Understanding The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
A Quick How-to for Understanding Poetry by Samuel T Coleridge
Nov 10, 2008
Samuel T. Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" was composed between November 1797 and March 1798.
Rime of the Ancient Mariner Summary
A simple explanation of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is that it tells the story of a mariner who is on a long voyage and runs into three men who are en route to a wedding. He proceeds to tell him a story about the albatross that he killed and that he must continue to tell the story throughout eternity.
Though the three men find this amusing at first, they note that the mariner’s fellow sailors are dying, and that he has managed to outlive the young. This offers some credibility to the notion that he must tell the story of his sin throughout eternity.
Significance of Killing the Albatross
The killing of the albatross is considered to be much greater than a simple sin. In Coleridge’s time, such an act would have been considered to be a crime against creation. As punishment, the Ancient Mariner must continue to tell others about the crime that he has committed, time and again, throughout eternity.
Understanding “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
If you are using a college or university textbook, check for any footnotes or additional essays that you can find. In Duncan Wu’s Romanticism: an Anthology, the poem is prefaced with an essay by William Wordsworth, reprinted from Lyrical Ballads. Reading these essays first, to better understand where Coleridge and poets of the age are coming from, will greatly benefit your understanding and enjoyment of the poem.
In Wordsworth’s essay, he notes that poetry should be about expanding minds. This is an important tidbit for a student to understand about any Romantic poet because of their mission to enlighten readers and their philosophy that poets see more clearly than anyone else.
Also, watch out for symbolism and other literary devices that poets like Coleridge might use. In literature, words are often not black and white, and have a figurative meaning rather than a literal one.
Interpretations of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Like most works of literature, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is open to interpretation. One possible interpretation is one of a Christian allegory that symbolizes the fall of man. For Coleridge’s purposes, the Ancient Mariner’s slaying of the albatross is equal to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden. Now that the Ancient Mariner has committed this mortal sin, he is condemned to his own personal purgatory. For him, it is not a literal hell, but a figurative hell in which he is forced to confess his sin repeatedly, and for an eternity.
For further information on this poem and other Romantic poets, you might try visiting Romantisicm on the Net.
Wu, Duncan, Romanticism: an Anthology 2nd ed. Blackwell: Malden, 1998.
