Christianity in rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, penned by Samuel Coleridge, and
published for the first time in 1798 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 tale of the old
seafarer was so unbelievable and supernatural, that the wedding guest
and all others who hear the tale are captivated and, as Coleridge
suggests, listen “like a three years’ child” (15). Embedded through
the Mariner’s tale is a story that resembles the Christianesque path
from sin to salvation. Throughout his poem, Coleridge uses the
Albatross as a Christ-like figure to illustrate the stages of the
Mariner’s sin, repentance, salvation, and prostelization.
Before the Albatross finds the sailors, they are frozen in the sea in
the Antarctic Circle. When the sailors spot the bird, they believe it
will bring them good fortune as Coleridge illustrates in lines 63-66:
At length did cross an Albatross
Through the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hail’d it in God’s name (63-66).
Sure enough, the Albatross saves the sailors by breaking up the ice
surrounding their ship and allowing them to float freely in the
water. The bird saved the sailors as Jesus Christ saved mankind from
a sinful destruction. Coleridge uses words of religious significance
like “Christian soul” (65) and “God’s name” (66) to describe the
coming of the Albatross. These words invoke a sense of grandeur and
power in the Albatross giving it a feeling of omnipotence. As the
sailors are freed from their earthly bonds of ice, the Mariner, in
lines 68-70 explains: And round and round it flew./The ice did split
with a ...
... middle of paper ...
...from the freezing bonds of
death. The Mariner is wrought with jealousy and human sin and kills
the Albatross. As a representation of his sin, the Mariner must wear
the Albatross around his neck as an ever-present reminder of his sin
and lack of worthiness, much like Christians were crosses around their
necks even today. After the Mariner realizes his the value of all
creatures big and small and speaks a true prayer seeking of heart-felt
repentance, the Albatross breaks free and the Mariner feels forgiven
and free. Now, the Mariner continues his feeling of forgiveness by
paying penance for the remainder of his days recounting to all, his
tale of the dangers of sin to all who will listen, including the
wedding guest and the Christian hermit. With each guest who listens
to the tale of his forgiveness, the Mariner feels like a more complete
and better person.
The costs of their decisions would weigh heavily on them both throughout their travels. Because of his rash decision, the albatross was hung around the Mariner’s neck, a burden which, along with his guilt, he’d have to carry for a long time. Avenging the albatross also were the ghastly duo who gambled for the Mariner’s life- all the members of his crew, some of whom were very close to him, “dropp'd down one by one… With heavy thump, a lifeless lump” (l. 219-220), killed by Death. They, too, shared the blame for the Mariner’s crime, as they had condoned his action as long as things were going well. Ma...
In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the author uses the story of a sailor and his adventures to reveal aspects of life. This tale follows the Mariner and his crew as they travel between the equator and the south pole, and then back to England. The author's use of symbolism lends the work to adults as a complex web of representation, rather than a children's book about a sailor.First, in the poem, the ship symbolizes the body of man. The ship experiences trials and tribulations just as a real person does. Its carrying the Mariner (symbolizing the individual soul) and crew shows that Coleridge saw the body as a mere vessel of the soul. This symbol of a boat is an especially powerful one, because one steers a ship to an extent, yet its fate lies in the hands of the winds and currents.Secondly, the albatross symbolizes Christ. Just as the Mariner senselessly slays the bird, man crucifies Christ whose perfection is unchallenged. Even though Christ represents mankind's one chance at achieving Heaven, man continues to persecute Him. The albatross symbolizes the sailors' one chance at deliverance from icy death and the Mariner shoots him.Thirdly, the South Pole symbolizes Hell. No visible wind blows the unfortunate crew toward the South Pole. Rather, an unseen force pulls them there. Such is the case when the world's temptations lure one to Hell. Just as the sailors approach far to close to this icy purgatory, their Redeemer, the albatross, or at least his spirit, leads them safely back in the right direction.Fourthly, in the poem England symbolizes Heaven. When the Mariner first sees his country, a great sense of hope and joy overcome him. At the point when the Mariner is about to enter Heaven, the body, symbolized by the ship, must die.
The poem The Seafarer which belongs to the sea elegies found in the Exter Book and, can be read as an allegorial voyage poem, such allegories of journeys were richly explored in later religious poems. [L. Sikorska: 2005, p. 25] This work is divided into two parts. In the first one we can notice the story of seafarer who describes hardships of life on the sea, whereas in the second one we can find some christian elements. He approves of honest living and higher values as friendship and love.
The resolution of the Mariners decision caused him and his shipmates to fall into a curse, which led the Mariner into an eternal penance. The Mariners penances was to retell the story of what a Mariner's choice against nature he made and the events that he went through at sea. After the death of the Albatross, the Mariner felt as if he was pull down by a curse. The vengeance of the curse occurs as a result of his actions, leading towards the Mariner's shipmates souls being taken away. Following the death of the Mariner's soul, the Mariner began to experienced redemptions against the decisions he
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” begins with three men walking to attend a wedding. One of the wedding guests’ hand gets grabbed by and old man, the mariner. After the mariner lets go, the wedding guest “listens like a three years child” to the story the mariner is about to tell. The story begins with the mariner and he crew out at sea. The mariner explains it suddenly got dark and they unexpectedly encountered a giant sea bird, called the Albatross. The Albatross was a symbol of good luck, but the mariner felt the need to kill it. The mariner did just that. Once the Albatross was slain the weather got clearer and the crew congratulated him for his...
Throughout the rise of early Christianity in rome persecution ranged from commoners to emperors and was a common practice. The unfair oppression of Christians came from a place of fear from the emperors, However the commoners believed Christians disrespected the rank of the gods. Because of the inferior label put on Christians and their “shameful” behavior during this time persecution was an ongoing sequence.
The earliest recorded text teaching Christianity has its roots buried deep within Judaism. The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the Messiah, created a new ideology of worship. The Messiah is the savior for all people and of all sins. Paul carried the message of the Messiah to the Gentiles. His missionary journeys and establishment of churches enabled the spreading of the message throughout the Roman Empire. Christianity grew in acceptance; those that believed in the Messiah separated and began to worship on their own. This marked the beginning of the split of Judaism and Christianity.
Christianity is now in our modern world one of the five major religions. The other major religions include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism from which Christianity descended. Christianity was practiced before Christ, During his life, and after his life. After Christ¹s life Christianity spread to become a main world religion.
Overall “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is poem that seems like a simple story told by a sailor about his woes at sea. But Coleridge uses many details to make symbols throughout the story for the reader to interpret and see the connections between it and religion. Whether it be through the Christ like albatross, which most would just see as a simple bird, or the woman on the boat showing how the lifestyle might be fun but ultimate leads to nothing we see that these small details create a bigger story than what is just on the cover.
In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the admixture of past and present tense keeps the action or progress of the poem in “temporal limbo”- Fergusson argues that rime creates a kind of apparent relation between cause and effect for the reader to discover a kind of clear sense in the rime which is actually the moral value of the
The history of Christianity is one that can be traced from the beginning of time. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 English Standard Version). The foundation of this religion is build upon the birth, life, death, and resurrection of a man named Jesus. Many Christians believe that he is the Son of God. Further, most additionally would agree that he is the second person in the trinity.
The mariner reconciles his sins when he realizes what nature really is and what it means to him. All around his ship, he witnesses, "slimy things did crawl with legs upon the slimy sea" and he questions "the curse in the Dead man's eyes". This shows his contempt for the creatures that Nature provides for all people. The mariner begins to find his salvation when he begins to look on the 'slimy things' as creatures of strange beauty. When "the mariner begins to find his salvation when he begins to look on the 'slimy things' as creatures of strange beauty" he understands the Albatross is a symbol of nature and he realizes what he had done wrong. The mariner is forgiven after sufficient penance. The mariner's experience represents a renewal of the impulse of love towards other living things. Once he reconciles his punishment is lifted. The bird, which is hung around his neck as a punishment, falls into the water and makes the change from punishment to penance.
As 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.
A significant theme in Samuel Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," is Christianity, which is portrayed through the Mariner’s epic journey. This text is set between the physical world and the metaphysical (spiritual world), similar to religious teachings found in the Bible. With the use of vivid descriptions and strong language in this ballad, moral lessons appear that connect both man and God in order to discover an innate bond and understanding. Though this tale is overwhelmingly bizarre and dark, the moral lessons taught are in line with central aspects of both the romantic period and the Christian religion. In Coleridge's ballad, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," many Christian ideals are represented throughout the treacherous journey of the Mariner, such as sin, forgiveness, and prayer.
...ort the reader into a spiritual journey of guilt, retribution, and rebirth as a symbol of the journey of Christianity. Expressing the inherent struggles of humanity for sin and redemption, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" allows the reader to suppose that supernatural situations are real. Coleridge uses supernatural events to bring to live the ideas he expresses in his work. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" clearly demonstrates the ideals of Christianity as salvation and the power of sympathetic imagination.