The+Rime+of+the+Ancient+Mariner+-+Analysis

//**The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Analysis**// What is the spiritual journey that the mariner undertakes? Discuss each of the following concepts: Sin
 * SPIRITUAL JOURNEY **

~ Shame __Definition:__ The painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another i.e a feeling of condemnation. “Instead of the cross, the Albatross about my neck was hung.” After the Ancient mariner shoots the albatross, the Mariner experiences both shame and guilt. To hang an albatross around ones neck is to symbolise shame. (sorry guys, this was a hard one!)

//Punishment,// to suffer a penalty in the form of pain or shame or restraint or loss (commitment of an act of offense or fault). To impose something unpleasant or aversive upon a person or an animal.
 * Punishment**

The Ancient Mariner suffers punishment both mentally and physically in Coleridge's //Rime of the Ancient Mariner// after killing the innocent albatross and therefore committing a crime against nature//.// The Ancient Mariner is punished by the natural world and the spiritual world The Ancient Mariner is physically punished for his offense. This starts with the mariners deprivation of natural elements through the deprivation of food and water: "//Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink."// He (initially along with the crew) is made to bear the heat of the sun when the ship comes to a halt, the breeze stops and intensifies the suns heat: //"Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down..." "All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody sun at noon."// The Ancient Mariner is punished mentally by the spiritual world. The Mariner feels responsible for his crews suffering (along with the Mariners own suffering) as the penalty for killing the albatross. The Mariner is punished by being forced to watch his crew be released and knowing he must suffer further (he must suffer alone): //"The souls did from their bodies fly, They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it passed me by, Like the whizz of my cross-bow."// The Ancient Mariners physical and mental punishment continues and he becomes the living dead. The Mariner is forced to feel constant pain and has the constant urge to tell others (who he knows must hear his story) his story in order to momentarily relieve his pain: "//That agony returns: And till my ghastly tale is told, This hurt within me burns."//


 * __Guilt__**

Definition (obtained from oxford dictionary) : the fact of having committed a specified or implied offence; cuplability, the feeling of this; a mental obsession with the idea of having done wrong.

'The man hath penance done, And penance more will do.' This quote, taken from Colerdige's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, demonstrates the guilt of the mariner, after killing the albatross. 'Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.' The mariner's guilt is visually seen through the imagery created in the above quote. This religious imagery, likens the Mariner to Christ. In order to portray his guilt, the albatross is hung around the neck of the mariner, thus being metaphoric of Christ carrying the cross. The mariner's own sense of guilt is enhanced through the consequences he faces in the physical world, as a result of the powers of the metaphysical world. That is, the powers of the spirits in the poem, allow for severe contrasts in the physical world, which in relation to the mariner's sense of guilt, are reflective of his own unsettled mind. '...more horrible than that...I saw that curse, And yet I could not die.' 'She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven, That slid into my soul.' As the poem developes, the punishment the mariner suffers, results in less representation of his guilt. (ie. the albatross no longer hangs from his neck).

( ^^^ don't know if that makes much sense, but i tried :) ... if you guys want me to try find more stuff let me know, i found it hard to explain what i meant to say lol ^^^ )
 * Redemption**

Redemption is the deliverance from sin. In Coleridge’s //Rime of the Ancient Mariner//, the Mariner commits the sin of killing the albatross, a harmless creation of nature - //“And I had done a hellish thing”//. As the mariner closely associates the hermit with religion, to act like a priest, upon seeing the man, the mariner believes it is he who will free him from sin. “//It is the hermit good! / He singeth loud his godly hymns / that he makes in the wood. / He’ll shrieve my soul he’ll wash away / the Albatross’ blood”.// The mariner intends for the hermit to wash away the albatross’ blood, and thus, his sins. The hermit does allow this to happen - //“Oh shrieve me, shrieve me holy man! / The hermit crossed his brow. / ‘Say quick’, quoth he, ‘I bid thee say -- / what manner of man art thou?”.// The mariner is gripped with a compulsion to tell his story to the hermit. This is how the hermit offers the mariner redemption. **NATURE & TRANSFORMATION** How is nature used to reflect the transformation of the mariner throughout his journey? Consider the use of nature before the transformation (ie. before the albatross is killed), during the transformation (ie.when he feels cursed by the killing of the albatross) and after the transformation (ie. after the mariner has managed to prey and the albatross falls from his neck).


 * Before**

Alliteration, "The ship was __c__heered, the harbour __c__leared" - the movement of the ship against natures waters and winds reflects the mariners condition with pleasant clear thoughts to mark off his readyness to set sail on a new adventure.

Personification, "The Sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright..." - the sun sums up the mariners joy and excitement for a new quest.


 * During**

Personification, "The Sun...still hid in mist" - the sun represents the mariners guilt and retribution due to the absense of the Albatross

Repetition "I had killed the bird, That __made the breeze to blow__" - the absense of the wind portrays the mariners devilish state, a murderer. This took away their luck to calm the seas. The troubled angered sea emphasises the Mariners troubled state.

Rhyme, "Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, The glorious Sun uprist: Then all averred, i had killed the bird.." - The sun rose and removed thr fog and mist, therefore the actions of the mariner improved natures conditions at sea and made him transform to a hero.

Repetion, "Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down" - The breeze stopped and caused the sailors to hate the mariner once more tranforming their opinions of the mariner as a cursed man causing no good.

Repetition, "Water, water, every where, Nor any frop to drink" - the mariner hassubjected the sailors to live in thirst, depriving them of a source in which they need to survive. The mariner is seen as weak and foolish.

Supernatural, "Of the Spirit that plagued is so; Nine fathom deep he had followed us" - the evil spirit is following the mariner forcing evils upon him, causing him to transform as he is faced with horrid issues.

Symbolism, "Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung" - reminds responders and the sailors that the mariner has sinned and defied God by the murder of the albatross which is now his everlasting burden.

Slow pace, "There passed, a weary time. Each throat Was parched, and glazed each eye" - nature in humanity seen through this vivid desciption evokes the mariners condition, of being helpless and sorry for his actions as a result of this punishment (no food, water nor sight of land).

Adjectives, "i bit my arm, i sucked the blood" - the mariner has become savage in desperate times due to his isolation and passion to seek hope, and therefore drinks his blood to keep his throat moist so he can speak.

Rhetorical question/similie, "Are those her sails that glance in the Sun, Like restless gossameres?" - the lack of natural order of the arriving ship resembles the mariners transformation and he begins to meet with death-like elements.

Rhyme, "with a heavy thump, and lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one" - the nature of mans death (the sailors) separates the mariner as he is in a state of that forbids him to die because his soul is cursed.

Rhyme, "The many men, so beautifu! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did i" - suggests that the mariner has tranformed into a horrid state physchologically because he can never be at rest.

Speculation, "Nor rot nor reek did they" - natural phenonima is at a stop (mystical nature) yet the mariner feels rotten on the inside.

Decadent imagery/ colour symbolism, "shinning white....elfish light...Blue, glossy green, and velvet black" & change in tone "O happy living things!" - saw beauty in natures sea creatures marking a change in the mariners perception and jugement, now accepting and appreciating all gods creatures through beauty.


 * After**

Simile, "The albatross fell off, and sank like lead into the sea" - Natural force allows the albatross the fall off (perhaps God's presence in nature- sublime)

Exciting tone, "It rained...and soon i heard a roaring wind" - a sense of hope restored to the mariner

Repetition, "With a short uneay motion--Backwards and forwards half her length With a short uneasy motion" - the mariner can no longer control his fate, placed in a battle, state of hopelessness

Repetition, "seven days drowned" - the seas power will not let the mariner die showing his state of life against deadly odds, but disturbingly dreadfull in the sense he will never be at peace (agony).

Rime of the Ancient Mariner The Rime of the Ancient Mariner & Romanticism