The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Essay

Question: ‘Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is not simply a poem about an epic
sea voyage. Underlying this journey is a universal story about wrong-doing, suffering and
God’s forgiveness. In a structured essay, discuss how the poem uses poetic techniques to tell a
story and teach us important values.’

Published in 1797, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a ballad by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
that is not only an engaging but a sometimes creepy tale shared to a Wedding-Guest by an
old sailor. The sailor recalls his experiences of suffering after brutally murdering an
Albatross. The poem uses an epic sea voyage to expose morals of wrongdoing, suffering and
God’s forgiveness because Coleridge clearly expresses the importance of retribution and
natural beauty.

The first part of the poem is about the moment of transgression or wrong-doing. The
mariner’s ship encounters a frozen wasteland while ‘it cracked and growled, and roared and
howled’. The albatross comes as a glimmer of hope ‘as if it had been a Christian soul’.
Instead of ‘hailing it in God’s name’, like the rest of his crew were, the reckless mariner
decides to shoot the albatross ‘with [his] crossbow’. The unfortunate death of the albatross
can be compared to as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The albatross can be viewed as a
symbol for Christ while the crossbow can signify the cross on Calvary where Jesus died. In
the Bible, after the death of Jesus, a storm is formed and earthquakes wreak havoc affecting
surrounding areas. This is present in the poem when the mariner faces his own problems
after killing the albatross. In Coleridge’s poem, the mariner disregards Jesus and Nature
which are represented by the albatross.

The mariner then goes on to recall his experiences of suffering and his hardship. As he and
his crew remain idly ‘day after day, day after day’, ‘a speck, a mist, a shape’ appears giving a
sense of false hope to the sailors as the speck turns out to be a ship carrying Death and
Nightmare Life-in-Death. Life-in-Death wins a bet and his crew of 200 sailors ‘dropped down
one by one’. He gets cursed by ‘the curse in a dead man’s eye’ and soon after he
experiences death but because he is unable to die, he lays there, suffering. He despises the
slimy things in the sea causing him to lose the ability to pray and ultimately lose touch with
God. The suffering of the mariner can be likened to the consequences of when you sin. For
every action, there is a consequence and, in this case, the consequences are unpleasant.
Repetition is also used to emphasise the bleakness of his situation. ‘Day after day, day after
day’ creates a sense of a long time period while ‘water, water, every where’ stresses the
irony that he is surrounded by what he wants but he cannot use it. Killing the albatross is a
metaphor for sin which is committed by the mariner and the consequences that follow are
represented by the suffering that the mariner endures.

After the mariner suffers, he begins to learn his lesson and looks at nature in a new way. The
mariner used to see the water snakes as slimy objects and he begins to see then in a more
appreciative way. The water snakes ‘[move] in tracks of shining white’ with their ‘rich attire’.
He sees them as ‘happy living things’ and ‘he blessed them unaware’. Blessing the water
snakes contrast with his earlier cursing of the snake. Following his blessing, ‘a kind saint
took pity on [him]’ allowing the mariner to be able to pray and being relieved of his burden
as the albatross falls off his neck ‘like into the sea’. His returning appreciation of nature is an
act of repentance and he is forgiven by God. When he learns to love the water snakes, he
starts to notice and recognise the natural world around him. The use of emotive language is
present instills a sense of admiration in the reader. The albatross represents the burden and
once that falls off, the affliction is lifted.

Subsequently, the mariner atones for his sin and is redeemed. He sails hastily to his
hometown where he meets the holy Hermit near the lighthouse. The mariner believes that
‘he’ll shrieve [his] soul, he’ll wash away the albatross’s blood’. The mariner feels an agony in
his soul until he tells his story in which he will feel free. He concludes that ‘he prayeth well,
who loveth well … both man and bird and beast’. He has learned from his mistakes and his
relationship with God is reestablished. The mariner leaves the Wedding-Guest with a final
message that accents the importance in enjoying nature for what it’s worth. He leaves the
Wedding-Guest ‘a sadder and wiser man’. Coleridge’s poem establishes that God created all
things, big and small, and that we should appreciate everything, whether it may be minor or
major.

Wrong-doing, suffering and forgiveness are all key aspects and true morals of the story that
the ballad presents. Many examples are shown in the poem from the death of the albatross
to the repentance of the mariner. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s main message is that nature
was created to be loved and cared for. Don’t be like the mariner.