The Killing of an Albatross
analytical Essay
819 words
The beginning of all zombie movies, and the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes the birth of both of these topics in his short story The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a story written in the Romantic generation. While Coleridge wrote this short story, along with many other stories, Coleridge was under the influence of drugs. Whether he was under the influence or not, Coleridge wrote a story that would forever change the views of many stories. In the following text, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Mariner’s lifelong penance deals with the burden of killing of an Albatross, and finally how the story affects the listener, and a lesson about human life; dealing with taking things for granted.
First off, in the story The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the storyteller tells a story about a man who has done what he has not, which is killing an Albatross. An Albatross in this story was a bird, representing the winds of the sea. In order to sail the sea back then ships needed wind to carry them along the sea with their sails. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has to parts of this story where something bad happens, causing a burden for one of the men on the ship. Due to the speaker shooting the Albatross, soon his shipmate’s will all die leaving the Albatross that he killed around his neck as a burden. An understanding of this means that while he killed this Albatross the man was then cursed and stuck in the sea slowly drifting into the polar ice waters and nearly getting stuck and then all of a sudden out of the blue they get out of this dangerous place and settle down in a deserted place where there are no currents to drift them to land. According to the shipmates on deck...
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...wn. There is always someone making a mistake here and there, but they eventually learn from their mistakes. The famous words, “I’m only human” stick with this text very well because not only does the Mariner represent modern day civilization, but it represents civilization for the past couple of decades. Throughout the text, Coleridge explains something much deeper. Even though he was once a drug addict himself, he wrote something that would change the movie/television industry forever. Creating a life-long foundation for the zombie television shows, as well as the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. According to the text there are three things that are represented in this short story, the Mariner’s lifelong penance, how the story affects the listener, and finally what lessons does the human might suggest in the story.
Works Cited
Prentice Hall Literature Volume Two
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how samuel taylor coleridge wrote the rime of the ancient mariner, a story written in the romantic generation, while under the influence of drugs. the mariner's lifelong penance deals with the burden of killing an albatross.
- Analyzes how the storyteller in the rime of the ancient mariner tells about a man who killed an albatross, which represented the winds of sea.
- Compares the rime of the ancient mariner to tintern abbey by william wordsworth.
- Analyzes how coleridge's "the rime of the ancient mariner" teaches that life is a gift, and the mariner learned the difference between killing something so great to feed himself versus the beauty and strength it brings to living things.
- Analyzes how coleridge's famous words, "i'm only human," stick with the text because the mariner represents modern day civilization and civilization for the past couple of decades.
Related
- analytical
- opinion
- The Mariner's Penanceanalytical essaySamuel Taylor Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1798 along with three other pieces of work to create his famous Lyrical Ballads with William Wordsworth. The ancient Mariner is an old man whom has suffered a great tragedy, but managed to survive. The tragedy being he watched 200 of his companions die right before his eyes and then come back again. This is when he was cursed, the ancient Mariner was cursed for shooting an albatross. That is the point that everything turned for the worst for the ancient Mariner. In Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner the Mariner must deal with his penance, a young man is stunned and becomes wiser, but sadder, and there is a lesson to learn from the entire story.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how samuel taylor coleridge wrote the rime of the ancient mariner in 1798 along with three other pieces of work to create his famous lyrical ballads with william wordsworth.
- Explains that in samuel taylor coleridge's the rime of the ancient mariner the old man penance is to travel around land to land telling his story to any young person who would listen.
- Analyzes how the young wedding guest is the ancient mariner's next victim to listen to his memorizing story. he is stunned, but comes out of everything wiser and sadder at the same time.
- Opines that coleridge's the rime of the ancient mariner has a larger message for humans, that we all need to respect nature and everything that it has to offer.
- Opines that the rime of the ancient mariner by samuel taylor coleridge has been around for a long time to convey william wordsworth's message of nature.
543 wordsRead More - Symbolism and Devices in Stephen Crane's The Open Boatanalytical essayThe story’s theme is related to the reader by the use of color imagery, cynicism, human brotherhood, and the terrible beauty and savagery of nature. The symbols used to impart this theme to the reader and range from the obvious to the subtle. The obvious symbols include the time from the sinking to arrival on shore as a voyage of self-discovery, the four survivors in the dinghy as a microcosm of society, the shark as nature’s random destroyer of life, the sky personified as mysterious and unfathomable and the sea as mundane and easily comprehended by humans. The more subtle symbols include the cigars as representative of the crew and survivors, the oiler as the required sacrifice to nature’s indifference, and the dying legionnaire as an example of how to face death for the correspondent.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes stephen crane's account of life and death at sea told through themes and devices to emphasize the indifference of nature to man’s struggles
- Analyzes how the story's theme is related to the reader by the use of color imagery, cynicism, human brotherhood, and the terrible beauty and savagery of nature.
- Analyzes how david halliburton reads the opening paragraph of the story as an examination of man's ultimate relation to the planet he inhabits and affects to govern and subdue.
- Analyzes how crane uses the first paragraph of the story to build his story of nature's indifference to mankind.
- Analyzes how crane introduces each element of the story. the imagery of wind as an embodiment of nature toys with the survivors and their optimism.
- Analyzes how the cigars are symbolic of the sailors present on the ship before it sank.
- Analyzes how crane relates this episode from the point of view of the boat’s occupants without description or exposition to point out the irony.
- Analyzes how crane introduces the drowning motif into the story when it becomes apparent to the survivors that they won’t reach shore and the correspondent begins his transition to comprehension of his place in nature.
- Asks why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was i allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees? it is preposterous!
- Analyzes how the correspondent returns to these thoughts when his own death is imminent after they attempt to enter the surf again and is thrown from the boat.
- Analyzes how the correspondent observes the oiler and cook with arms wrapped around each other in the bottom of the boat symbolizing a return to the womb. the shark is foreshadowing their eventual fate.
- Analyzes how halliburton argues that the correspondent's discovery of human brotherhood and compassion is merely self-deception.
- Analyzes how crane has begun to foreshadow the violent end of the story again. hagemann points out that the dialog between the oiler and the correspondent the next morning is a signpost
- Analyzes how hagemann's position is that the correspondent (who "loves" himself and feels "sorry" for the dying soldier) has asked the oiler to serve in his place, to replace him, when the dinghy makes its ultimate run through the surf and
- Analyzes how crane begins the section with the same gray setting as the beginning of the story and describes the scene to provide focus for his specific statement about the theme of "the open boat."
- Analyzes how the tower represented the serenity of nature amid the struggles of the individual. she was not cruel, beneficent, treacherous, or wise, but flatly indifferent.
- Analyzes how crane reinforces his theme throughout this section with his description of the scene and his thoughts relayed to the reader. the shore and the surf are described again as "lonely and indifferent" and having "a certain immovable quality."
- Analyzes how crane's naturalistic style dominated most of the story to this point. the four survivors are thrown from the dinghy after swamping in the surf and must face nature
- Analyzes how the reader is given a description of the survivors in the surf and from this it could be inferred that the oiler is most likely to reach the shore alive.
- Analyzes how crane's "the open boat" is a classic example of naturalism combined with romanticism. the story portrays humans and nature in harmony and contradicts that view with the indifference of nature toward humanity.
- Analyzes how crane reinforces the theme of man's role in nature through color imagery, cynicism, human brotherhood, and the terrible beauty and savagery of nature.
1931 wordsRead More - Rime Of The Ancient Mariner Essayopinion essayThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner was published in 1798 by the notorious author Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a first person account of a sailor who had just returned from a long sea voyage. At the beginning, The Mariner decides to stop a man who is on his way to a wedding celebration, as this happens, the Mariner decides to narrate what happened on his trip.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that one should love and respect god and all things.
- Opines that the poem should be known as a moral lesson by everyone because the lessons told in it are ones one should never forget.
- The rime of the ancient mariner was published in 1798 by samuel taylor coleridge.
- Explains that samuel taylor coleridge's poem, the rime of the ancient mariner, is a walkthrough of what one should be in life.
1364 wordsRead More - Rime Of The Ancient Mariner Analysisanalytical essayThough the interpretation that the Mariner’s cursed immortal life is an accursed state of penance for his lack of reverence for one of God’s creatures could certainly be made given Coleridge’s clear vested interest in deny the explained supernatural as attributed to the divine, it is more likely that the Mariner’s governed by a force more ancient and, in a manner of speaking, more holistic than the God of Christianity. The Mariner’s rationale behind killing the Albatross is certainly rather ambiguous as Coleridge seems to give little credence to the event itself in the grand scheme of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner I interpret the Mariner’s subtextual motivations not as an effort on Coleridge’s behalf to showcase an instance of spiting God, but rather as a moment of mankind’s ill-advised assertion of dominance over the natural world. This harkens back to philosophies of Thomas Burnet from Archaeologiae philosophicae in which it is suggested that the writing, publication, and widespread popularity of the Bible is an effort on the part of humankind of assert dominance over the unknown through crafting a Creation mythology. Later in The Rime, when the Mariner is surrounded by
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how samuel taylor coleridge critiques the gothic convention of the explained supernatural through his portrayal of tension between christian themes and the sublimity of archaic.
- Analyzes how coleridge begins the rime of the ancient mariner by quoting an excerpt from the 1692 text authored by theologian and natural philosopher thomas burnet.
- Analyzes how coleridge characterizes the mariner, his interactions with supernatural events in his tale, and the penance he is compelled to serve through the telling of said tale.
- Analyzes how the mariner's fate is deeply tied to the spillage of blood as a draining of life force for the sake of his own agency and self-aggrandizement.
- Analyzes how coleridge's interpretation of the mariner as an embodiment of life in death is more attributable to the polar spirit and its demons than to god.
- Analyzes how coleridge uses the marginal glosses outlining the events of the rime of the ancient mariner to highlight the poem's continuous theme of understood surface versus unseen subtext, as well as imbue it with the gothic tension of past and present.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how nature is a theme that consoles characters in both frankenstein and rime of the ancient mariner.
- Analyzes how the theme of emotional loneliness or desolation plays the strongest role in frankenstein as you can relate the creature and victor to a better degree.
- Analyzes how the creature suffers from loneliness when his "father" abandons him.
- Analyzes how mary shelley's frankenstein and samuel coleridge’s the rime of the ancient mariner share closely tied themes in their own literary worlds.
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In this essay, the author
- Explains that david cordingly's book under the black flag: the romance and reality of life among the pirates shows how the fictional pirates have shifted from the reality of their lives.
- Analyzes how cordingly exposes the brutal parts of a pirate’s lifestyle that most books and movies tend to skim over or ignore in order to make the story more lighthearted.
- Analyzes how cordingly takes the usual images of pirates from fictional stories and reveals the historical events that made the image well-known.
- Explains captain kidd's exploits in the indian ocean and his subsequent trial and execution made him one of the most famous pirates of history.
- Analyzes how cordingly explains how popular symbols of pirates originate from facts, but exaggerates the facts to fit into the story. the story of buried treasure, for example, seems to result from only one recorded instance.
- Explains that some of the elements of fictional pirates are proven almost completely false. historians have only found the punishment of walking the plank in one account.
- Opines that cordingly accepts exaggerating fiction pieces for the story, but does not want to forget the true version of the stories.
- Analyzes how cordingly uses first-hand sources from journals, letters, court records, and other written sources to verify the events of the book.
- Analyzes cordingly's book, under the black flag: the romance and reality of life among the pirates, which compares the information in treasure island and other works that are similar.
- Analyzes how cordingly gives the stories of different pirates without straying from the facts, but still manages to keep interest.
- Analyzes how cordingly's under the black flag: the romance and reality of life among the pirates tells the story of many different pirates of different time periods by the facts.
1063 wordsRead More - Comparison: Frankenstein & The Rime of the Ancient Marineranalytical essayThis essay has argued that both works, Frankenstein and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, have similarities in terms of themes and narrative structure. Shelley and Coleridge used various narrators to tell their stories, and by doing that,14 Furthermore, both works are structured in the same form, with the frame narration, a story within a story, which provides a frame of verisimilitude to an improbable tale. In brief, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a constant presence in the novel Frankenstein.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the story of dr. frankenstein to the captain of the ship is done in first-person narrative but has the peculiarity that it is included in the journal of robert walton.
- Analyzes how shelley's technique of framed narratives offers the reader multiple perspectives to the text through the change of point-of-view of the narrators.
- Explains that the romantic movement emphasized the emotional and personal in response to classical values of order and objectivity. mary shelley and samuel taylor coleridge are recognized writers of the era.
- Argues that mary shelley used various narrators at the same time to create different perspectives of the story. samuel coleridge wrote the poem to convince the reader with a 'willing suspension of disbelief.
1670 wordsRead More - Themes in The Old Man and the Seaanalytical essayThe Old Man and the Sea is a heroic tale of man’s strength pitted against forces he cannot control. It is a tale about an old Cuban fisherman and his three-day battle with a giant Marlin. Through the use of three prominent themes; friendship, bravery, and Christianity; the “Old Man and the Sea” strives to teach important life lessons to the reader.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the old man and the sea is a heroic tale of man's strength pitted against forces he cannot control. through friendship, bravery, and christianity, it strives to teach important life lessons to the reader.
- Analyzes how santiago teaches manolin about fishing, baseball, and faith, even when joe dimaggio is injured.
- Analyzes how hemingway teaches the reader about bravery and perseverance in the face of adversity.
- Analyzes how santiago's perseverance and bravery are further illustrated when he tries to fight off the sharks.
- Analyzes how santiago and manolin's relationship parallels that of christ and his disciples. santiago gives a simple faith that reflects the basic principles of christianity.
- Analyzes how hemingway's description of santiago illustrates christian symbolism. he does not smother the relationship between the old man and the young boy by highlighting his weaknesses.
948 wordsRead More - A True Betrayal Of Natureopinion essayand losing his entire crew, the mariner realizes the Albatross as a symbol of nature and he
In this essay, the author
- Opines that it is the responsibility of nature, and not man, to create human beings.
- Opines that victor's retaliation against those closest to him is a form of revenge.
- Opines that they sought justice which they vainly attempted to gain from any other being that wore the robe.
- Narrates how things are quickly changed after the death of the mariner.
- Analyzes how the mariner realizes the albatross as a symbol of nature.
- Opines that mariner betrayed nature by killing an innocent creature, but in every case, nature was able to recover.
- Opines that nature is a replica for forgiveness. man continues to do so.
- Analyzes how the monster decides to kill victor when the blame shifts from victor to victor.
- Opines that victor is in constant sorrow for his creation because it caused the death of so many in his life.
- Opines that after the killing of the albatross and the loss of his crew, his suffering includes having his soul in agoney soon afterwards.
- Analyzes how the mariner undergoes his penance and prays again and begins the repair of his spirituality.
613 wordsRead More - The Wedding Guest in The Rime of the Ancient Marineranalytical essayAs the ancient Mariner described his adventures at sea to the Wedding-Guest, the Guest became saddened because he identified his own selfish ways with those of the Mariner. The mariner told the Guest that he and his ship-mates were lucky because at the beginning of their voyage they had good weather. The mariner only saw what was on the surface -- he did not see the good weather as evidence that Someone was guiding them. Also, when he shot the Albatross, the Mariner did not have any reason for doing so. The Albatross did nothing wrong, yet the Mariner thought nothing of it and without thinking of the significance of the act, he killed the bird. At this, the Guest was reminded of how self-absorbed he, too, was, and the sinful nature of man. At the beginning of the poem he was very much intent on arriving at the wedding on time. He did not care at all about what it was that the Mariner had to tell him; he did not want to be detained even if the Mariner was in trouble. Instead, he spoke rudely to the mariner, calling him a "gray-beard loon", and tried to go on his own way.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that webster's dictionary defines the word "wise" as being "marked by deep understanding, keen discerment". the wedding-guest became sadder and wiser after identifying himself with the shallow and self-absorbed mariner
- Analyzes how the guest became saddened when the mariner described his adventures at sea to the wedding-guest. he identified his own selfish ways with those of the mariner.
- Analyzes how the mariner began to see his own sinfulness and change his ways as the wedding-guest listened to the story. the albatross was hung about his neck to remind him of his sinful deed.
- Analyzes how the wedding-guest was taken overy by life-in-death and his sin nature had separated him from god. he needed to change and become penitent before he could be rid of the guilt.
- Analyzes how the wedding-guest became sadder and wiser through the tale of the ancient mariner.
844 wordsRead More