighbor dreamt of a skeleton ship and Coleridge further improvised the dream to incorporate the story of the mortal sin of an aged navigator, the punishment that followed and the navigator’s further repentance for the sin that he committed. The first part of the poem has a number of themes impregnated in it. In the start of the poem, the mariner is meddling with a wedding, stopping him from being part of the ceremony. This act is a representation of the theme of imposing onto and interrupting with people’s sacraments, which are formal religious practices bearing witness to their faith and adherence to the commandments and injunctions of the Catholic Church. Moreover the mariner only prevents one of the guests, amongst the three in the group that are going for the wedding. Although the reason for this has not been clearly enunciated in the poem, Bloom (2001) observes that the fragile aged man either has some supernatural, hypnotic aura about him or that he has powers that an ordinary human does not have, making the mariner some kind of a spiritual messenger. Another theme appears as part one is drawing to an end relates to the nature of the albatross. It has been explicitly mentioned in the poem that the albatross was “[a]s if it had been a Christian soul” (Bloom 2001). Despite the fact that the bird is shown to be a religious devout, the mariner could not restrain his desires and kills the bird. This also represents the violation of the social code by the mariner, which was commonplace in medieval literature, and necessitated that a stranger who is not harmful should be treated with respect and shown hospitality. The second part of the poem explains how the environment felt different after the killing of the bird. The third part goes onto further invest on this notion. The feeling of being deprived of the word and desolation become exaggerated as the poem proceeds. The poet emphasizes upon the theme that time dons the appearance of a tyrannical ruler and does not show any forgiveness. Time fails to provide neither optimism nor any end to the agony. The pictures painted of hell and misery keep coming and going and there is increased talk regarding the preternatural spirits that cannot be viewed by the eye but are still in existence, sought to take revenge for the killing of the albatross. Moreover, Bloom (2001) states that as the existence of spirits becomes more substantial, death also comes into play and is shown to have authority over the mariners. The price that the mariners have to pay for this is that they have to die. The fourth part of the poem moves the discussion back to the mariner and the wedding guest, who was shocked and awed by the story. Moreover another significant theme that emerges in this part of the story is the spiritual rebirth of the mariner. This spiritual rebirth manifests itself through the sudden understanding that dawns over the mariner about the fears and terrors that he has been forced to bear. The fifth part sees a continuation of the process of spiritual awakening of the mariner. Where the mariner has cursed and spoken in a derogatory way regarding the sea creatures, he is now fascinated by their beauty. At this time, the mariner starts to pray and this causes him to be rid of the albatross, helping him to recompense for a part of his guilt. The mariners who have died rise up again and steer the ship back to its destination. The ship sinks, leaving the mariner behind, to tell the wander around the earth due to his guilt and tell the story to other people so that they can take heed. On relating the story to the wedding guest, he goes back home and wakes up the next day as a “sadder and wiser man” and “rose the morrow man” (The Literature Network 2011). Warner (2008) observes that interpreting the Rime is not an easy task; there are “unmeaning miracles” embellishing the poem (Sitterson 2000). The poem depicts an ultimate ambiguity regarding interpretation (McSweeney 2007). This can be attributed mainly to the fact that the music of its words appears to be a soft, melancholy death that someone sings into the ear and the images that are delineated in the poem are those of magnificence and confusion. The terror and the warmer aspects of the poem alternatively orchestrate their effects, making the dream grand. The poet does not give any name to the ship and its destination has not been revealed either. Warner (2008) further says that “in its small compass it contains a tragedy of remorse, and of redemption through repentance”. In the poem Coleridge uses archaic language on purpose and his poem bears little resemblance to the typical Romantic literature and prose produced during that time of period. Coleridge does not present a clear theme in the poem and this, coupled with the various oddities that he embellished in it, make it atypical of the time period that it was written in. On the contrary, the scholarly notes and epigraph, along with the old language, blend together to give the impression that the poem is a “ballad of ancient times” (Spark Notes 2011). Warren was of the view that the element of imagination in the poem was used primarily for showing a specific attitude to life and reality (Grimshaw 2001). Although The Rime of the Ancient Mariner did not comply with the stylist tendencies that are seen in Romantic literature, there are many aspects of the genre that manifest in the poem. One of the most important ones in the poem is the subjectivity of the experience and the value one attaches to an individual (GradeSaver 2011). The poem has been presented from the viewpoint of the ancient mariner, and the narration is taken over by another narrator for a small part in the poem where the other narrator describes the wedding guest. The mariner is deemed to have expressed his self-centered tale for a reason that only serves him i.e. to expiate for the sin he committed through allaying his acute need to relate the story (Shmoop 2010). Romantic poetry was considered the first in its type to emphasize upon the “protagonist’s empirical experience of the world” as compared to a didactic theme. Moreover the element of holiness and Godliness embedded in the poem serves as a stout embodiment of Romantic fascination. One of elements that are seen in Romantic literature is that the writers try to make the world appear majestic while making the humans appear small in front of it. This theme is seen in The Rime as well, where the mariner, in most part of the story, is present in the wide open sea, making him small and exposed to the forces of nature. The Romantics were also acknowledged for their tendency to challenge the religious institution and to identify the spiritual and sublime embedded in nature. Coleridge also buttressed this theme as he stresses upon the notion that the way to discover and find God is by respecting and discovering nature itself (GradeSaver 2011). Thus summing up the discussion, there are various aspects of this poem of sin and penance which convey Romantic paradigms (Stade, Karbiener & Krueger 2003). Although the poem departs from the typical Romanticist literature, guilt, metaphysics, nature and supernatural events are the main themes conveying the Romanticist elements. These Romantic discussions allow the reader to comprehend and interpret the poem on the scale of the thematic expression of salvation and the leading tones expressed in the Rime. The usage of celestial objects in the poem, as well as the holy albatross and particular syntax, each represent the process through which Romantic techniques seem to link to Romanticism. The gist of each part depicts the connection between that part and the theme of salvation. The concern is the burden that the mariner bears and its sufficient verbalization (Nakadate 1981). The poem delineates salvation via the execution of guilt and the course of deliverance with the supernatural (Robertson 2007). References Bloom, H 2001, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Infobase Publishing. GradeSaver 2011, About The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, GradeSaver, LLC, viewed on 12 February, 2011, Grimshaw, JA 2001, Understanding Robert Penn Warren, Univ of South Carolina Press. Gupta, SK 1995, Kenneth Burke S Literary Theory, Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. McSweeney, K 2007, What's the import?: nineteenth-century poems and contemporary critical practice, McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. Nakadate, N 1981, Robert Penn Warren, critical perspectives, University Press of Kentucky. Robertson, R 2007, The Romantic Quest for Salvation: Romanticism in Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", Connexions, viewed on 12 February, 2011, Romanticismext 2011, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner & Romanticism, Romanticismext, viewed on 12 February, 2011, Rueckert, WH 1983, Kenneth Burke and the drama of human relations, 2nd edn, University of California Press. Shmoop 2010, Atlas Shrugged: Shmoop Literature Guide, Shmoop University Inc, viewed on 12 February, 2011, Sitterson, JC 2000, Romantic poems, poets, and narrators, Kent State University Press. Spark Notes 2011, Coleridge’s Poetry, SparkNotes, LLC, viewed on 12 February, 2011, Stade, G, Karbiener, K & Krueger, CL 2003, Encyclopedia of British Writers: 19th and 20th Centuries, Infobase Publishing. The Literature Network 2011, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Online Literature, viewed on 12 February, 2011, Warner, CD 2008, A Library of the World's Best Literature - Ancient and Modern - Vol.XLIV, Cosimo, Inc. Read More