Critical Essay Rime of The Ancient Mariner Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of the rime of the ancient mariner by samuel. Gradesaver provides access to 678 study guide pdfs and quizzes, 3587 literature essays, 1193 sample college application essays, 118 lesson plans, and ad free surfing in this premium content, ldquo members only rdquo section of the site! membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders. Part 7 forms the dramatic climax of the poem in which the mariner returns to his own countree. Coleridge uses the focal character, the eponymous ancient mariner, to narrate the aftermath of the journey and his life since and includes dialogue. Renowned french writer and philosopher francois marie arouet better known as voltaire once stated, one merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose. Poets in the romantic period were not preoccupied with reason, unlike most of the intellectuals in the eighteenth century.

Rather, they were able recognize the importance of non rational processes in the mind. Two orphaned boys grow up to be politically concerned authors, one a poet and one a novelist, who use their maritime literature to speak out against the prevailing ills of european society, specifically the wrongful treatment of african people. Climaxes are moments of increased tension which signify a central turning point within a text. Anti climaxes can be defined as moments which subvert expectations as they provide a plot twist which are marked by decreased intensity. Three young men are walking together to a wedding, when one of them is detained by a grizzled old sailor.

The young wedding guest angrily demands that the mariner let go of him, and the mariner obeys. But the young man is transfixed by the ancient mariner rsquo s ldquo glittering eye rdquo and can do nothing but sit on a stone and listen to his strange tale. The mariner says that he sailed on a ship out of his native harbor mdash rdquo below the kirk, below the hill, / below the lighthouse top rdquo mdash and into a sunny and cheerful sea. Hearing bassoon music drifting from the direction of the wedding, the wedding guest imagines that the bride has entered the hall, but he is still helpless to tear himself from the mariner rsquo s story. The mariner recalls that the voyage quickly darkened, as a giant storm rose up in the sea and chased the ship southward.

Quickly, the ship came to a frigid land ldquo of mist and snow, rdquo where ldquo ice, mast high, came floating by rdquo the ship was hemmed inside this maze of ice. As it flew around the ship, the ice cracked and split, and a wind from the south propelled the ship out of the frigid regions, into a foggy stretch of water. A pained look crosses the mariner rsquo s face, and the wedding guest asks him, ldquo why look rsquo st thou so? rdquo the mariner confesses that he shot and killed the albatross with his crossbow. At first, the other sailors were furious with the mariner for having killed the bird that made the breezes blow. But when the fog lifted soon afterward, the sailors decided that the bird had actually brought not the breezes but the fog they now congratulated the mariner on his deed. The wind pushed the ship into a silent sea where the sailors were quickly stranded the winds died down, and the ship was ldquo as idle as a painted ship / upon a painted ocean. Rdquo the ocean thickened, and the men had no water to drink as if the sea were rotting, slimy creatures crawled out of it and walked across the surface.

Some of the sailors dreamed that a spirit, nine fathoms deep, followed them beneath the ship from the land of mist and snow. The sailors blamed the mariner for their plight and hung the corpse of the albatross around his neck like a cross. A weary time passed the sailors became so parched, their mouths so dry, that they were unable to speak. Too dry mouthed to speak out and inform the other sailors, the mariner bit down on his arm sucking the blood, he was able to moisten his tongue enough to cry out, ldquo a sail! a sail! rdquo the sailors smiled, believing they were saved. But as the ship neared, they saw that it was a ghostly, skeletal hull of a ship and that its crew included two figures: death and the night mare life in death, who takes the form of a pale woman with golden locks and red lips, and ldquo thicks man rsquo s blood with cold. Rdquo death and life in death began to throw dice, and the woman won, whereupon she whistled three times, causing the sun to sink to the horizon, the stars to instantly emerge. As the moon rose, chased by a single star, the sailors dropped dead one by one mdash all except the mariner, whom each sailor cursed ldquo with his eye rdquo before dying.

The wedding guest declares that he fears the mariner, with his glittering eye and his skinny hand. The mariner reassures the wedding guest that there is no need for dread he was not among the men who died, and he is a living man, not a ghost. Alone on the ship, surrounded by two hundred corpses, the mariner was surrounded by the slimy sea and the slimy creatures that crawled across its surface. He tried to pray but was deterred by a ldquo wicked whisper rdquo that made his heart ldquo as dry as dust.

Assistance With Writing a Case Study

Rdquo he closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight of the dead men, each of who glared at him with the malice of their final curse. For seven days and seven nights the mariner endured the sight, and yet he was unable to die. At last the moon rose, casting the great shadow of the ship across the waters where the ship rsquo s shadow touched the waters, they burned red. The great water snakes moved through the silvery moonlight, glittering blue, green, and black, the snakes coiled and swam and became beautiful in the mariner rsquo s eyes. He blessed the beautiful creatures in his heart at that moment, he found himself able to pray, and the corpse of the albatross fell from his neck, sinking ldquo like lead into the sea. Rdquo ldquo the rime of the ancient mariner rdquo is written in loose, short ballad stanzas usually either four or six lines long but, occasionally, as many as nine lines long.

The meter is also somewhat loose, but odd lines are generally tetrameter, while even lines are generally trimeter. There are exceptions: in a five line stanza, for instance, lines one, three, and four are likely to have four accented syllables mdash tetrameter mdash while lines two and five have three accented syllables. The rhymes generally alternate in an abab or ababab scheme, though again there are many exceptions the nine line stanza in part i, for instance, rhymes aabccbddb.

Many stanzas include couplets in this way mdash five line stanzas, for example, are rhymed abccb, often with an internal rhyme in the first line, or abaab, without the internal rhyme. Its peculiarities make it quite atypical of its era it has little in common with other romantic works. Rather, the scholarly notes, the epigraph, and the archaic language combine to produce the impression intended by coleridge, no doubt that the ldquo rime rdquo is a ballad of ancient times like ldquo sir patrick spence, rdquo which appears in ldquo dejection: an ode rdquo , reprinted with explanatory notes for a new audience. Unnaturally old and skinny, with deeply tanned skin and a glittering eye , stops a wedding guest who is on his way to a wedding reception with two companions. He tries to resist the ancient mariner, who compels him to sit and listen to his woeful tale.

The ancient mariner tells his tale, largely interrupted save for the sounds from the wedding reception and the wedding guest 39 s fearsome interjections. One day when he was younger, the ancient mariner set sail with two hundred other sailors from his native land. The day was sunny and clear, and all were in good cheer until the ship reached the equator. Suddenly, a terrible storm hit and drove the ship southwards into a rime a strange, icy patch of ocean.

Narrative Essay Synonyms

The towering, echoing rime was bewildering and impenetrable, and also desolate until an albatross appeared out of the mist. No sooner than the sailors fed it did the ice break and they were able to steer through. As long as the albatross flew alongside the ship and the sailors treated it kindly, a good wind carried them and a mist followed.

Pros And Cons of Homeschooling Essay

The other sailors alternately blamed the ancient mariner for making the wind die and praised him for making the strange mist disappear. The sun became blindingly hot, and there was no drinkable water amidst the salty ocean, which tossed with terrifying creatures. They hung the albatross around the ancient mariner 39 s neck as a symbol of his sin. After a painful while, a ship appeared on the horizon, and the ancient mariner bit his arm and sucked the blood so he could cry out to the other sailors. The ship was strange: it sailed without wind, and when it crossed in front of the sun, its stark masts seemed to imprison the sun. When the ship neared, the ancient mariner could see that it was a ghost ship manned by death.

Essay About Friendship In Hindi

In the form of a man, and life in death, in the form of a beautiful, naked woman. Life in death won the ancient mariner 39 s soul, and the other sailors were left to death. Suddenly all of the sailors cursed the ancient mariner with their eyes and dropped dead on the deck. Their souls zoomed out of their bodies, each taunting the ancient mariner with a sound like that of his crossbow. Their corpses miraculously refused to rot they stared at him unrelentingly, cursing him with their eyes. One night he noticed some beautiful water snakes frolicking at the ship 39 s prow in the icy moonlight.