Some have understood it as an expression of violation of nature, some understanding it as a religious text some otherwise. Moreover, a question on symbolization of both the Mariner and albatross arose. The Ancient Mariner was believed to symbolize four characters; the first one simply being he, the old man. Since he is already old and already experienced a lot during his lifetime, he has the role of imparting what he has learned to the young. The second character he plays is a Christian sinner.
We can remember that the Ancient Mariner killed an albatross. Since then, he believed that it was the reason of his misfortune and that it was the reason why he became unhappy.
There is also the belief that the Mariner symbolizes a poet. Much of the poem's Biblical and medieval Catholic imagery has sparked radically different interpretations, and several commentators consider it an allegorical record of Coleridge's own spiritual pilgrimage. Coleridge himself, however, commented that the poem's major fault consisted of "the obtrusion of the moral sentiment so openly on the reader.
It ought to have had no more moral than the Arabian Nights' tale of the merchant's sitting down to eat dates.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was initially disliked and, because it was the longest poem in the collection, helped keep Lyrical Ballads from success.
In a review shortly after its first publication, Southey called it "a Dutch attempt at German sublimity," and even Wordsworth disliked the negative appraisal the poem seemed to garner their entire volume. Although critical estimation of The Ancient Mariner increased dramatically after Coleridge's death, relatively little positive commentary was written on it until the turn of the century.
Today, most critics agree that the poem constitutes a seminal contribution to English literature. A Study in the Ways of the Imagination. Here, Lowes brought his broad and deep knowledge of poetic history, poetic diction, and the imagination to bear on Coleridge's early poetry in general and The Ancient Mariner in particular.
Bowra, Robert Penn Warren, A. Dyson, and Julian Lovelock. In response to critics such as Warren, who have read moral overtones into the poem, Camille Paglia has ruminated upon The Ancient Mariner as an expression of pagan visions of sexuality and possession—what T. Eliot termed "fear of fear and frenzy" and "fear of possession"—layered over with a veneer of Christian symbols.
To Paglia, writing in her Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson , the Mariner is a "male heroine," who is the receptor of all the active forces of nature which bear him down during the course of the poem's story. The symbols that recur in The Ancient Mariner, discussed by Paglia and others, have inspired critical debate over their aptness and Coleridge's use of them.
James Stephens has written that "this poem is extreme, its fantasy is extreme, its knowledge of music and colour and pace is extreme," concluding, "No miracle of talent or technique can quite redeem untruth from being initially and persistently inhuman in both life and letters.
If ever a great poet set about his work with a deliberate religious purpose, Coleridge is that man. He believed a new and happier age had begun. His studies in the great philosophic systems of Germany, then new to the world, equipped him, he thought, for the task of reconciling science, political liberty, and the "Truth in Christ.
A Study in the Ways of the Imagination, Reprint by Vintage Books, , pp. Across the course of the voyage, just where its great loop swings around the southern termination of the continent, the albatross comes through the fog. And the shooting of the albatross sets the forces of the invisible world in motion. And the action of those forces is Coleridge is one of the strangest men and one of the strangest poets that ever lived.
He has taught English at the level for more than 20 years. He has written extensively in literary criticism, student writing syllabi and numerous classroom educational paradigms. The database based on Word Net is a lexical database for the English Language. Essay on Morality A prime essay topic is "Why does the Mariner shoot the albatross?
Essay on Imagery Another essay might examine the shifting imagery Coleridge uses in various settings of the poem. Essay as Character Study Speaking of the Mariner, this remarkable individual can be the subject of an essay's character study, particularly in his passivity and personality change.
Essay on Irony A rich literary essay topic might examine Coleridge's irony: Keane University of Georgia: Accessed 14 September Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.
How to Write a Topic Summary for an Essay.
“The Rime of the ancient Mariner” occurs in the natural physical world-the land and the ocean. But there is a huge connection to the spiritual, metaphysical world. I think that the poem is an exploration of the unconscious mind, since the poem has dream like qualities.
- Christianity in rime of the Ancient Mariner The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, penned by Samuel Coleridge, and published for the first time in in the co-authored “Lyrical Ballads” with William Wordsworth, is a poem in which an old sailor recounts his tales to a young wedding guest.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Coleridge The Rime of the Ancient Mariner essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Homework Help Questions What are some examples of symbolism in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"? In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the albatross is a good omen for sailors and sometimes even represented the soul of a lost sailor.
Analysis of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is a somewhat lengthy poem concerning the paranormal activities of a . The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Essay Words | 3 Pages. sins and repent, you will always be forgiven in the eyes of God. In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the mariner is willing to repent. After committing his sins against nature, he comes to realize that it is not to be taken for granted.