The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: Differing Interpretations

The power of a poem to affect those with the ability to read or listen or understand is an important aspect of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, if Coleridge's background as a man of letters is taken into account in an analysis of the poem. Coleridge appears to have considered the creation of extraordinary imagery as a funda-mental element of poetry, as well as the singular aspect of poetry that distinguishes it as the primary and most durable form of art.

I defined poetry to be the art, or whatever better term our language may afford, of representing external nature and human thoughts, both relatively to human affections, so as to cause the production of as great immediate pleasure in each part, as is compatible with the largest possible Sum of pleasure on the whole . . . I venerate the Last Judgment and the Prophets of Michel Angelo Buonarotti--yet the very pain which I repeatedly felt as I lost myself in gazing upon them . . . that their having been painted in fresco was the sole cause that they had not been abandoned to all the accidents of a dangerous transp

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enitent within the Christian meaning of the term, the complex of his feelings and ideas follows the path of the sacrament of penance and extends the narrative themes out beyond the poem, into the "afterworld" of the "otherworld" of the poem. Catholic doctrine would hold that the sinner (in this case, the Mariner) must confess and repent in order to be forgiven. In addition to the for-giveness, however, there is the matter of penance, or the sentence for the crime. Part of penance may be temporal, and part of it spiritual. The Mariner's penance appears to be, as he says, to tell the story from time to time, for the reason that he has been ordained by the divine for that end. And it is an end with no end. The end of Part V of the poem, which closes with the image of the debate of the Polar Spirits and the other demons of the sea, is the keynote of this idea: "The man hath penance done,/And penance more will do." The penance is inescapable; sin has consequences. Accord-ingly, the requirements of the penance reassert themselves at unexpected times and in unexpected ways. It begins, ironically, from the moment of forgiveness, from the moment that the spell upon the ocean has been broken: Since then, at an uncertain hour, That agony r
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Ancient Mariner, Wedding Guest, Bostetter Warren, Bodkin Mariner, Jew Cain, Occasionally Bostetter, Church Pilot's, Warren Coleridge's, Death Life, God All-holy, ancient mariner, rime ancient, rime ancient mariner, wedding guest, dice game, complex feelings, sense mariner's, mariner poetic, universal law, ghastly tale, notion life, ancient mariner poetic, primitive savage--utterly arbitrary, savage--utterly arbitrary ruthlessness, climate rime ancient,
Approximate Word count = 4907
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page)