Page |1

THE RIME OF ANCIENT MARINER

BY: DIVYA KUMARI

INTRODUCTION
It is one of the poems written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and was first published in lyrical
ballads,1798. Writers and poets of romantic era have often used nature to explain their
emotions and their thoughts. Romantics believed that a man’s real place is in nature. He can
only find his true self in nature.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge depicts nature as something that has enormous power and must be
feared. He depicts dark side of nature in his work while other artists have described nature as
a healing power and refuge from the artificial constructs of industrialization.

This poem illustrates journey of a mariner (sailor) and situations he had to encounter because
of his one deed. It also tells us how powerful nature is and what it can do. Sin and repentance
are key themes of this poem. After committing a sin of killing Albatross, he had to suffer
throughout his life.

SUMMARY OF THE POEM

PART —1
Ancient mariner stops one of the three guest who was going to attend the wedding. He held
him with his ‘skinny hand’ and starts telling the guest his story. Guest gets shocked by this
behavior and ask the mariner to leave his hand. In the end, guest had no choice but to listen to
him, so they sat on stone and “bright eyed Mariner” started narrating the whole story.

The journey started cheerfully but later a strong severe storm came that sailed their ship to
south. They were surrounded by nothing but ice and mist and weather was freezing cold. An
albatross emerged from the thick mist and strong breeze started blowing and iceberg started
splitting. Sailors regarded him as god’s help and gave food to him(albatross). In last few
lines of part 1, guest ask mariner why he looks terrified, to which mariner replies he killed
that albatross.
 Page |2

PART —2

In this part, Mariner describes the weather. Sun came out but they were still surrounded by
thick mist. Favorable south winds helped the ship move forward but the only difference was
that “no sweet bird” followed them. Fellow sailors called him wretched/ miserable and
criticized him for killing the bird and fear that they have to face the consequences. Soon ship
got stuck in middle of the silent sea, they had neither food nor water. All of them suffered
both physically and mentally.

After a while “glorious Sun” rose and helped sailors. They praised him for killing the bird
and said it was right to kill the bird that brought fog and mist. Ship again sailed but soon
winds stopped blowing. The effect of albatross death started showing, sky looked like heated
Copper and bloody red sun stood above the pole of ship. Many days went by, but ship stood
still as if it was painted. Ship was surrounded by water, and they were thirsty but couldn’t
drink that water. Thirsty sailors couldn’t utter a word and as a punishment, they hung the
dead albatross around mariner’s neck. First, they Criticized Mariner for killing the bird then
the criticized the bird for bringing mist and then Once again they accused the Mariner of
making their lives miserable by killing the Albatross

PART —3

They had a very weary time, throat dried out by thirst. Mariner noticed a speck/dot moving
closer to their ship. Mariner bit his arm and drank his blood to moisten his tongue and cried a
sail. Finally, a moment of hope, fellow Sailors cheered. As this ship came closer and closer,
mariner noticed it was a ghost ship, the joy turned into horror when he saw two figures 'death’
and the nightmare 'life-in-death’. She was so horrible that even her sight could freeze a
man’s blood with fear. These figures were playing dice – one to win fellow sailors and other
to him. In the end life in death won. Soon, it was dark all around. Fellow mariners twisted
their face with a death-like pain, looked at him with cursing eyes, and quickly fell down dead
without a word or sound. Every soul passed by him with a sound like that of his arrow that
had killed the Albatross.
 Page |3

PART—4

The wedding guest interrupts the story and tells him that he is afraid of him and thinks he’s
possessed by some ghost. Mariner assured him that he is not a ghost but a living man. He was
alone in “wide-wide sea”. He suffered so much yet God should no mercy. He was
surrounded by dead men and only living things that were present there were Mariner and the
sea creatures. First, he looked at the sea but didn’t like it, so he turned his eyes away and
looked at the rotting deck where the dead sailors laid.

He closed his eyes and felt like as if his eyes had pulse. He tried to pray but that too half-
hearted. He mentions that crew bodies were in sweat even though they were dead. Their
bodies neither rot nor smell bad. The curse of fellow sailors reflected in their eyes. For seven
days and nights he had to endure it. Beyond the shadow of the ship, he noticed the water-
snakes and was amazed by their beauty and blessed them unknowingly. The next moment,
Albatross fell from his neck and sank into sea.

PART—5

In this part, Mariner sleeps and wakes up by the pouring rain. He moved and felt so light as if
he had died in his sleep and was a blessed soul now. Ship sailed, dead crew members rose and
started working. The guest says that his appearance has again filled him with fear. Mariner
tells him not to be afraid of him as souls working on the ship were not the dead crew’s souls.
Their bodies were taken by blessed spirits.

On daybreak, they stopped working and gathered around the pole. The mariner Stated that
sometimes he heard the chirping of little birds that seemed to fill the atmosphere of the sea.
Ship sailed even without wind, as if some force pushed it from the bottom. The Ship stopped
at noon and twitched that made mariner fell and he fainted. He heard two voices one asked
whether he was the guilty man who killed the Albatross. These lines show he has regret and
guilt for killing the sweet bird. Other voice (could be God of justice) says he had already
suffered enough punishment.
 Page |4

PART—6

The conversation of those voices continues. Mariner woke up and saw crew member’s bodies
looking at him with pain and cursing look. He could neither look away nor pray to God.
Soon, the breeze blew pleasantly, and he saw lighthouse top, hill of his country. He
questioned himself if it was really his country. The ship crossed the harbor bar. He was happy
and prayed to God to either recover his full consciousness or make him go into everlasting
sleep. He turned to deck and saw bodies lying dead. Angels came and stood quietly beside
corpse and waved at Mariner. The mariner mentioned the silence sank like music on his heart
and it was a heavenly sight. He heard Sailor’s voice; he turned his head and saw a boat
coming towards his ship. On the boat, he saw a sailor and a boy. He prayed and thanked God
and noticed one more person, it was hermit and thought that he would hear his confession and
free him the guilt of killing the Albatross.

PART—7

In last part of poem, Mariner talks about hermit who loved to talk to the mariners. Boat came
near and Ancient Mariner heard them Saying that it was strange that they did not see the host
of the lights (Angels) that had signaled them. Pilot got scared to see such a horrific ship that
he called upon God to save him.

Mariner didn’t Say or do anything. Water split into two and ship sunk, mariner lost his
consciousness and when he gained it again, he found himself on boat. Mariner opened his
mouth to speak but the pilot got scared of him and fainted. Mariner rowed the boat, seeing
this the boy laughed and said, “The Devil knows how to row”. The boat reached at the shore;
mariner stood firm on the ground. Hermit also got out of boat. He asked hermit to listen and
save him from his sin. Mariner told his story and his mind freed from burden.

Ancient mariner tells him that his agony returns and his heart burns till he tells the tale of
killing Albatross. He now goes from land to land telling his story and can identify who must
hear him just by looking at their face. He then goes on to tell what’s going on in the wedding.
Bell of evening prayer rang and told him he has to go now and gives him an advice that God
loves all of us equally and bids farewell. The guest didn’t attend the wedding and went back
home. He was shocked and out of senses. The tale had such a great effect upon his soul and
mind that from the next morning he was wiser than before.