Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" tells thestory of a sailor who offended the powers of nature. In a dream, he comesto understand the nature of his sin, and he shares his insights with astranger, a man on his way to a wedding. This poem was written at the end of the 18th century, at the beginningof the industrial revolution. Coleridge's story encourages a respect for
ibes all sorts of horrors he had to facebecause he killed an albatross that had apparently aided him and hisshipmates for no apparent reason. The story represents how a state of sin interferes with aperson's relationship with God: until the mariner can truly appreciate thesanctity of all life by recognizing the beauty in creatures he hadpreviously loathed (sea snakes), he cannot pray, and the dead albatrossremains around his neck. Once he has this insight, he can pray again, andthe albatross drops off. Presumably, he has learnedthat all beings in God's world are connected and to not treat the life ofany creature casually. The wedding guest cannot pull himself away, and so hears all theterrible things that happened to Coleridge, how all his shipmates died,were re-animated in supernatural ways, and how the mariner's perception ofthe world around him changed as he came to understand the gravity of whathe had done. The wedding guest says he is sadder but wiser,but does not tell us what lesson he has learned. As the wedding guest listens, he is sometimes moved and sometimesscared, but he cannot tear himself away, and so hears the story frombeginning to end.
Common topics in this essay:
Ancient Mariner,
wedding guest,
Taylor Coleridge's,
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