The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Themes

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Hypnotism implied - "by thy glittering eye"
Internal rhyme used often as a poetic device
Repetition of "cross" and "cross-bow" appear as a connection between the Mariner's action and the crucifixion of Christ - significance of religion to Coleridge
Coleridge pays a lot of attention to beautifying the sky and the sea - in the moon light the Mariner watches and blesses the "water-snakes" - aesthetic pleasure in this supernatural tale - theme of beauty
Moon foretells a change? - Richard Gravil
Experience of this story has belonged to another dimension? - in the supernatural realm or in the psyche of his mind?
Outcome of the story strengthens significance of the Romantic "One Life" - whilst this prospect should excite the Wedding Guest, it instead saddens him, this is questionable... Why has he been chosen? Such gaps left in the narrative
Poem's epigraph from Burnet - world is full of spiritual agents, comforting or frightening. Is there a moral universe?
Themes of the poem, according to Warren, are 1. Sacramental vision (One Life) and 2. theme of understanding vs imagination

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Warren - "Poem of Pure Imagination" Essay (1945) - filled with powerful imagination yet not meaningless
Albatross has Christian, or Christ-like associations, is the Mariner representing the 'original sin'?
George Whalley - Autobiographical aspects of the poem to Coleridge in a metaphysical way
One can read the poem as a central Romantic myth - a treatment of the archetype of the Wanderer - Wandering Jew, Ahasuerus who mocked Christ, condemned to wander the Earth until Judgement Day (Esoteric references)
Can show as an allegory of the fall of an individual/race
Coleridge's deep sense of sin - justified?
Parable of crime and experience - greater consciousness and vision into the meaning of existence?
Act must symbolise something else? As shooting an albatross should not merit such a cruel fate? - Individual guilt? Or represenation of historical national or even universal guilt?
The Rime takes place across two thresholds - imp. to the narrative makes it more unreliable, yet the Mariner as an intradiegetic narrator clarifies this

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The nightmarish hell violently asserts itself into social normality, plaguing the Mariner - transforming the mundane
Wedding Guest is also important as a representation of the 'listener' in stories used as a narrative technique - can be compared to Lockwood in Wuthering Heights - acts as an internal persona for the reader from the author. Can also make it significantly easier for the poet to direct the reader's gaze
Frame narrative is key! - The basis and didactic message of the epic poem is all in the frame narrative
Coleridge deploys stereotypes - ultra-innocent and demoniacal (Nightmare Life-in-Death)
The poem is a subtle modification of traditional ballad metre
Use of alliteration, assonances and internal rhymes -- all of which in the line "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud"

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SUFFER PUNISHMENT FOR HIS CRIME, ARE BECALMED
Crew cry out against him - but commend him when the fog goes
Sail north - become becalmed at equator - suffer from thirst, slimy things on the surface - lights are on water and masts at night
Spirit follows them under the ship nine fathoms down
Hang the bird about his neck

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SKELETON SHIP APPEARS - GAMBLE FOR SOULS - LIFE-IN-DEATH WINS , SOULS FLY OUT
Far off ship seen - rejoice thinking they are saved - but despair when they question how a ship can sail without wind
Skeleton ship with only a woman (Life-in-Death) and a mate (Death) for crew
Play dice for the crew and she wins - the sun sets and the skeleton ship departs
Crew dies one by one and their souls fly out

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LEFT ALONE FOR 7 DAYS, BLESSES THE WATER SNAKES - SPELL IS BROKEN
Wedding guest fears he is speaking to a ghost - Mariner assures him he did not die
Left alone and tries to pray but cannot - 7 days he looks at the dead men and cannot die
Sees the water snakes by the light of moon - blesses them and is able to pray - the albatross falls from his neck

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IT RAINS - SHIP IS MOVED NORTH, CREW IS REANIMATED BY SPIRITS, HE SWOONS AND HEARS TWO VOICES
Roaring wind and storm appears - dead crew rises and man the ship
Wedding guest is afraid - reassured that it is not the souls of dead men that reanimate them, but a troop of spirits blest - sing around the mast at dawn till noon - continuing to sail
Spirit from the snow and ice moves them to the equator again - ship stands still - moves back and forth and makes a sudden bound - he swoons
Hears two voices in his sleep tell of his crime and trials

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TWO VOICES TALK, WAKES UP IN HIS NATIVE LAND. SPIRITS SIGNAL THE SHORE, BOAT APPEARS
Two voices talk back and forth as ship is going northward faster than any human could endure
Wakes up and ship is sailing slowly, crew is still up and eyes still curse him
Spell is broken - sweet breeze blows on him alone - sees native country
Spirits leave dead bodies - each appears in own form full of light - stand as signals to the land but make no sound
Boat is heard coming - Pilot, his boy, and the Hermit are on the boat - hopes the Hermit will shrieve his soul to wash away the blood of the albatross

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SHIP SINKS, BUT HE IS SAVED. HE IS COMPLELLED TO WANDER AND TELL HIS TALE
Hermit who lives in woods there loves to talk to mariners
Lights of the signal have disappeared - boat appears warped sails like skeletons
Rumble is heard under water - ship splits and sinks
Body floats and found dragged aboard a boat - when he moves his lips they scream, he rows the boat
He begs the Hermit to shrieve him. Mariner is overcome by a fit - forces him to tell his tale - since then he has had to travel from land to land to tell tale
He has powers of speech and knows the men to whom he must tell the tale
He tells how sweet it is for him to have company after being alone at sea - tells wedding guest to love all things great and small - wedding guest leaves and rose the next morn wiser and sadder

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