The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In class: reviewing the Romanticism introduction material
Setting the stage for Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Review of the literary elements of character, setting and theme.
In what genre are we working?
Setting:
Character List
Ancient Mariner
The poem's protagonist. He is unnaturally old, with skinny, deeply-tanned limbs and a "glittering eye." He sets sail from his native country with two hundred other men who are all saved from a strange, icy patch of ocean when they are kind to an Albatross that lives there. Impulsively and inexplicably, he shoots the Albatross with his crossbow and is punished for his crime by a spirit who loved the Albatross. He is cursed to be haunted indefinitely by his dead shipmates, and to be compelled to tell the tale of his downfall at random times. Each time he is compelled to share his story with someone, he feels a physical agony that is abated only temporarily once he finishes telling the tale.
Wedding Guest
One of three people on their way to a wedding reception; he is next of kin to the bridegroom. The Ancient Mariner stops him, and despite his protests compels him to sit and listen to the entirety of his story. He is afraid of the Ancient Mariner and yearns to join the merriment of the wedding celebration, but after he hears the Ancient Mariner's story, he becomes both "sadder and...wiser."
The Sailors
Two hundred seamen who set sail with the Ancient Mariner one clear, sunny day.
Albatross
A great, white sea bird that presumably saves the sailors from the icy world.
Death
Embodied in a hulking form on the ghost ship. He loses at dice to Life-in-Death, who gets to claim the Ancient Mariner's soul; instead, Death wins the two hundred sailors.
Embodied in a beautiful, naked, ghostly woman with golden hair and red lips. She wins at dice over Death and gets to claim the Ancient Mariner's soul, condemning him to a limbo-like living death.
Pilot
The captain of the small boat that rows out to the Ancient Mariner's ship. He loses his mind when the Ancient Mariner abruptly comes to life and begins to row his boat.
Pilot's Boy
The assistant to the Pilot; he rows the small boat. He loses his mind when the Ancient Mariner, whom he thinks is dead, abruptly comes to life and takes the oars from him.
Hermit
A recluse who prays three times a day and lives in communion with nature in the woods.
First Voice
One of two voices presumably belonging to a spirit. The Ancient Mariner hears the First Voice after he is knocked unconscious when the ship jolts forward.
Second Voice
The second of two voices presumably belonging to a spirit. The Second Voice is softer than the First Voice-"as soft as honey-dew"-and more knowledgeable. He explains to the First Voice that the Ancient Mariner will pay for his crime much more dearly than he already has.
Major Themes
The Natural World: The Physical
While it can be beautiful and frightening (often simultaneously), the natural world's power in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is unquestionable.
The Spiritual World: The Metaphysical
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" occurs in the natural, physical world-the land and ocean. However, the work has popularly been interpreted as an allegory of man's connection to the spiritual, metaphysical world.
Liminality
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" typifies the Romantic fascination with liminal spaces. A liminal space is defined as a place on the edge of a realm or between two realms, whether a forest and a field, or reason and imagination.
Imprisonment
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is in many ways a portrait of imprisonment and its inherent loneliness and torment.
Retribution
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a tale of retribution, since the Ancient Mariner spends most of the poem paying for his one, impulsive error of killing the Albatross.
Words to know:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge vocabulary.
1. mariner (noun) - sailor
2. kin (noun)- family
3. loon (noun)- crazy person
4. kirk (noun)- church
5.
hoary
(adjective)- white (hoarfrost- Frozen
dew that forms a white coating on a
surface.)
6. albatross (noun)- large bird chiefly of the oceans of
the Southern Hemisphere; a constant,
worrisome burden; an obstacle to
success.
7. vespers-(noun)- The sixth of the seven canonical
hours; evensong.
8.
fathom- (noun /
verb)- A unit of length equal to 6 feet
(1.83 meters), used principally in the measurement and specification of marine
depths; (verb) to penetrate to the meaning or nature of; comprehend.
9. to aver (verb)- to assert or justify
or prove
10.
gossamer (noun / adjective)- A soft sheer
gauzy fabric; something delicate, light, or flimsy; (adj.); sheer, light,
delicate, or tenuous.
11.
sedge (noun)- grass like plants
12.
sere (adjective)- very dry
13.
keel (noun)- The principal structural member of a ship, running lengthwise along the
center line from bow to stern, to which the frames are attached; ship. (to keel
over-to collapse or fall over, as in a faint)
14.
swound (noun / verb)- archaic way of swoon
(faint); also note God’s wounds.
15.
rood (noun)- cross
16.
skiff (noun)- a flat bottom, shallow draft
boat
17.
to shrive (verb)- To hear the confession of and give
absolution to (a penitent).
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