Cummings Study Guide

    The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
    By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
    A Study Guide
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    Study Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings...© 2005
    Revised in 2010.©
    Type of Work

    .......The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a narrative poem in which a seaman tells another man a strange and terrifying tale.

    Date of Publication
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    .......The poem was published in 1798 in Lyrical Ballads, then revised and published in 1817 in the version that is popular today. Coleridge received help from the poet William Wordsworth. The editors of Major British Writers, a literature anthology, explain Wordsworth's contribution:

    Originally, Coleridge and Wordsworth intended to write this poem in collaboration. Wordsworth’s manner proved unsuited for the purpose, however, and after contributing half a dozen lines [Part II, Lines 13-16 and Lines 226-227] and suggesting the shooting of the albatross and “the reanimation of the dead bodies to work the ship,” Wordsworth withdrew, and Coleridge proceeded alone.—G.B. Harrison, general ed. Major British Writers. Shorter edition. New York: Harcourt, 1967, Page 592.
    Sources

    .......When Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, accounts of the daring sea voyages of the British explorer Captain James Cook (1728-1779) had caught the public's fancy. Cook had made three exploratory voyages in the Pacific between 1768 and 1779, traveling as far north as the Bering Strait (between Alaska and Russia) and as far south as the ice fields of Antarctica. One of his crewmen, astronomer William Wales, later taught mathematics to Coleridge at Christ's Hospital School in London after Coleridge enrolled upon the death of his father in 1781. Australian Bernard Smith maintains that Coleridge likely used a journal kept by Wales as a source of information for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, according to Bill Whelen, author of Captain Cook's Navigator and Coleridge's Poem: William Wales, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago Press, 2009).
    .......Other sources used by Coleridge include superstitions and folk tales.

    Setting
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    .......The action takes place in the following locales several hundred years ago: (1) a street or byway in a locale with a hall in which a wedding reception is being held; (2) a sailing ship with 201 crew members, including the ancient mariner; (3) the Atlantic Ocean; (4) the South Pole; (4) the Pacific Ocean; (5) the mariner’s native country (undisclosed). The atmosphere is ghostly, preternatural, mysterious.

    Characters
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    Ancient Mariner: Old sailor who roams from country to country to tell a strange tale.
    Wedding Guest: Man on the way to a wedding reception with two other men. The mariner singles out the wedding guest to hear his tale.
    Two Hundred Crewmen: Ill-fated members of the ship carrying the mariner.
    Pilot: Boatman who rescues the mariner. (A pilot is an official who guides ships into and out of a harbor.)
    Pilot’s Boy: Pilot’s assistant.
    Hermit: Holy man who absolves the mariner and hears his story.
    Albatross: Large, web-footed sea bird with a hooked bill. Most species of albatrosses wander the southern seas, from tropical regions down to Antarctica, drinking sea water and feeding on squid, cuttlefish, and other small sea creatures. Sometimes, they follow ships to feed on their garbage. Albatrosses have an astonishing ability to glide in the wind, sometimes for hours, but have difficulty staying aloft without a wind. In the latter case, they sit on the water to rest or sleep. When it is time to breed, they go ashore. An old superstition says killing an albatross brings bad luck, although sailors have been known to kill and eat them. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has helped make this superstition common knowledge throughout the world among landlubbers as well as sailors. In modern parlance, a person or an event that brings bad luck is often referred to as an albatross.

    Narration: Poem as a Frame Tale

    .......A narrator begins the poem by telling the reader about an ancient mariner who stops a man on the street to recite a story. After getting the man’s attention, the mariner then tells his tale. Thus, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is like a framed painting. The frame represents one narrator telling about the mariner; the painting represents the mariner narrating his story. The mariner sometimes quotes another person, such as the Pilot. However, the Pilot is not a narrator, since he is merely speaking dialogue and not telling a story.

    Structure, Rhyme

    .......Coleridge divides the poem into seven parts. Most of the stanzas in the poem have four lines; several have five or six lines. In the four-line stanzas, the second and fourth lines usually rhyme. In the five- and six-line stanzas, the second or third line usually rhymes with the final line.

    Meter

    The meter alternates between iambic tetrameter (with four feet per line) and iambic trimeter (with three feet per line). Following is an example (the first four lines of Part II) of a stanza with this pattern:

    .......1.................2...............3...............4
    "The SUN..|..now ROSE..|..up ON..|..the RIGHT:............(tetrameter)
    .....1..............2...............3
    Out OF..|..the SEA..|..came HE,.....................................(trimeter)
    ......1..............2...............3...............4
    Still HID..|..in MIST,..|..and ON..|..the LEFT...................(tetrameter)
    .........1................2.............3
    Went DOWN..|..in TO..|..the SEA...................................(trimeter)
    Summary of the Poem
    By Michael J. Cummings...© 2005

    The Rime of the Ancient Mariner begins with a one-paragraph summary called an "Argument." The poem then begins.

    .......Three men are on their way to a wedding reception when an old sailor stops one of them to tell him a story. So eager is the old fellow to tell his tale that he raises on hand to prevent the wedding guest from moving on. The mariner then begins the story—“There was a ship” (line 10)—but is unable to continue because the wedding guest angrily orders the mariner to cease blocking his way.
    .......But after the old man lowers his hand, the guest cannot continue on, for he is hypnotized by the mariner’s “glittering eye” (line 3). Like a three-year-old child eager for a wonderful story, the guest sits on a rock and listens.
    .......The mariner says the ship sailed southward on the Atlantic Ocean with a fair wind. The sun rose from the sea, crossed the sky, and sank in the west in its daily ritual as all went well while the ship sailed onward day after day. Even though the wedding guest hears music from the nearby wedding celebration, he keeps his attention riveted on the old mariner and his tale.
    .......Alas, a great storm came, the mariner says, driving the ship farther south as it passed through mist and snow to a land of ice, Antarctica. Everywhere the crewmen looked they saw ice. Then, out of the fog, a great sea bird appeared—an albatross. And, wonder of wonders, the ice around the ship cracked, and the ship picked up a wind and sailed north. The albatross, therefore, was a good omen. It came to the ship every day, answering the mariner's “hollo!” (line 74).It played. It ate of the crewmen’s food. During the evening religious services, called vespers, it perched on a mast or a rope.
    .......Then one day, the mariner shot the bird with his crossbow. The rest of the crew condemned his cruel act, saying he had “killed the bird / That made the breeze to blow.” However, when the fog disappeared and the sun shone gloriously, they approved the act, saying he “had kill'd the bird / That brought the fog and mist” (99-100).And so, the crew became partners in his crime.
    .......But not long afterward, the sails fell as the air grew still. Day after day, under a boiling sun, the ship hardly moved. It was “As idle as a painted ship / Upon a painted ocean” (lines 117-118). And the men thirsted—in the middle of an ocean with water everywhere. They saw slimy creatures crawling on the sea, and at night they beheld a fire dancing on the ropes and chains that control the masts—an ill omen. (Sailors at sea often saw this phenomenon, known as St. Elmo’s fire. It is electricity discharged from pointed objects, such as masts, during storms. The phenomenon can also be seen on land on trees or towers that rise to a point. Today, it can also be seen in the air on wings and propellers of aircraft.) Blaming the mariner for their woes, the crewmen hung the dead albatross around his neck.
    .......As each man weakened with thirst and fatigue, the mariner beheld a sign in the sky—a mere speck that grew into a mist and took shape upon its approach. It appeared to be a ship. The men were heartened. But what kind of ship moves without a wind? When the sun was setting, the vessel drew near and revealed itself as a ghostly “skeleton of a ship” (line 177) with only two crew members. One was a specter woman—“Life-in-Death” (line 193)—with red lips, yellow hair, and white skin. The other was her mate, Death. They rolled dice for the crewmen, and Death won everyone except the ancient mariner. He was the prize of Life-in-Death.
    .......All the crew—200 men—then dropped dead one by one, all except the mariner. Their souls flew by him, to heaven or hell, like arrows shot from a crossbow. The wedding guest interrupts the narrative at this point to express his fear of the mariner. After all, the old man could also be a departed soul, a ghost. But the mariner assures him that he is flesh and blood, then continues his tale.
    .......Now he was alone on the ocean with only slimy sea creatures to keep him company. He tried to pray but failed. The lifeless crewmen, meanwhile, looked up at him with a never-changing gaze, fixed by death. For seven days and nights, he endured their gaze. During this time, at night in the moonlight, he watched the water snakes—“blue, glossy green, and velvet black” (line 280)—swim and coil. Their sleek beauty touched him, and he found himself blessing them. He also found that he was able to pray; in short, he was beginning to regret shooting the albatross. Suddenly, the albatross fell from his neck and sank into the sea. And then the mariner slipped into a gentle sleep, for which he thanked Mary, the holy Mother who is Queen of heaven. When he awakened, rain was falling and wind was roaring. Although the wind did not reach the ship, the ship began to move—and the dead crewmen rose to man the ship—steering, tugging the ropes. The body of his brother’s son helped him pull on a rope, though he spoke no words.
    .......The wedding guest again interrupts to express his fear. But the mariner again calms him and resumes the story, as follows. At dawn, the ghostly crewmen let loose the ropes and made “sweet sounds” (line 353) mingled with the songs of birds. It was an angelic symphony. The ship sailed on. A spirit, it seemed, was moving the ship. Then the ship began to rock and bob—and suddenly lurched forward, causing the mariner to fall in a faint. When he came to, he heard two spirit voices. One asked whether this was the man who shot the albatross. The other, confirming that it was, said the mariner had done penance for his wrongdoing but still had more penance to do.
    .......The ship began to sail northward at such a great speed that the mariner went into a trance. When the mariner woke up, the ship was sailing gently onward. All the dead crewmen were standing together, staring at the mariner. A wind—like a gale across a meadow in the spring—began to blow, tousling the mariner’s hair and cooling his cheek. The ship picked up speed and soon the mariner saw a lighthouse, a hill, and a church. It was his native land at long last.
    .......The water in the harbor bay was calm, reflecting the light of the moon. On the ship, the corpses were no longer standing but lying “lifeless and flat” (line 489). Over each body was a seraph (an angel), giving off a heavenly light that could be seen on the shore. Soon a boat came rowing forth carrying a Pilot, the Pilot’s boy, and a Hermit singing hymns. The Hermit, who lived in woods near the sea and knelt on moss to pray, loved to talk with sailors from afar. When the boat drew close, the mariner heard them say that the ship looked strange. “It hath a fiendish look” (line 539), the Pilot said. Suddenly, the ship sank, rumbling down and leaving the mariner floating helplessly. But in a moment he was in the Pilot’s boat, which whirled round and round. When seeing the mariner’s face, the Pilot fell down in a fit and the Hermit prayed. The mariner took up oars and began rowing. At that, the boy laughed, observing that “the Devil knows how to row” (line 570).
    .......After the boat reached land, the mariner begged the Hermit to hear his confession and absolve him of his sins. “What manner of man art thou?” (line 578) the Hermit said. And the mariner told him his tale. Since that the time, the mariner says, he has felt a compulsion to travel from land to land. It is his penance. Whenever he remembers his experience at sea—the terror of it all—he must stop someone to tell him his story in order to relieve his agony. He knows at a mere glance which man he must single out to listen to the tale.
    .......The wedding celebration continues while the mariner hears a vesper bell calling him to prayer. It is far sweeter to him to pray to God, he says, than it would be to enjoy the pleasure of a wedding celebration. The mariner notes that a man prays best “who loveth best / All things both great and small” (lines 615-616)—that is, who loves all of the things that God created.
    .......The mariner then walks on. So does the wedding guest, as if stunned. But he is a “sadder and wiser man.”
    Themes

    Sin and Redemption
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    .......Man is a sinful creature, but redemption awaits him if he repents his wrongdoing and performs penance. This theme manifests itself as follows: After the ancient mariner commits a sin by killing the albatross, guilt hounds him in the form of strange natural and supernatural phenomena. During one terrifying experience, he has a change of heart and repents his wrongdoing. After confessing to the Hermit, he carries out a penance, which is to travel the world to tell his tale to strangers.

    Respect for Nature

    .......Human beings should respect all of God’s creation and all of His creatures, including the albatross and even sea snakes. In doing so, people indicate their respect for the Creator Himself. In his parting words to the wedding guest, the narrator says,

    Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
    To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
    He prayeth well, who loveth well
    Both man and bird and beast. (lines 611-614)Terror

    .......The mariner undergoes terrifying experiences as he confronts supernatural wonders, in particular the female figure known as Life-in-Death. When the mariner sees her rolling dice with death, he says,

    We listen'd and look'd sideways up!
    Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
    My life-blood seem'd to sip! (lines 204-206) The mariner even frightens the wedding guest when he tells him that all the crewmen fell dead one by one. The wedding guest says,"I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
    I fear thy skinny hand!
    And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
    As is the ribbed sea-sand. (lines 225-228)Coleridge plainly makes the point that beyond the boundaries of the known world are many strange and fearful sights that explorers will encounter.
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    Main Symbols

    The Ancient Mariner as Adam: Adam committed the original sin that brought woe upon mankind. The original sin in this context is the killing of the albatross. The crewmen are inheritors of the mariner’s original sin, just as Christians are inheritors of Adam’s original sin. As the mariner says, "And I had done an hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe."
    The Ancient Mariner as Christian Sinner: When the ancient mariner kills the albatross (described in the poem as a holy thing “hailed in God’s name"), he is like the Christian who commits sins for which Christ died on the cross.
    Ghost Ship as Wages of Sin: The ghostly skeleton ship carries Death and Life-in-Death. Death, of course, is a consequence of original sin. Life-in-Death is the loneliness, the separation from God, that a sinner encounters before dying.
    Pilot: The boat Pilot rescues the mariner after the ship sinks, representing the saving grace of a merciful God.
    Hermit: The Hermit represents redemption. He hears the mariner's confession and pronounces a penance, requiring the mariner to tell his tale the world over to warn others of the consequences of sin.
    Wedding Celebration: Everyday life that continues merrily without its participants' full knowledge and respect of the higher rules of the universe. As part of his penance, the mariner educates one of the wedding guests about the importance of abiding by the laws of God. The scene of a wedding celebration is, of course, an excellent place for the mariner to tell his story. After all, a marriage is a beginning, and new life will come from it. Will the newlyweds and their children abide by God's laws? Or will they thoughtlessly shoot albatrosses? Perhaps the wedding guest who walks on at the end of the poem will pass on his new insights to the bride, the groom, and others at the wedding feast.

    Climax

    .......The climax of the poem occurs when the mariner has a change of heart and the albatross falls from his neck.

    Internal Rhyme

    Besides end rhyme, Coleridge also frequently uses internal rhyme. Following are examples.

    The guests are met, the feast is set (line 7)

    The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast (line 49)

    And through the driftsthe snowy clifts (line 54)

    The ice did splitwith a thunder-fit (line 69)

    In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud (line 75)

    The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew (line 103)

    Inversion

    .......For poetic effect, Coleridge inverts the word order from time to time, as the following lines demonstrate.

    Instead of the cross, the Albatross
    About my neck was hung. (lines 141-142)
    The normal word order would be "was hung about my neck."

    Through utter drought all dumb we stood! (line 159)
    The normal word order would be "we stood all dumb."

    The naked hulk alongside came (line 195)
    The normal word order would be "came alongside."

    Enjambment

    .......Coleridge occasionally uses enjambment, the practice of carrying the sense of one line of verse over to the next line without a pause. Here are examples:

    And now the storm-blast came, and he
    Was tyrannous and strong (lines 41-42)

    We could not speak, no more than if
    We had been choked with soot. (lines 137-138)

    Instead of the cross, the Albatross
    About my neck was hung. (lines 141-142)

    'There passed a weary time. Each throat
    Was parch'd, and glazed each eye. (lines 143-144)

    Figures of Speech

    The poem is rich in figures of speech. Here are examples:

    Alliteration

    By thy long grey beard and glittering eye (line 3)

    He holds him with his skinny hand (line 9)

    The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
    For he heard the loud bassoon. (lines 31-32)

    The merry minstrelsy (line 36)

    The furrow followed free (line 104)

    AnaphoraThe ice was here, the ice was there,
    The ice was all around. (line 59-60)

    With throats unslaked, with black lips baked (line 157)

    Without a breeze, without a tide (line 169)

    Her lips were red, her looks were free,
    Her locks were yellow as gold:
    Her skin was as white as leprosy (lines 190-192)

    They groan'd, they stirr'd, they all uprose,

    IronyWater, water, every where,
    And all the boards did shrink ;
    Water, water, every where,
    Nor any drop to drink. (lines 119-122)
    Water is everywhere, but there is none to drink.MetaphorEach turned his face with a ghastly pang,
    And cursed me with his eye. (lines 215-216)
    Comparison of the appearance of the eye to a curse

    They coil'd and swam; and every track
    Was a flash of golden fire. (lines 281-282)
    Comparison of the wake left by the sea snakes to fire

    OnomatopoeiaIt crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd (line 61)PersonificationThe Sun came up upon the left,
    Out of the sea came he !
    And he shone bright, and on the right
    Went down into the sea. (lines 25-28)
    Comparison of the sun to a personSimile [E]very soul, it passed me by,
    Like the whizz of my crossbow! (lines 223-224)
    Comparison of the passing of a soul to the sound of a shot arrow

    [T]he sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
    Lay like a load on my weary eye (lines 251-252)
    Comparison of the sky and sea to a weight on the eye

    Her beams bemocked the sultry main,
    Like April hoar-frost spread (lines 268-269)
    Comparison of reflected sunbeams to frost

    The bride hath paced into the hall,.................
    Red as a rose is she (lines 33-34)
    Comparison of the bride to a rose

    The water, like a witch's oils,
    Burnt green, and blue and white. (lines 129-130)
    Comparison of water to witch's oils

    Day after day, day after day,
    We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
    As idle as a painted ship
    Upon a painted ocean. (lines 115-118)
    Comparison of the motionless ship and ocean to paintings

    SynecdocheThe western wave was all a-flame (line 171)
    Wave refers to the ocean.


    ..Vocabulary Words From the Poem

    betwixt (line 176): Between.
    charnel-dungeon (line 436): A charnel is a place that contains corpses; a dungeon is a dark prison beneath a medieval castle. Hence, a charnel-dungeon is an underground place for the dead.
    chuse (line 18): Choose.
    clifts (line 55): Cliffs.
    clomb (line 210): Climbed.
    corse (line 349, 489, 492): Corpse; dead body.
    death-fires (line 128): St. Elmo’s fire, which is electricity discharged from pointed objects, such as masts, during storms. The phenomenon can also be seen on land on trees or towers that rise to a point. Today, it can also be seen in the air on wings and propellers of aircraft.
    eftsoons (line 12): Immediately; now; at once.
    fathom (line 133): Depth measurement equaling 6 feet (1.8288 meters).
    gossameres (line 184): Cobwebs.
    gramercy (line 164): Expression of thanks or surprise
    helmsman (line 336): Crewman who steers a ship.
    Jargoning (line 363): Chattering; singing.
    ken (line 57): Know.
    kirk (line 467): Church.
    line (Coleridge's comments at line 25): Equator, the imaginary circle around the earth that divides the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
    main (line 268): Sea.
    mast (line 30):Tall structure rising from a ship to support sails, ropes, booms, etc.
    minstrelsy (line 36): Group of musicians.
    nether (line 212): Bottom.
    Pilot (line 502): Boatman who guides ships into and out of harbors.
    rood (line 490): Old English word for cross, referring to the cross on which Christ was crucified; crucifix at the entrance of a chancel, the space around an altar that is reserved for clergymen or choir members.
    seraph (line 491): Member of the highest-ranking order of angels, the Seraphim.
    shrieve (line 513): Shrive, which means to hear the confession of a sinner.
    shroud (line 75): Ropes or wires connected to a mast on both sides to keep in from swaying sideways
    skiff (line 524): Small boat propelled with oars.
    swound (line 62): Swoon; fainting spell.
    tack'd (tacked, line 156): Changed course.
    thorough (line 64): Through.
    twain (line 196): Two.
    tod (line 536): Bush of ivy or some other plant
    wherefore (line 4): why.
    wist (line 152): Past tense of wit, meaning know; hence, wist means knew.



    Study Questions and Essay Topics
    • The poem does not say why the mariner shot the albatross. In your opinion, what was his motive? Explain your answer.
    • Why did the crewmen hang the albatross around the mariner's neck?
    • Write a short poem that contains end rhyme and internal rhyme. The topic is open.
    • The mariner told his tale to what other person besides the wedding guest?
    • What would Coleridge say about modern man's treatment of nature and its creatures? Give your answer in an essay supported by quotations from the poem, as well as by library and Internet research.
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