S. T. Coleridge’s 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' Explaining the Part One

Coleridge’s  'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' not only a tale of  horror in which a mariner is hounded by disaster and supernatural forces after murdering an albatross. But it is much more than that. Coleridge’s underlying theme is that all things that inhabit the natural world have an inherent value and beauty, and that it is necessary for humanity to recognize and respect these qualities.

The settings in 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' at a wedding party somewhere at British seaport London and  on a long ocean voyage at the South Pole. In the first part of the book we find fairly realistic descriptions of the ship and its crew. Gradually we are transported to the world of uncanny ocean as well as the domain of guilty conscience of the mariner.

Main Points of Part the First:

Lines 1-20: Mariner detains wedding-guest.

21-30: Prosperous start from port.

81-40: Guest hears music, but must stay.

41-62; Ship drawn by storms to South Pole, through ice and awful sounds.

63-78: Albatross for nine days bird of good omen; ship turns north.

79-82:  Mariner kills the bird.

Text	Help in Hand
It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. “By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stoppest thou me?	An ancient Mariner meeteth three gallants bidden to a wedding feast, and detaineth one.
“The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,(5) And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set: May'st hear the merry din.” He holds him with his skinny hand, “There was a ship,” quoth he.(10) “Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!” Eftsoons his hand dropt he. He holds him with his glittering eye— The Wedding-Guest stood still, And listens like a three years child:(15) The Mariner hath his will.	The Wedding-Guest is spell-bound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and constrained to hear his tale.
The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,(20) Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the light-house top.	The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward
Out of the sea came he!(25) And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea.	with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the Line.
Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon— The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,(30) For he heard the loud bassoon. The bride hath paced into the hall, Red as a rose is she; Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy.(35)	The Wedding- Guest heareth the bridal music; but the Mariner continueth his tale.
The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, Yet he cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he Was tyrannous and strong: He struck with his o'ertaking wings, And chased south along.	The ship drawn by a storm toward the South Pole.
With sloping masts and dipping prow, As who pursued with yell and blow(45) Still treads the shadow of his foe And forward bends his head, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, And southward aye we fled. And now there came both mist and snow,(50) And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald. And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen:(55) Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken— The ice was all between.	The land of ice, and of fearful sounds, where no living thing was to be seen.
The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,(60) Like noises in a swound! At length did cross an Albatross: Thorough the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God's name.(65)	Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality.
It ate the food it ne'er had eat, And round and round it flew. The ice did split with a thunder-fit; The helmsman steered us through! And a good south wind sprung up behind;(70) The Albatross did follow, And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariners' hollo!	And lo! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice.
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine;(75) Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the white Moon-shine. “God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends, that plague thee thus!— Why look'st thou so?”—With my cross-bow(80) I shot the Albatross.	The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen

Key Points:

1. The poem begins with the Ancient Mariner telling his story to a Wedding Guest.
2. The Mariner recounts a voyage in which he and his crew kill an albatross, a seabird.
3. The killing of the albatross brings a curse on the ship, and the crew is beset by storms and bad luck.
4. The Mariner is the only one who survives, and he is forced to wander the earth for many years, telling his story to anyone who will listen.
5. The poem ends with the Mariner finally finding redemption, but only after he has learned to love and respect all of God's creatures.

  Ardhendu De

References

Coleridge, S. T. (1999, January 1). The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: Vol. Vol. 1 (P. H. Fry, Ed.). https://doi.org/10.1604/9780312112233