The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
...a movement about youth, and today Coleridge is remembered primarily for the poems he wrote while still in his twenties. Three young men are walking together to a wedding, when one of them is stopped by an old sailor. The young wedding-guest angrily demands that the Mariner let go of him, and the Mariner obeys. But the young man is hypnotized by the ancient Mariner and can do nothing but sit on a stone and listen to his story. The Mariner says that he sailed on a ship out of his native harbor--"below the kirk, below the hill, / Below the lighthouse top"--and into a sunny and cheerful sea (Coleridge 429).The Mariner recalls that the voyage quickly darkened, the ship came to a frigid land of mist and snow. The ship was stuck inside a maze of ice. An Albatross, a great sea bird began to follow the boat. As it flew around the ship, the ice cracked and split and a wind from the south propelled the ship out Keke 3 of the frigid regions, into a foggy stretch of water. The Albatross followed behind it, a symbol of good luck to the sailors. The Mariner confesses to the wedding guest that he shot and killed the Albatross with his crossbow. At first, the other sailors were furious with the Mariner for having killed the bird that made the breezes blow. But when the fog lifted soon afterward, the sailors decided that the bird had actually brought not the breezes but the fog. The sailors congratulated the Mariner on his deed. The wind pushed the ship into a silent sea where the sailors were quickly stranded; the winds died down, and the ship was "As idle as a painted ship / Upon a painted ocean” (432). The men had no water to drink. The sailors blamed the Mariner for their problems and hung the corpse of the Albatross around his neck like a cross. As time passed the sailors became so thirsty, that they were unable to speak. One day, the Mariner saw a tiny ship on the horizon. Too dry-mouthed to speak out the Mariner bit down on his arm; sucking the blood, he was able to moisten his tongue enough to cry out, "A sail! a sail!" The sailors smiled, believing they were saved. But as the ship neared, they saw that it was a ghostly ship and that its crew included two figures: Death and the Night-mare Life-in-Death, who takes the form of a pale woman with golden locks and red lips, and "thicks man's blood with cold” (434). Death and Life-in-Death began to throw dice, and the woman won. The sailors dropped dead one by one. Everyone except the Mariner died. The souls of the dead men came out from their bodies and rushed by the Mariner. Keke 4 Alone on the ship he was surrounded by two hundred corpses. He tried to pray but was deterred by a "wicked whisper" that made his heart "as dry as dust." He closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight of the dead men. For seven days and seven nights the Mariner endured the sight, and yet he was unable to die. He blessed the beautiful sea creatures in his heart; at that moment, he found himself able to pray, and the corpse of the Albatross fell from his neck, sinking "like lead into the sea." Free of the curse of the Albatross, the Mariner was able to sleep. Spirits entered the dead men's bodies, which began to move about and perform their old sailors' tasks. The ship was able to move forward as the Mariner joined in the work. The ship continued to surge forward until noon, driven by the spirit from the land of mist and snow, nine fathoms deep in the sea. At noon, however, the ship stopped, then began to move backward and forward as if it were trapped in a tug of war. Finally, it broke free, and the Mariner fell to the deck with the jolt of sudden acceleration. He heard two disembodied voices in the air; one asked if he was the man who had killed the Albatross, and the other declared softly that he had done penance for his crime and would do more penance before all was rectified. In dialogue, the two voices discussed the situation. The ship began to move forward. When the Mariner woke up, he saw the dead men standing together, looking at him. But a breeze rose up and propelled the ship back to its native country, back to the Mariner's home. Soon, he heard the Pilot, the Pilot's son, and the holy Hermit were rowing out toward him. The Mariner hoped that the Hermit could absolve him of his sin, washing the blood of the Albatross off his soul. The Hermit is holy man who lives in the woods and loved to talk to mariners from strange lands. But as they reached the Mariner's ship, it Keke 5 sank in a sudden whirlpool, leaving the Mariner afloat and the Pilot's rowboat spinning. On land, the Mariner told his tale. Once it was told, the Mariner was free from the agony of his guilt. However, the guilt returned over time and persisted until the Mariner traveled to a new place and told his tale aga...