Ancient Mariner and Dore

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The Rime of the

Ancient MarinerSamuel Taylor Coleridge


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An Ancient Mariner

stops one (of three)

on his way to a

wedding.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

The wedding

guest is

mesmerized bythe Mariners

passion and

begins listening tothe story.


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The Mariners Tale:

Their ship is drivensouth, by a storm, to

a place of mist andsnow.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner
http://www.ccnow.com/cgi-local/cart.cgi?xineann_DORE-RIME4_http://www.artsycraftsy.com/dore_prints.html


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The ice was here,the ice was there,The ice was allaround: It cracked

and growled, androared andhowled, Likenoises in aswound!

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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Surrounded by

ice.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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An albatross

appears.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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The albatross

leads them out

of the fog.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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The Mariner shoots the

albatross. At first the

crew condemns him, but

when a favorable breezeappears, they justify his

action. This implicates

them in his crime.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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Later, the wind stops and

the ship is stranded for

days, As idle as a painted

ship upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,

and all the boards did

shrink; Water, water, every

where, nor any drop to

drink.

The crew blames the

Mariner for no wind and

hangs the albatross around

his neck as punishment.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner
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A ghost ship

approaches with

a Specter-Woman and her

Death-Mate as

crew.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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Death and Life

in Death roll dice

for the lives ofthe ships crew.

Life in Death

wins.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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Each turned his facewith a ghastly pang, andcursed me with his eye

With heavy thump, alifeless lump, theydropped down one byone.

The souls did from theirbodies fly, - They fled tobliss or woe! And everysoul, it passed me by,Like the whizz of mycross-bow!

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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Alone, alone, all,all alone, alone on awide wide sea! Andnever a saint tookpity on my soul inagony.

Seven days, sevennights, I saw thatcurse, and yet Icould not die.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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Beyond the shadowof the ship, Iwatched the water-

snakes O happy living

things! No tonguetheir beauty mightdeclare: A spring oflove gushed frommy heart, and Iblessed themunaware

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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The curse is lifted

and the albatross

falls from his neckand sinks like

lead into the sea.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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The dead men

awaken and the

Mariner directshis ghostly crew

North.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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As the Mariner returnsto his home port, thespirits of his crew leave

their bodies. He receives forgiveness

(shrieve) from a hermit.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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The Mariners

ship sinks.

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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The storyconcluded, thewedding guest

leaves a sadderand a wiserman.

The Marinermust tell his taleto warn others(redemption).

The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner


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Many critics seethe Rime of theAncient Marineras an allegory of

some kind of fall,like

Of Coleridge -

Of Lucifer - Of Adam & Eve -forbidden fruitcast into hell

opium?

the very deep did

rot

slimy things

Slimy sea

I shot the albatross

and I had done ahellish thing

witchs oils, / burntgreen, and blue and

white

Phantasmagoria!A shifting series orsuccession of things seen orimagined, as in a dream.

STRUCTURE:

Sin, Punishment, Redemption

Milton Parallels?

(Paradise Lost)

Shelleys Interpretation?

(Frankenstein)


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poetry gives most pleasure when only generallyand not perfectly understood"

- Coleridge

Many critics maintain, as Christopher Lamb does,that the Ancient Mariner is a work of complete

and pure imagination. As

No single interpretation seems tofit the entire poem

In essence, it is a very imaginativeand unusual piece


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Purely inspirational? Dark gothic?

cursed me with his eye

Life-in-death

spectre bark

Gustav Dors Dark Etches


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Coleridge felt a deep sense of sin,for his opium addiction.

The poem could be his way of fathoming hisfeelings.

The strange power of the Ancient Mariner, as his difficult feelings.

mingled strangely with my fears

I know that man must hear me / To him my tale I teach

Hence, his sensitivity and saying that the poem

should not be analyzed?

(poetry gives most pleasure when onlygenerally and not perfectly understood)


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Instead of the cross, the Albatross/About my neck was hung

I had killed the bird / That madethe breeze to blow

Hailed it in Gods name

Christian soul

Crimson redlike Gods own head

-Hid in mist

-dungeon-grate blessed themunawares

Crewdistancedfrom God


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Vs.

Some critics maintain that this ballad was anexploration, by Coleridge, into the science vs.spirituality debate:

There are many mysterious fantastical images,the glittering eye with its strange power

the polar spirits and seraph band

The Latin preface says, Human cleverness hasalways sought knowledge of these things, never

attained it.

He was at a point in his life where he was more concerned

with the rational than the empirical, this poem was anexploration of the former.


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