bbe Literature Compan, Hon 1g +5. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge) ABOUT THE POET of the greatest romantic poets of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, one iate of William Wordsworth, wag d and assoc St. Mary, Devonshire. In 1791, he College, Cambridge but left itin 1793. It was in 1796 that lection of his verse under the title "Poems on Vari ad met Wordsworth in whose association he brought out Lyrical Ballads in 1798, a few months after erkeley. In 1801 he fell ill and got addicted 'Christabel' and 'Kubla English and a close frien born on 21st October at Ottrey, joined Jesus he brought out the first col ious Subjects". A year earlier heh the birth of a son named B to opium. In 1816, two of his great poems Khan’ were published. Some lectures on Philosophy and Shakespeare in 1818 brought hima lot of fame. In 1824 when the Royal Society for Literature was founded, Coleridge was made one of the first ten associates witha pension of £ 100a year. This literary genius breathed his last on July 25, 1834. ABOUT THE POEM Introduction: fee take of the greatest poems of a > e of the aca Mariner" is one style of a folk ballad, it firs glish Literature. Written in the form and Poem consists of 65 lines oe in Lyrical Ballads in 1798. The thyming abcb. The poem ee ballad stanza form, mostly Which are included in Class ee into seven parts, first tw° of masterpiece of craftsmanshi Literature Reader’. The poem is # Narrative than a didactic rage makes a better reading 25 # Prayeth well cho loveth well." though its moral is sublime’ "Henat . ests are hurrying to a wedding-fe, ad 4 sailor (the Ancient Mariner) wan inspite of all resistance, Sect over the guest, who is forced to Stay and hear the old man's 4 » The Mariner begins his story by describing how his ship left the r ‘pour and began its journey ona happy note. After a brief spell of gnooth journey, a ie storm drove it southwards to the esi ofsnow, mist and ice. It wasa lifeless and terrible region where the vessel lay ice-bound and motionless. There was nothing but snow 1 around. Huge masses of snow and ice floated all over. As faras the ee could see there was ice and more ice. Everything was so dull, depressing and dismal. As it cracked, it made a thunderous sound. It wasat this critical juncture that an Albatross came flying through the nist. The sailors welcomed it as a noble soul sent by God. Fed by the soldiers, playing with them it hovered over the ship. Fortunately, just su ‘ast. One of them is stopped : , Who insists on telling him his the Ancient Mariner exerts a strange thena huge mass of ice split with a deafeaning sound creating a huge cack through which the ship was steered out and taken away from this cursed region. The Albatross gave them company flying along with, perching on the ship during the evenings. Favourable winds started blowing. Everybody was relieved. Listening to this account of their voyage, the Wedding-Guest suddenly saw the sailor's pale face. Unable to understand the reason, he asked the old sailor why he looked so anxiety-ridden. The sailor told that ina mood of wantonness tne day, he cruelly shot the albatross with his cross-bow. At first his Comrades blamed him for his cruel act and said it will bring a curse butwhen the mist cleared off, they said it was right to kill the bird that brought the fog and mist. atime all went well. The ship sailed northwards into the silent sea. atonce the wind stopped, and the ship came toastand still. There E Silence all around. No one had the heart to talk. Days went by.Their supply of water ran out; and not a drop of water was available for drinking. The very sea seemed to rot and ugly creatures moved on the waters. Polar spirit was following the sailors to torment them for -bird. Their mouths became utterly dry ang looked with hatred at the s that he wore round his their cruelty to the sea they could not speak. Alll the other sailors | Ancient Mariner. They pulled away the cros: neck and hung the dead Albatross in its place as a mark of his sin and guilt. THEME Although, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is best read as a great narrative poem of exquisite beauty, it does have a very significant theme or moral to teach. The whole poem is based on the theme that the best form of prayer to God is to love His beautiful creations - birds, animals, trees and human beings. The extract in our syllabus has the theme of Christian concept of sin, its punishment and redemption. The Ancient Mariner commits the sin of killing an Albatross, a beautiful creature of God. For this sin he has to undergo great sufferiag. Even his fellow sailors who unwittingly side with him and approve of the killing of the bird also come to harm; for siding with the sinner is itself a sin. TITLE The use of word 'Rime' suggests that the poem is a rhyming poem, a song. ‘Ancient’ not only indicates that it is the poem about an old sailor (seaman), but also the ‘strange, far off time’. It contains the story of the sin, punishment and redemption of the ancient Mariner. Thus, the title of the poemis very apt and suggestive. MESSAGE the Poem conveys the message that those who harm and torture e can never experience peace of mind. Guilty conscience keepsjcking the mind. The sinner as well as those who su pport sin are of f a gooner or later in life. ighed ? pur? qe RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER AS A BALLAD fre Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a lyrical ballad ie. a poem on in the form and style of a folk ballad which is usually written writtl 4 anonymous person. pyar’ : cording t© 'The Reader's Companion to World Literature’ the ballad jganarrative song-poem, usually relating a single, dramatic incident oxstory,inaform suitable for singing or rhythmical chanting. folk ballads often have sudden dramatic beginnings, are written in the form ofa dialogue usually between the narrator and the listeners js wes as between characters. The language is simple but there is plenty of repetition and use of archaic words. There is sudden change faction besides music and rhythm. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" contains all these characteristics. Hence, it is a ballad although not a folk-ballad. ANNOTATIONS PART-I + It is an ancient Mariner : The line is the poet's comment, who introduces the central character - an old Mariner. The poem, thus, begins abruptly without any introduction. + stoppeth: stops or detains. * one of three : One of the three wedding guests going to attend a Marriage feast. * By thy... eye : These words are spoken by the Wedding-Guest _ Who is Surprised by the strange Mariner's audacity to stop him. Notice the two striking features of the Mariner's appearance - his ce: 'ong grey beard and his eyes shining. :bbe Literature Comparizon + 316 e?:"Why do you stop me". The Wedding. Mariner for stopping him. d The doors are wide open 4, re stopp'st thou m wherefo: Guestis annoyed with the Bridegroom's doors are opened wide: welcome the guests. Jamnext of kin:Tama close relative ofthe Bridegroom's family ang my presenceat the wedding isa must. the feastis set: the wedding-feast has been laid on the table. merry din : the happy sounding noise of singing and dancing indicating the marriage festivity: hands : The personal appearance of the Mariner is oped. First his long grey beard and glittering eve, d thin hand. The Mariner physically stops the Id of hishand. e begins to, narrate his story. He holds ...--- gradually devel now his lean an Wedding-Guest by catching ho ‘There wasaship: The Mariner at onc Hold off: Keep away from me. unhand me: Let gomy hand. . grey-beard loon: Youold crazy fellow. Eftsoons: Immediately; at once. his hand dropt he : The Mariner let go the Wedding Guest's hand because he knows he can hold the Wedding-Guest's attention otherwise also. . He olds ye : The Marner cats a hypnotic spell on = Wedding-Guest with his strange and shining eyes. « And eee a three years's child : The Wedding Guest now listens obediently and helplessly. « The Mariner hath his will: @) rg Mariner succeeded in having his way i.e. he succeeded 2 ons what he wanted to do - to make the Weddin; Guest listen to his story. : :iner succeeded in getting, full control of the Wedding, he Mat king him agree to lintento the story guest by ma choose but hear : The » . ‘i cannot Wedding-Guest had been notised by t jae his OWN will, He was compelled to listen to the Mariner's he ancient Mariner, He was helpless and could not evel : yyotsin and suffering, ster cheered ; Our friends hal dt ship wae ids and relatives gave a cheerful th ‘ ; enourship set sail, ondoffwh the harbour cleared : The ship crossed the harbour very quickly and : entered the main sea waters. Merrily * ‘The sailors sailed away happily (unaware of the disaster thatawaited their ship). ed along the ebb tide. , Below the Kirk oe lighthouse top (lines 23-24) : As the ship sailed away from the coast, the church, the hill and the lighthouse on top hill disappeared from the sailor's view. left : The sun rise on the left hand side of the ship. This ; drop :sail ofthe + The Sun... means that the ship was sailing South. , Out of the sea came he : Notice the picturesque touch here. The sun seemed to rise from and set into the sea. . Andheshone bright, and on the right: It was shining brightly on the right side of the ship. There is internal rhyme in the line. The word th the end of the second atthe end of the first phrase is rhyming wii phrase, + Higher and higher every day : The sun height with the passage of each day. It in nearing the equator. * Till over...... Was directly over the mast of the shi theEquator. seemed to attain greater dicates that the ship was _ noon : When the ship came to the Equator, the sun p. The sun is at 90 at Noon atbbe Literature Companion 19 318 The Wedding-Guest .- breast: The sudden sound of the bassoo,, diverted the Wedding-Guest's attention and he protested his tience and displeasure, ntion and showed his impal minstrelsy (lines 33-36) : The Wedding-Guest ceremony had started. The bride whose d rose was being brought into the hall in the accompaniment of singers and musicians who were moving their heads as they were singing and leading the bride to the hall. cal and poetic than walked and forceful dete! The bride + noticed that the wedding face was as beautiful asa re paced : The word is more musi entered and is suggestive of the Bride's elegant gait. Redasarose is she:Simile. The brideisas beautiful asa red roseis. . minstrelsy : A body of singers and musicians leading the bride to the hall. « The Wedding-Guest ....... Wedding-Guest is not allowed to tonarrate his story. Storm-blast, came, and he: Astrong sea storm rose. storm. So, storm has been personified. tyrannous and strong: very violent and fierce. ... wings : The storm overtook the ship which was caughtin its fury. o'ertaking wings : The storm has been compared to a huge and swift bird of prey or a winged monster which pounces upon the ship - its prey. + And chased us south along : The ship was forcibly driven by the storm towards the South Pole. f ian inated dipping prow: The ship was bent forward by the Bae ue up and down the waves, its fore-part WS e water. « Aswho..... blow: The ship looked like a person on the run being but hear : Despite all his protests, the go. The Ancient Mariner continues 'He' refers to theean » »nemy Who is shouti id by ane dear Es ave? y Pursuing with all his ore st ikea m une stuP was dane foe: The enemy is so cl i jy treads « ose that his shadow is falli being chased. ow is falling an running fast bends his head f ‘Orward, the bent forward, the front part he person qhe ship «ve fed ¢ The storm continued to blow and it quickly ' carried away the ship towards the South Pole. | And OW seme BNO: The ship reached the South Pole, full of mist and snow: k wondrous cold: It became unbearably cold. , ice, mast-high: icebergs as high as the mast of the ship were floating hereand there in the sea. , As green as emerald : the greenish reflection of the sea makes the icebergs look like emerald. , thedrifts: floating ice. , thesnowy clifts: steep sides of the icebergs. , dismal sheen : The icebergs though shining presented a sad anda gloomy sight. + Norshapes....... all between : We could not see any human being or any animal in that cold region as huge masses of snow blocked the view, + Theice...... around: The extent and spread of ice all around the ship has been emphasised with the repetition of the word 'ice' and the Words'here’, 'there' and ‘all around’. * tacked and growled, and roared and howled : All these words Convey their meaning through the sound they produce. The ‘iting up of huge chunks of ice, their sliding and falling into the ; *ahave been described here with these onomatopoeic words.100 he Literature Companion 4g + Like noives in a swound : Simile, The noises produced by the splitting icebergs are such as the distant thundering and rumbling heard by a person ina fainting fit. Atlength; After a considerable time had passed. Albatross : a long winged stout bodied bird inhabiting the Pacific and Southern Ocean, The bird playsa pivotal rolein the poem. Albatross was the first living being the gion of mist and snow. Believing that it Christian soul ....... name : sailors came across in the re; was just like them - a creature of God, the sailors welcomed it on board their ship. Its arrival lifted their spirits and brought them hope. It ate .... eat : The sailors gave the Albatross food that they were carrying for themselves. The Albatross had never had such food earlier. round and round it flew: Ithovered over the ship because there was food there. ‘The helmsman steered us through : The sailor steering the ship skilfully managed to steer the ship through the gap. good south wind sprung up behind : Favourable south wind started blowing from behind. And every day the mariners' hollo : The Albatross would come and sit on the mast or the ropes tying the sails to the mast. It responded to the sailors' call to take food or to play with them. Inmist or cloud: Whether it wasa misty day ora cloudy day. « perched:sat for vespers nine : For nine days; 'nine' being a mystic number. Vespers are evening prayers. Thus for nine evenings = nine days. through .... Moon-shine : While throughout the night the pale light of themoon would shine dimly through the fog.ee " e ye thee, ancient Mariner : There jg a sudden change of § Tale SPs seem Go jon on the Mariner's face. The me ssi aft Mory of his 'sin' makes “ we agonized. The Wedding-Guest notice * fe . -plessing on the tormented Mariner, Goa® ast at plague thee thus : Evil spirits that torture you like this. fier” re 's this and invokes why Jook'st thou so: Why are you looking so agonized and terrified. ‘ atthe Albatross : Replies the Mariner : lam severely tortured in . a mind atthe thought of having killed the innocent Albatross. pant aah wind still blew behind : The south wind continued to blow. Ap rently there was no sign of punishment. | | | , Batno sweet bird did follow: The Mariner calls the dead bird sweet. His sense of regret and repentance is already evident. Obviously, thebird could not follow the ship because it was dead. , hellish thing : The sinful act of wantonly killing the Albatross. , itwould work'em woe : This wicked deed of the mariner would make the other sailors suffer. -. For all averred ...... blow : The sailors condemned the ancient Mariner for killing the Albatross as because of his action, they would also come to harm. + Nordim nor red : The weather became better. The sun rose but now there was no mist to make it dimly visible, hence it looked soothing brightlike the halo around God's head. + like God's own head : The sun looks like the radiant halo behind God's / Christ's head. . *Ptist:rose up * Thenall....... mist: With the change in weather, the outlook of the Tegarding the killing of the Albatross also changed. Now they fert that it was a bird of bad omen because it had brought the322 bbe Literature ¢ ‘omp Panic My fog and the mist. Therefore, it was right on the part of the Mariner to kill it. a em « fair breeze: Favourable south wind. « white foam flew : White bubbles formed by the movement of . :. Ss ship cutting through the water were scattered in all directions, s ¢ furrow followed free : The track of the ship continued to form | behind it as it sailed ahead. This indicates that the journey continued uninterrupted. « We were...... silent sea : Silent sea means the Pacific Ocean. Tothe sailors it was quite new and strange. They thought they were the first to discover it. It was acalm and quiet sea. . Down dropt..... dropt down : The wind stopped blowing suddenly. Asaresult the sails were deflated and the ship came toa stand still The punishment of the Mariner and his comrades began. E eo Twas Sad «++. of the sea : There was an eerie silence all a which was broken by the sailors' voices. All in a hot and copper sky : The weather changed for indicating that the sailors were being punished. The sun made the sky copper coloured. It became scorchingly sultry. bloody : blood-red. Right up ....... stand: The sun was exactly overh No bigger than the Moon : The mid-day sun loo! ead. ked smaller tha moon. Day after day, day after day : The sail many many days. They were ina state of helplessnes: sheer length of time and monotony. 1 motion : The ship was stuck up ast lors remained stuck there ; s, Repett! suggests the } here WS nel nor breath no! wind nor tide.itl painted ocean? A very yr : Y wtaphic simile, The ship wan an eile asa i Y ss the ship iva painting ts, The sea w : sationless! ! , ind painting in or, water every where : There was endless atre AN alNO an Atl an it in wal teh of water all wound the sea, and all the boards did shrink : The wood planks of the ship suffer : racks duetointense heat, 4 Water se drop to drink : The fresh water supplies of the sailors wereexhausted, Now they did not have any water to quench their thirst, although they were surrounded by a huge body of water, The punishment of the sailors is on here, Don't miss the irony - the qilors are in the middle of water, yet they do not have a drop to drink. , Thevery deep did rot: The stagnant sea began to rot. It is indicative ofthe rotin the sinner's mind. . Yea, slimy things ..... slimy sea: Loathsome and repulsive creatures crawling on the sea surface, the very sight of which was disgusting. . slimy: withslippery bodies. + About, about, in reel and rout : These are dance movements. The line describes the chaotic and spiral movement of 'death-fires!, a Kind of moth. Another interpretation is that at night the sea presented a horrible spectacle - the disorderly dance of phosphorescent lights emitted by thesea waters or creatures. * The water, like a witch's oils : Like the oils that a witch uses. The Teference here is to the evil potion that three witch sisters in Shakespeare's Macbeth prepare. * Bumt green ..... white : Burnt and ¢ _ “Slours, The supernatural element has already taken up the _~ from the world of reality. mitted sparkles of various¢ some:some of the fellow sailors of the Mariner. ° sine were : They were convinced that they had seen a Polar Spirit in their dreams, a spirit which was the guardian spirit Of the Albatross and which had come to avenge its death. * plagued usso: which tormented the sailors so much. * Nine fathom : The Polar Spirit had all along followed the ship by _ Temaining fifty-four metres under the water. (1 fathom = 6 metres ) ‘drought : extreme dryness of the mouth caused by the heat and lack of drinking water. ed at the root : Their tongues had become lifeless and Dt nee soot : With their tongues and throat dry, they speak. They had a feeling as if their throats were (solidified smoke). Alas! How unfortunate. $5 «.+.0ee YOuNg : The Mariner's fellow sailors looked at ng eyes holding me responsible for their misery. the cross ........ was hung : The Mariner's fellow sailors plucked the cross round his neck and put the dead Albatross inits placeasa reminder of his sin and guilt. “EXAMPLES OF ALLITERATION - Bythylong grey beard and glittering eye « Heholdshim with his glittering eye e Itwould work'em woe The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew The furrow followed free Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down. si Companion 10 x” 325 RHYME SCHEME pexcert inthe following lines: ' me gs-B0saaabcb i g1-96897 202: abcd i ternal Rhyme: ' ) The guests are met, the feastis set i) The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared i) The Wedding Guest here beat his breast jo) It cracked and growled, and roared and how] ed ) Whilesall the night, through fog-smoke whit i setFBFTBzes EXAMPLES OF REPETITION , Word / Phrase: () glittering eye (iii) ice was hereetc, (i) bright-eyed Mariner (iv) water, water . Sentence: (i) Outofthesea came he (i) Went down into the sea EXAMPLES OF PERSONIFICATION - Cuaracter : Personified As San He (man) Som Blast . He (man), « Overtaking Wing (Bird) SOME IMPORTANT METAPHORS : Mery Minstrelsy : « Vespers Nine : Oetaking-wings « TheFurrow * Stowy Clifts . Thevery deep326 bbe Literature Companion 1 SOME IMPORTANT SIMILES | Similes Whois With | Compared Whom/What Like a three years! WeddingGuest | 3-year-old child | child Redasa rose Bride Red Rose. The Bride is tender, delicate, tefreshingly beautiful, shy, fragrant As who pursued Ship Someoneon therun, | with yell and blow trying to escape from an enemy | Like noises Thundering Noises of the outside | inaswound and growling world appear to be faint sound and distant | Asidleas Ship Ship ina Painting | apainted ship | Like witch's oils Sea Water [ ingredients used by witches to prepare their broth (Shakespeare's play Macbeth, IV, i)