Introduction to Literary Studies – Q
             Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" conveys to us a message that people have to recompense for their wrong actions. The Mariner's punishment for betraying nature by shooting the Albatross is his intense agony and misery. The Mariner admits his fault and accepts his penalty; hence he survives with the burden of telling a story rather than facing death. The Mariner's destiny, however, is not under the control of a pardoning God because his agony always returns after he finishes telling his tale. No matter how much he prays or weeps: his sin will never leave him.
             God is prevalent throughout this poem. After the killing of the Albatross, God begins to start the punishment for the Mariner's crimes. Their ship is pushed into a silent sea where the sailors were quickly stranded; the winds died down, and the ship was "As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean." The ocean solidified, and the men had no water to drink; as if the sea were decomposing, slimy creatures crawled out of it and walked across the surface. He is punished harshly for killing the symbol of nature that everyone reveres and his life is in God's hands.
             The Mariner calls out to "Christ" many times throughout the poem but he gets no positive responses. He cries "O Christ! That ever this should be!" One day the Mariner saw a tiny speck on the horizon. It resolved into a ship, moving toward them. Too dry-mouthed to inform the other sailors, the Mariner bit down on his arm; sucking the blood, he was able to wet his tongue enough to cry out, "A sail! a sail!" The sailors smiled, thinking they were saved. But as the ship neared, and they saw that it was a ghostly, skeletal hull of a ship and that its crew included two figure
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