". . .For I had done an
hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe : ."
Genre: -Narrative Poem
Sub-genre: - Sea Literature
Nationality: - British
Time Period: - 18th Century
First and Last Read by Dr. Rearick - Feb. 1998 / May 2008
Rated: - A+
Use: Introduction to Literature
Location: - Dr. Rearick's Office also on our
MVNU Mainframe
Here is
another e-text version with illustrations and here's still Another
Finally, here is an
audio version
an
audio file (female) from LibriVox Here's
another audio file. (orignal version male)
Scripture that comes to mind:
7O LORD, you deceived [1] me, and I was deceived [2]; you overpowered me
and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. 8Whenever
I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of
the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. 9But if
I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word
is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding
it in; indeed, I cannot.
23. But as they sailed he fell asleep: and
there came down a storm of wind on
the lake; and they were
filled with water, and were in jeopardy.
Comments: "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is the poem about which the poet, literary critic and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge first applied the phrase ‘willing suspension of disbelief in his Biographia Literaria, published in 1817. He used it when describing the collaboration between himself and William Wordsworth as they worked on their ground breaking work Lyrical Ballads (first edition 1798). He writes that the plan was that while Wordsworth was "to give the charm of novelty to things of every day, and to excite a feeling analogous to the supernatural, by awakening the mind's attention from the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us" his, Coleridge's efforts "should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith." (452).
The
Christian Message of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
It often surprises students when I tell them that I see this work as being profoundly Christian . It is, for many, too weird in its subject material to be in anyway clearly Christian. And yet, it is only through Christianity that the actions within the work make complete sense. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a Christian work describing the process of spiritual loss and reclamation of an individual. This seems true because of the following:
Scriptural
Language
Christian
Symbols
The
Reference to N
The
Mariner's Mission
Scriptural
Language
You will notice that in your hardcopy of the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," as well as the one available on our server, there are a lot of extra comments describing the action of the poem. That's helpful enough, but you should also note that these comments are done in an English which was already archaic even for the 1700s, Coleridge's time. This is no accident. In fact it was purposefully added at a later time by the author as part of his revision of the poem (Click here to see how it appeared in its original publication in 1789). Coleridge purposefully uses King James English in his commentary in order to create a "religious" tone throughout the work. Consider this example from its ending:
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small ;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all. (Emphasis Mine)
Christian
Symbols
Also throughout the work there are images which (while not symbolic) connect with religious iconography (the links here will take you to the actual poem). To mention just a few there is the murder of the innocent Albatross with a cross-bow. There is also the replacement of the cross around the mariner's neck (a sign of grace) with the body of the albatross (the sign of guilt). And furthermore with the coming of grace (the moment when the mariner can pray) the albatross falls off his neck and into the sea where it sinks like lead.
After that incident there is also the coming of rain which has long symbolized God's bounty. (Think of the suffering Fisher King and the rain which falls on his wasteland after his wound (caused by the doleful stroke) is healed by either the grail or the godly Sir Galahad). And beyond this there is the appearance of both wind and fire--the same elements which appear in Pentecost. (A student reminded me today also that these same elements were used by God for the salvation of the Israelites.)
World play and symbols would be hardly conclusive if it were not true that Coleridge's poem follows a pattern in action that apparently follows an archetypal pattern of loss, crises, conversion and return--the central pattern of Christian conversion.
C.G.Jung in the first part of the 20th century suggested that there were universal patterns within the mind of humans which he called archetypes. Building on this CS Lewis writes in An Experiment in Criticism that “There is, then, a particular kind of story which has a value in itself--a value independent of its embodiment in any literary work” (41). Let me build on Lewis and say that stories like these actually contain a recognizable truth that defies reason when one is trying to trace the source because it has, in fact, a supernatural source--God Himself. Thus, in class I have called archetypes the "Whispers of the Divine." Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner is one of these works. A straight Jungian would recognize the pattern established in the poem as that of either "The Traveler" or of "Rebirth." However consider the especially Christian nature of the action
`The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk (church), below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
`God save thee, ancient Mariner !
From the fiends, that plague thee thus !--
Why look'st thou so ?'--With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
And I had done an hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe :
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah wretch ! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow !. . .Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks
Had I from old and young !
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung. . .Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea !
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony. . .I looked to heaven, and tried to pray ;
But or ever a prayer had gusht,
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.
O happy living things ! no tongue
Their beauty might declare :
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware :
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.
The self-same moment I could pray ;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea
The pang, the curse, with which they (his crewmates) died,
Had never passed away :
I could not draw my eyes from theirs,
Nor turn them up to pray.And now this spell was snapt : once more
I viewed the ocean green,
And looked far forth, yet little saw
Of what had else been seen--
O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man !'
The Hermit crossed his brow.
`Say quick,' quoth he, `I bid thee say--
What manner of man art thou ?'
Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale ;
And then it left me free.Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns :
And till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.
I pass, like night, from land to land ;
I have strange power of speech ;
That moment that his face I see,
I know the man that must hear me :
To him my tale I teach.
O Wedding-Guest ! this soul hath been
Alone on a wide wide sea :
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seeméd there to be.O sweeter than the marriage-feast,
'Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the kirk
With a goodly company !--To walk together to the kirk,
And all together pray,
While each to his great Father bends,
Old men, and babes, and loving friends
And youths and maidens gay !
Thus the very story although not overtly Christian is in fact the story of every believer.
Within Coleridge's note about this poem scholars have found repeated references to a sailor named "N." Many have concluded that the sailor is Nelson, the greatest seaman of that century. However, another famous sailor of that time was John Newton formerly a slave trader and later a minister who one night during a horrific storm in the midst of rolling seas, the furies of the gale and the screams of terrified slaves (who knew if the ship were judged in jeopardy they were to be tossed overboard chains and all to lighten the load), in the midst of this hellish moment, was turned to by a fellow crewman who said "If God be not with us, we are surely lost!" That moment changed Newton who began a change in life which led to him leaving slave trading and eventuality became a preacher of the gospel. Those of us in the Evangelical tradition sing his poetry all the time:
Through many dangers toils and snares I have already
come,
tis grace that has brought me safe and grace
will lead me home.
The Mariner's
Evangelical Mission.
Finally there is a Christian connection with the Mariner's mission. Now, many look at the old sailor as cursed since he is compelled to go around the world with his story. However, when we see the nature of God's calling to preach on a number of individuals within scripture, he task does not seem that unlikely.
Are
there any facts in this story? Is there Rime or Reason?
Besides the reference to "N," scholars have also looked about for posible sources for Colerige's narrative of a terrible voyage that changed a life. The following was taken from National Maritime Museum site: <http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.17890>
"I fear thee ancient Mariner
I fear thy skinny hand
And thou art long and lank and brown
As is the ribbed sea-sand"
This famous poem tells of the misfortunes of the seaman who shot an albatross to the detriment of his ship and fellow sailors.
It was probably inspired by a conversation between Coleridge and William Wordsworth who had recently read George Shelvocke's A Voyage Round the World. Shelvocke writes of an incident when his second in command shot an albatross which had been following the ship for several days.
The ship, called the Speedwell, was later lost at Juan Fernandez Island. Others attribute the poem to a dream which Coleridge's friend, George Cruikshank experienced after reading Thomas James's Strange and Dangerous Voyage.
This account refers to an old man who had been shipwrecked and survived by angels piloting the ship. Some say that the old man who speaks to the Wedding Guest at the start of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner may have been Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny on the Bounty and later disappeared. Coleridge would almost certainly have heard the rumour that Christian had removed to England, but neither story can be proved.
True or False:
. _____ In Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the narrating
sailor says that he killed the albatross because he was hungry, and
game is scarce in the Antarctic regions.
. _____ The marriage guest who is approached by the mariner struggles
in vain to
avoid hearing the old man's story.
Here are the words to Amazing Grace
written by John Newton
I found it in an old Hymn book I have at home
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieve:
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Thro' many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath bro't me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor "From Biographia Literaria." English Romantic Writers. Ed. David Perkins, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanouich 1967: 448-491.
Jung, C. G. Four Archetypes: Mother, Rebirth, Spirit and Trickster. Trans. R.F.C. Hill. Princeton: Princeton U P, 1973.
Lewis Clive Staples, An Experiment in Criticism. (1961) New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.
Wilson, Ralph F. "Amazing Grace, The Story of John Newton, Author of America's Favorite Hymn" Joyful Heart Renewal Ministries (1985-2007).<http://www.joyfulheart.com/misc/newton.htm> 23 May 2008.
Amazing
Grace, the story of John Newton, author of America's favorite Hymn.[More
Like This]
URL: http://www.wilsonweb.com/archive/misc/newton.htm
Summary: Recaptured after desertion, the disgraced sailor
was exchanged to the crew of a slave ship bound for Africa. Ralph F. Wilson,
P.O. Box 308, Rocklin, CA 95677, USA.
