"Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Symbolism Questions: What is the Mariner's punishment at the end of the story? Why is this a punishment for him?
- His punishment is reliving his mistake every day. - He has lost all of his friends and he will be isolated from another person because the person will not want to be his friend. - His altered perception is also a punishment because it is always in his mind.
Symbolism Questions: What does the albatross represent? What does the mariner do that allows the albatross to drop from his neck?
- The albatross is a physical representation of his guilt, which is a reminder how it affects him. - He cannot just move on from the mistake he made. - His character must change. - He has realized what he should have appreciated from the beginning.
Symbolism Questions: To whom does the Mariner tell his story? Why is this symbolic?
- The wedding guest wakes up wiser, but sadder, which relates to the Mariner because the Mariner is wiser because he learned from his mistake, but is sadder because it will affect the rest of his life. - He can never be the person he was before his mistake. - The wedding represents new beginnings and happiness, but also social connections. - The Mariner is keeping the person from making the social connections. - He contrasts the happiness to what else will happen in life.
Symbolism Questions: In what way is the death of the crew symbolic for the Mariner's isolation?
- Their deaths represent how his decisions can affect others. - They also represent how his connections between others break off one by one. - When he is upset, he decides to isolate himself. - He is consumed by the isolation. - He is out in the middle of nowhere, which represents how he actually feels.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Success and Difficulty
- as his fame grew, he suffered increasingly from asthma and rheumatism - he sought relief from pain in the warmer climates of Malta and Italy - his travels did not relieve his pain and caused the collapse of his marriage - left a great legacy in poetry and literary criticism - helped establish the importance of the imagination in literature and in life
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Early Fantasies
- born in Ottery St. Mary on the Devon Cost of England - the last of ten children - at an early age, he retreated into a world of books and fantasy - his father died when he was nine years old - he was sent to school in London and later, he attended Cambridge University
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Utopian Plans
- he became interested in radical politics - befriended Robert Southey - inspired by French Revolution, the two of them planned to form a settlement in Pennsylvania based on their utopian ideas - the plan collapsed when Southey's aunt refused fund their project
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Literary Breakthrough
- in 1795, he moved with his wife, Sara Fricker, to Somerset, where he became a friend of poet William Wordsworth - in 1798, the two of them published "Lyrical Ballads," a join collection of their works (includes "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner") - slowly gained critical attention - caused a revolution in poetic style and thought, firmly establishing the movement known as Romanticism
Study Guide Part III: Who is on the ship?
a specter woman and death
Study Guide Part I: What follows the ship after the ice storm?
an albatross
Study Guide Part V: What do the two voices discuss at the end of the Part V?
curiosity and knowledge discuss what the ancient mariner's punishment should be
Study Guide Part IV: What causes the spell to begin to break?
he begins to bless God's sea creatures
Study Guide Part VII: What is the mariner's punishment?
he has to wonder the Earth and tell his story to everyone and will keep reliving his guilt
Study Guide Part I: What does the ancient mariner do at the end of Part I?
he shoots the bird with his crossbow for no reason
Study Guide Part IV: Why does the wedding guest become fearful of the ancient mariner? What does the wedding guest think that the mariner is?
he thinks the ancient mariner could be a spirit
Study Guide Part VII: How does the wedding guest feel when he wakes up the next day?
he wakes up sadder and wiser
Study Guide Part I: At first, they think it is a good omen. Why?
it is a sign of life
Study Guide Part III: What is horrifying about the ship that is approaching them?
it looks like a skeleton ship that should not be able to float
Study Guide Part V: What happens to the weather once the mariner is able to pray?
it rains, allowing him to hydrate and sleep
Study Guide Part VI: Why is the mariner in a trance?
it was moving too fast for human life to endure
Study Guide Part VI: What about the speed with which the ship is sailing is odd?
it was moving very fast
Study Guide Part VII: What does the mariner tell the wedding guest to learn from his story?
love and reverence to all of God's creatures
Study Guide Part I: To whom is the ancient mariner telling his story?
one of a group of three men attending a wedding
Study Guide Part IV: How long is he left alone on the ship?
seven days and seven nights
Study Guide Part II: What do they hang around the ancient mariner's next?
the albatross
Study Guide Part IV: What happens when the ancient mariner is able to pray?
the albatross falls of his neck because he recognizes the beauty and what he has done wrong
Study Guide Part II: Who do they blame for this?
the ancient mariner
Study Guide Part III: Whom do they curse before this happens?
the ancient mariner
Study Guide Part II: What happens to the weather that is blamed on the event in number 4?
the fog starts to clear
Study Guide Part VI: What is his punishment after he is taken out of the trance?
the men died again
Study Guide Part VII: What happens to the ship after the hermit approaches the ship?
the ship sinks
Study Guide Part VI: What happens to the weather once the curse is broken?
the wind returns to make sure it can continue traveling
Study Guide Part II: What happens to the weather next?
the wind stops blowing with no rain
Study Guide Part III: Why is it so strange that is able to move?
there is no wind or tide
Study Guide Part V: What is strange about the weather conditions under which the ship is sailing?
there was no breeze
Study Guide Part II: How do the crew make themselves accomplices?
they agree with the ancient mariner's action because it seems to have helped the weather
Study Guide Part V: What happens to the ship's crew?
they became spirited and rose to work the ship
Study Guide Part III: What happens to the shipmates after the ship appears?
they dropped dead, one by one, because they initially supported his decision
