Scarica The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In-Depth Summary&Analysis e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous 1789 poem is a story within a story (such as Hamlet by Shakespeare). Coleridge helped the Romantic English poetry, along with William Wordsworth, with their joint publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1789. A sharp change from the contemporary conventions of English poetry emphasizing natural speech over political, simple themes over stylized symbolism, the beauty of nature over urbanization and emotion and imagination over abstract thoughts. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a rhyme, an alternate spelling of rhyme, told by an old sailor or mariner. The ancientness of his status suggests a kind of eternal wisdom, as if the mariner has something to share with readers. However, rhyme can also mean frost, an icy substance that can form on sails and ships. Antarctica, one of the locations of the poem, evokes this frosty image. The mariner, too, is often described with frost imagery. The poem of penance and pain contains four key characters: 1) The Wedding Guest, a man on his way to a wedding and is in a hurry to attend the festivities. At several points, during the Mariner’s tale, he starts to ask questions. He’s deeply affected by the Mariner and what he has to tell him, despite being unwilling to listen at first; 2) The Mariner, who was once a sailor, part of a crew of a sailing ship. During a sea voyage, he, along with the ship, is stranded in the ice of the South Pole. It is only when an albatross (big bird) appears that the ice breaks and the ship is free. At first, the Mariner acts friendly with the bird, but then, for unknown reasons, he shoots and kills the albatross, setting in motion a string of horrors: his crew die, but he lives on with his sin. It is only when he accepts that the bird is a part of God’s great creation, that he is partially absorbed in his sin; but his penance is not done, even with the realisation. He must tell us a story far and wide before moving on again. He is compelled into an act of confession by a supernatural force, that decides even who he should narrate the tale to; 3) The Albatross, who actually is more a symbol than a character, but it is both. His death brings about the Mariner’s eventual awakening to the sublime beauty and power of God’s creations. It’s an innocent creature that didn’t deserve what happened and the Marine is punished for his sin. In maritime lore, these birds were seen both as a sign of good luck and as a bad omen. Sailors often thought the albatross carried the souls of dead sailors that would protect the ship or bring the good winds but just as often they thought the bird to be a death omen (a sign that a sailor would soon die). Also, the albatross represents a christ-like figure, innocent of any wrongdoing. In fact it came when the Mariner called for it. The bird likely broke the ice that had trapped the ship, saving the crewmen and befriending the Mariner. It is all the more shocking when the Mariner kills him for no apparent reason. The Albatross is the innocent Christ, having committed no crime to deserve death and the Mariner represent Judas. 4) Life-in-Death is a character that arrives in a tattered ghostly vessel with death and she wins the Mariner’s soul during a dice game. She’s described as being both beautiful and terrible. While only in the poem a short time, she still has power over the Mariner, who is alive even if he spent seven days without drinking or eating: it is her influence that keeps him in limbo. PART 1 It starts with an old sailor, the Mariner, stopping a young man on his way to a wedding to narrate his tale. The Mariner tells of an ocean voyage with a sailing crew. Once the ship gets blown off course, it ends up at the South Pole, trapped in ice. When an Albatross passes, it’s presence seems to break the ice surrounding the ship. The crew sails away with the albatross following. Suddenly the Mariner shoots the albatross for no reason at all. PART 2 The crew becomes angry but then they change their mind as they decide the bird brought a thick fog. The ship sails into strange waters and then the wind ceases. Suffering from a terrible thirst that drives the mad, the man hangs the dead albatross around the Mariner’s neck. One of the most important additional symbols in the poem is The Gaze: the wedding guest notices the Mariner’s glittering eye as the sailor first stops him. The Wedding Guest is held by the power of his stare, unable to break away. The Mariner’s stare seems almost supernatural due to the way it affects the wedding guest. Not also the story compels the young man to listen, but also the Mariner’s gaze compels him to listen as well. The eyes become the only means of communication, when speech is denied. When the Mariner’s crew suffers from thirst and can’t speak, they shoot him evil looks as they blame him for their circumstances. In addition, the Mariner mentions how glaze are the crewmembers’ eyes to convey their weariness (affaticamento) even when they can’t talk. + After they encounter (imbattersi con) the ghostly ship of Life-in-Death, the crew turns to the Mariner and each turn his face with a ghastly (agghiacciante) pang and curses him. Nature and Spirit is a key theme, too! The Romantic period is characterized by an appreciation and a glorification of nature but this poem walks a line between the natural world and the spiritual one. The wedding guest, who was supposed to attend the marriage with his kinsmen (congiunto), a spiritual bonding beneath (al di sotto) the eyes of God, but he’s interrupted by The Mariner, a seafarer (navigatore/marinaio), with a closer bond (legame) with the natural world. The Sun and Moon is another key symbol. They’re symbols for the forces’ opposing during the journey. The Sun and Moon clash the symbols of the supernatural and the natural worlds. When the Mariner and his crew are in trouble, after he shot the Albatross, the imagery is entirely in the light of the Sun (part of the natural word); when Life- in-Deah’s mystery ship appears, the image associated with that scene are replete (riempite) with mentions of the Sun. The moon is often associated with the supernatural and the mysterious bond between it and the oceans. The moon controls the tides and its influence helps the Mariner get back home. When the Mariner’s penance truly begins, the moon has risen and the language changes from harsh (rigido) imagery to almost soothing (rilassanti) passages. When the MAriner swoons and hears two voices, one of them makes mention of the Moon looking down on him, almost like it’s watching out for the Mariner, as it helps to guide him home. He arrives at the arbor beneath the shadow of moon fitting, since the journey began under the light of the Sun: the cycle is complete. If the Sun shows what is obvious, the moon shows what's hidden. The Sun and the Moon are two opposing forces but they must coexist in a cycle. The Mariner’s cycle of sin and penance mirror the cycle as well. In an attempt to treat his opium addiction, Coleridge moved to high gates, to live with dr. James Gilman, a physician, in 1816. He remained there for the rest of his life writing and preparing lectures. Coleridge died on 25th July 1834 but The Rime of an Ancient Mariner lives on.