The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Part 2

After the slaying of the albatross, the ship is becalmed, and the sailors tormented by drought. the mariners believe the Ancient Mariner has offended one of the spirits, they make him wear the albatross about his neck, in place of the crucifix.

Part 1

An old sailor meets three wedding guests and detains one. Wedding guest is mesmerized by the Mariner's urgent tale. The mariner confesses he shot the albatross.

Different Interpretations

Crime and punishment poem Supernatural / Gothic poem Religious allegory Poem about the slave trade Psychoanalytic approach

Part 6

Mariner's ship returns to his home port. A rowing boat approaches bringing the Pilot and his boy, and a Hermit. The hermit brings hope to the mariner.

Part 5

Spirits work on the vessel, Mariner has fainted and two spirits of the region discuss his fate.The ship moves on without wind. The dead bodies of his shipmates rise and work the ropes. The polar spirit (supernatural agency) causes the ship to move. The mariner hears two other spirits discuss his crime.

Part 7

The mariner's eternal penance begins. Ship sinks, Mariner is pulled aboard the Pilot's boat. Wherever he goes he recognises those who need to hear his tale, like the wedding-guest. The mariner's last words are a message to him, concerning the loneliness of the soul without God and the necessity of prayer.

Part 3

The nightmare life-in-death wins the Mariner's soul; Death wins the crew. The skeleton ship is sailing when there is no winds (supernatural). two hundred sailors die that night.

Part 4

involuntarily the mariner blesses the water-snakes. When the wedding-guest fears he is listening to a host, the mariner assures him that he is alive. He can't avoid the curse, he sees in the eyes of his dead companions. He admires the water snakes' beauty. The albatross falls off and sinks into the water.