The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

Type of Work
.......The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a narrative poem in which a seaman tells another man a strange
and terrifying tale.

Date of Publication
.......The poem was published in 1798 in Lyrical Ballads, then revised and published in 1817 in the version
that is popular today. Coleridge received help from the poet William Wordsworth. The editors of Major
British Writers, a literature anthology, explain Wordsworth's contribution:

Originally, Coleridge and Wordsworth intended to write this poem in collaboration. Wordsworth’s
manner proved unsuited for the purpose, however, and after contributing half a dozen lines [Part II,
Lines 13-16 and Lines 226-227] and suggesting the shooting of the albatross and “the reanimation of the
dead bodies to work the ship," Wordsworth withdrew, and Coleridge proceeded alone.—G.B. Harrison,
general ed. Major British Writers. Shorter edition. New York: Harcourt, 1967, Page 592.

Setting
.......The action takes place in the following locales several hundred years ago: (1) a street or byway in a
locale with a hall in which a wedding reception is being held; (2) a sailing ship with 201 crew members,
including the ancient mariner; (3) the Atlantic Ocean; (4) the South Pole; (4) the Pacific Ocean; (5) the
mariner’s native country (undisclosed). The atmosphere is ghostly, preternatural, mysterious.

Characters
 Ancient Mariner: Old sailor who roams from country to country to tell a strange tale.
 Wedding Guest: Man on the way to a wedding reception with two other men. The mariner
singles out the wedding guest to hear his tale.
 Two Hundred Crewmen: Ill-fated members of the ship carrying the mariner.
 Pilot: Boatman who rescues the mariner. (A pilot is an official who guides ships into and out of a
harbor.)
 Pilot’s Boy: Pilot’s assistant.
 Hermit: Holy man who absolves the mariner and hears his story.
 Albatross: Large, web-footed sea bird with a hooked bill. Most species of albatrosses wander
the southern seas, from tropical regions down to Antarctica, drinking sea water and feeding on
squid, cuttlefish, and other small sea creatures. Sometimes, they follow ships to feed on their
garbage. Albatrosses have an astonishing ability to glide in the wind, sometimes for hours, but
have difficulty staying aloft without a wind. In the latter case, they sit on the water to rest or
sleep. When it is time to breed, they go ashore. An old superstition says killing an albatross
brings bad luck, although sailors have been known to kill and eat them. The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner has helped make this superstition common knowledge throughout the world among
landlubbers as well as sailors. In modern parlance, a person or an event that brings bad luck is
often referred to as an albatross.
Narration: Poem as a Frame Tale
.......A narrator begins the poem by telling the reader about an ancient mariner who stops a man on the
street to recite a story. After getting the man’s attention, the mariner then tells his tale. Thus, The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner is like a framed painting. The frame represents one narrator telling about the
mariner; the painting represents the mariner narrating his story. The mariner sometimes quotes another
person, such as the Pilot. However, the Pilot is not a narrator, since he is merely speaking dialogue and
not telling a story.

Structure, Rhyme
.......Coleridge divides the poem into seven parts. Most of the stanzas in the poem have four lines;
several have five or six lines. In the four-line stanzas, the second and fourth lines usually rhyme. In the
five- and six-line stanzas, the second or third line usually rhymes with the final line.

Meter
The meter alternates between iambic tetrameter (with four feet per line) and iambic trimeter (with
three feet per line). Following is an example (the first four lines of Part II) of a stanza with this pattern:

.......1.................2...............3...............4
"The SUN..|..now ROSE..|..up ON..|..the RIGHT:............(tetrameter)
.....1..............2...............3
Out OF..|..the SEA..|..came HE,.....................................(trimeter)
......1..............2...............3...............4
Still HID..|..in MIST,..|..and ON..|..the LEFT...................(tetrameter)
.........1................2.............3
Went DOWN..|..in TO..|..the SEA...................................(trimeter)

Themes
Sin and Redemption
.......Man is a sinful creature, but redemption awaits him if he repents his wrongdoing and performs
penance. This theme manifests itself as follows: After the ancient mariner commits a sin by killing the
albatross, guilt hounds him in the form of strange natural and supernatural phenomena. During one
terrifying experience, he has a change of heart and repents his wrongdoing. After confessing to the
Hermit, he carries out a penance, which is to travel the world to tell his tale to strangers.

Respect for Nature

.......Human beings should respect all of God’s creation and all of His creatures, including the albatross
and even sea snakes. In doing so, people indicate their respect for the Creator Himself. In his parting
words to the wedding guest, the narrator says,

Farewell, farewell! but this I tell

To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast. (lines 611-614)
Terror
.......The mariner undergoes terrifying experiences as he confronts supernatural wonders, in particular
the female figure known as Life-in-Death. When the mariner sees her rolling dice with death, he says,

We listen'd and look'd sideways up!

Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
My life-blood seem'd to sip! (lines 204-206)

The mariner even frightens the wedding guest when he tells him that all the crewmen fell dead one by
one. The wedding guest says,

"I fear thee, ancient Mariner!

I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand. (lines 225-228)

Coleridge plainly makes the point that beyond the boundaries of the known world are many strange and
fearful sights that explorers will encounter.

Main Symbols
The Ancient Mariner as Adam: Adam committed the original sin that brought woe upon mankind. The
original sin in this context is the killing of the albatross. The crewmen are inheritors of the mariner’s
original sin, just as Christians are inheritors of Adam’s original sin. As the mariner says, "And I had done
an hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe."

The Ancient Mariner as Christian Sinner: When the ancient mariner kills the albatross (described in the
poem as a holy thing “hailed in God’s name"), he is like the Christian who commits sins for which Christ
died on the cross.

Ghost Ship as Wages of Sin: The ghostly skeleton ship carries Death and Life-in-Death. Death, of course,
is a consequence of original sin. Life-in-Death is the loneliness, the separation from God, that a sinner
encounters before dying.

Pilot: The boat Pilot rescues the mariner after the ship sinks, representing the saving grace of a merciful
God.

Hermit: The Hermit represents redemption. He hears the mariner's confession and pronounces a
penance, requiring the mariner to tell his tale the world over to warn others of the consequences of sin.

Wedding Celebration: Everyday life that continues merrily without its participants' full knowledge and
respect of the higher rules of the universe. As part of his penance, the mariner educates one of the
wedding guests about the importance of abiding by the laws of God. The scene of a wedding celebration
is, of course, an excellent place for the mariner to tell his story. After all, a marriage is a beginning, and
new life will come from it. Will the newlyweds and their children abide by God's laws? Or will they
thoughtlessly shoot albatrosses? Perhaps the wedding guest who walks on at the end of the poem will
pass on his new insights to the bride, the groom, and others at the wedding feast.
Climax
.......The climax of the poem occurs when the mariner has a change of heart and the albatross falls from
his neck.

Internal Rhyme
Besides end rhyme, Coleridge also frequently uses internal rhyme. Following are examples.

The guests are met, the feast is set (line 7)

The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast (line 49)
And through the drifts the snowy clifts (line 54)
The ice did split with a thunder-fit (line 69)
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud (line 75)
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew (line 103)

Inversion
.......For poetic effect, Coleridge inverts the word order from time to time, as the following lines
demonstrate.

Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung. (lines 141-142)
The normal word order would be "was hung about my neck."

Through utter drought all dumb we stood! (line 159)

The normal word order would be "we stood all dumb."

The naked hulk alongside came (line 195)

The normal word order would be "came alongside."

Enjambment
.......Coleridge occasionally uses enjambment, the practice of carrying the sense of one line of verse over
to the next line without a pause. Here are examples:

And now the storm-blast came, and he

Was tyrannous and strong (lines 41-42)
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot. (lines 137-138)

Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung. (lines 141-142)

'There passed a weary time. Each throat

Was parch'd, and glazed each eye. (lines 143-144)
Figures of Speech
The poem is rich in figures of speech. Here are examples:

Alliteration

By thy long grey beard and glittering eye (line 3)

He holds him with his skinny hand (line 9)

The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,

For he heard the loud bassoon. (lines 31-32)

The merry minstrelsy (line 36)

The furrow followed free (line 104)

Anaphora
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around. (line 59-60)
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked (line 157)

Without a breeze, without a tide (line 169)

Her lips were red, her looks were free,

Her locks were yellow as gold:
Her skin was as white as leprosy (lines 190-192)

They groan'd, they stirr'd, they all uprose,

Irony
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink. (lines 119-122)
Water is everywhere, but there is none to drink.

Metaphor

Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,

And cursed me with his eye. (lines 215-216)

Comparison of the appearance of the eye to a curse

They coil'd and swam; and every track

Was a flash of golden fire. (lines 281-282)
Comparison of the wake left by the sea snakes to fire
Onomatopoeia
It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd (line 61)

Personification
The Sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he !
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea. (lines 25-28)

Comparison of the sun to a person

Simile
[E]very soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my crossbow! (lines 223-224)
Comparison of the passing of a soul to the sound of a shot arrow
[T]he sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
Lay like a load on my weary eye (lines 251-252)

Comparison of the sky and sea to a weight on the eye

Her beams bemocked the sultry main,

Like April hoar-frost spread (lines 268-269)

Comparison of reflected sunbeams to frost

The bride hath paced into the hall,.................

Red as a rose is she (lines 33-34)

Comparison of the bride to a rose

The water, like a witch's oils,

Burnt green, and blue and white. (lines 129-130)

Comparison of water to witch's oils

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean. (lines 115-118)

Comparison of the motionless ship and ocean to paintings

Synecdoche
The western wave was all a-flame (line 171)
Wave refers to the ocean.