The moral value of the Ancient Mariner



The moral value of the Ancient Mariner

Teacher's Notes

After we have read and studied the poem few of us are free of the feeling that there is more here than a simple, fantastic tale. Indeed, in the last four stanzas, Coleridge has underlined this feeling of greater significance by having the Mariner deliver a brief sermon.

What is the meaning of the poem? Who is this Mariner? What does his strange experience signify? Critics have given many interpretations on many levels. The most widely accepted, because it seems best to fit the moral Coleridge adds at the end, is that the strange journey is the journey of life which we all take.

The Mariner who speaks at the beginning and end of the poem is MAN, but MAN who has been touched by God. The story he tells is an allegory of his experience in spiritual growth. The Wedding Guest represents Man before he has converted to the pursuit of something more than the earthly pleasures which the Wedding Feast represents. God, speaking through the Mariner, involves the Wedding Guest in a struggle between the temptation of earthly pleasures and the moral prompting of religion.

When the Mariner kills the Albatross he is committing a sin against the law of God. He is, in a sense, killing God, for God is love. If we see the Albatross, "the pious bird of good omen", as a Christ-figure, then the Mariner's killing of it is an allegory of the Crucifixion, and the dead bird hung around his neck symbolizing his guild is appropriately shaped like a cross. The sailors, when they see that the death of the Albatross seems to be working for their advantage, condone the sin, but then they die. This release is not granted to the Mariner. He is doomed to the nightmare Life-in-Death. He tries to pray and cannot until, yearning toward the moon in his loneliness, desiring to be accepted into the universe of God's creating again, a change comes over him. He sees God's creatures, the water snakes he had formerly despised, in the holy light of the moon, and they are transformed into things of beauty.

This is the heart of the poem.

God's grace descends on the Mariner; it allows him to see His creatures in their beauty, to love them, and to enter once again the harmony of the universe whose divine centre is Love. It is important to notice that he blessed these creatures "unaware". That is, the Mariner is here illustrating the paradox of grace. One cannot receive God's grace without asking for it, yet unless we have it already, we cannot know enough even to ask.

In his desire to pray, the Mariner is asking, but he is not immediately answered. In his impulse of yearning and love toward the moon, he is beginning to feel its effects, and, finally, when he feels an outburst of love for his fellow creatures, grace has descended like rain from the heavens. Now he is granted sleep and rest and peace. The curse is finally expiated and he sees his native country – but he suffers again and again from the agony of guilt, which forces him to travel throughout the earth, teaching God's love by his example.

Higher Thinking Study Questions

Question 1:

" A spring of love gush'd from my heart

And I blessed them unaware."

a) What was the immediate effect of the ancient Mariner's blessing the water-snakes?

b) Why did it have this effect?

c) Explain "unaware".

Question 2:

Although the events in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" are supernatural, the emotions in the poem are completely human.

a) Comment on this quotation, giving at least five examples of the supernatural and four characteristically human feelings.

b) What does Coleridge achieve by this combination of the supernatural and the real?

Question 3:

Explain in your own words what you believe the Mariner learned from his experience. Quote lines from the poem itself which reveal the purpose of the experience.

Question 4:

Relate the theme of rebirth to the poem as well as the significance of isolation and alienation to the Mariner's experience.

Question 5:

What is Coleridge's purpose in including wedding details? What contrasts are established?

Question 6:

A Latin quotation used by Coleridge to preface "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" says in part that:

"it is helpful sometimes to contemplate in the mind, as on a tablet, the image of a greater and better world, lest the intellect, habituated to the petty things of daily life, narrow itself and sink wholly into trivial thoughts."

Relate this statement to Coleridge's poem.

Developing Word Power

PART A

Here are some words that may not have been clear to you when you read the poem. First, you will see the original use of the word. After you have read the phrase, select the correct meaning from the four possible choices.

1. unslaked – "With throats unslaked, with black lips baked…"

a. blackened

b. quenched

c. unhealed

d. unsatisfied

2. nether – "Till clomb above the eastern bar the horned Moon, with one bright star/Within the nether tip."

a. opposite

b. lower

c. other

d. brighter

3. hoary – "And when they reared, the elfish light/Fell off in hoary flakes."

a. shimmering

b. glowing with heat

c. eerie

d. gray with age

4. perforce – "My head was turned perforce away/ And I was a boat appear."

a. by necessity

b. proudly

c. haughtily

d. by preference

5. shrieve (shrive) – "He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away/ The Albatross's blood."

a. chastise

b. buy

c. absolve

d. condemn

PART B

From the list of vocabulary words below, choose the appropriate word for the blank in each of the following sentences.

a. abated

b. agape

c. averred

d. cleft

e. dank

f. discerned

g. gossamere (gossamer)

h. penance

i. sere

j. wan

1. Jeff entreated the principal; he _______________ he was not responsible for the missing keys.

2. The coach stood with his mouth _______________ as he watched Jerry break away for a 70-yard touchdown!

3. While I worked in the garden. I watched a spider spin her fragile _______________ web.

4. I wonder why my friend Edgar stores his best wine in his moist, _______________ basement.

5. After a few days, the cut flowers looked withered and _______________.

6. Dorla wasn't enthused that I got to pitch in the softball finals; she offered only a _______________ smile.

7. The split leaf in unusual; did you notice the extremely deep _______________?

8. After some help from Mr. Woods, I finally _______________ the meaning of Latin terms such as i.e. and e.g.

9. As a child, my usual _______________ for breaking something was to earn enough money to replace it.

10. We were relieved when the pain in Jan's injured knee _______________ and she was able to re-enter competition.

Developing Word Power

ANSWER KEY

PART A

1. unslaked – "With throats unslaked, with black lips baked…"

a. blackened

b. quenched

c. unhealed

d. unsatisfied

2. nether – "Till clomb above the eastern bar the horned Moon, with one bright star/Within the nether tip."

a. opposite

b. lower

c. other

d. brighter

3. hoary – "And when they reared, the elfish light/Fell off in hoary flakes."

a. shimmering

b. glowing with heat

c. eerie

d. gray with age

4. perforce – "My head was turned perforce away/ And I was a boat appear."

a. by necessity

b. proudly

c. haughtily

d. by preference

5. shrieve (shrive) – "He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away/ The Albatross's blood."

a. chastise

b. buy

c. absolve

d. condemn

PART B

1. (c) averred

2. (b) agape

3. (g) gossamere

4. (e) dank

5. (i) sere

6. (j) wan

7. (d) cleft

8. (f) discerned

9. (h) penance

10. (a) abated

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