A Critical Analysis Of The Poem The Ancient Mariner
The Ancient Mariner illustrates the working of the inexorable law of one life. Any infringement of the law inevitably invites punishment. The Mariner shoots the innocent and friendly albatross, thus suffering misery in the form of loneliness and spiritual anguish. He becomes aware of the enormity of his sin and undergoes severe penance. This extreme penance burns out his ego, the sense of separateness, and finally he realizes oneness of all life. He discovers the joy of human companion in God and declares the moral, “He prayeth best, who loveth best.”
The journey of The Ancient Mariner is symbolic. He undergoes an experience which belongs to a world beyond the phenomenal world. In this supernatural world, the ordinary law of cause and effect does not operate. In The Ancient Mariner, Coleridge constructs a series of cause-effect situations which on the face of it, are logical and irrational. The introduction of the storm blast, the polar spirit, Nightmare, Life-in-Death and the troop of spirits is not subject to the law of cause and effect.
Through the ministry of awe, the Mariner is led to realise the existence of a spiritual order of universal love, the sacramental vision, the vision of oneness of life. We are not separate and independent entities. We are part of one web of Life. When this truth dawns upon him, his whole gestalt undergoes a radical change. He views his thoughts and acts as a spectator, a bystander watching at the roadside. His ego was annihilated and was reborn into self which pervades the whole universe. Evil and good deeds have both disappeared as if he had performed them in a dream.
The Ancient Mariner is a harmonious whole. The natural, the supernatural and the human are artistically fused. The poem emerges as a finished work of art. We are led to see into the mystery of life that is made up of both the natural and the supernatural. Finally we come to believe with the poet the sovereign law of life and have enshrined in the lines:
He prayeth best, who loveth best,
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
In Part I of the poem, the Mariner intrudes with the festivities of a wedding going on the background, and detains one of the three wedding guests to listen to his tale. The sudden appearance of the Mariner with his ‘long grey beard’, ‘glittering eye’ and ‘skinny hand’ strikes a sombre and discordant note to the gay atmosphere of the wedding. The wedding guest is impatient to get away, but the Mariner hypnotizes him with his appearances and speech in such a way that he is rooted to the ground and is forced to hear out the Mariner like a three-year-old child. The gay atmosphere of the wedding is portrayed by the use of expressions like ‘merry din’, ‘loud bosom’, ‘bride pacing the hall red as a rose’, ‘the merry minstrelsy’. The Mariner begins to narrate his journey which also commences on a happy note: ‘the ship was cheered’, ‘merrily did we drop.’
The wedding guest is the symbol of social life as yet uninitiated to the spiritual life, whereas the Mariner stands for spiritual life having realized the aloneness of his self. The narration of his sombre story by the Mariner is interspersed with the description of rejoicing going on in the wedding house. The sombre and the cheerful are woven fine so as to present the whole picture of life.
After line 40 of the narration, the atmosphere suddenly becomes sombre with the advent of the storm blast. The ship has entered the world of Nature beyond the control of man. The ship is now at the mercy of the elements of Nature. The bright cheerful atmosphere becomes dismal, horrible and dangerous. There is ice all around which is here the symbol of death. The unfavourable wind is blowing and driving the ship to the polar region. The mariners are in a hopeless and helpless situation. They see no succour to their misery.
The sudden appearance of an albatross on the ship brought relief to their frayed nerves. The bird provided the much-needed company to relieve them of the tedium of loneliness, and to give them solace. The appearance of the bird augurs well for the Mariners as the ice splits and a favourable South wind starts blowing. The storm has blown over and the ship once again sails smoothly. At this point it is revealed in dramatic manner that the Mariner, driven by some unconscious impulse, has killed the innocent, auspicious and friendly bird.
The Part II of the poem begins with the change of wind. The ship sailing northwards comes out of Antarctic and enters the Pacific Ocean and is heading towards the Equator. The sin of killing the friendly bird haunts the Mariner and his companions. They blame the Mariner for this gruesome murder of the good bird that had caused the unfavourable wind to blow. After sometime, when the sun shines brightly and clears off the fog and mist, they change their opinion and justify the killing of the albatross. In this way they make themselves accomplices in the crime. But their euphoria is short-lived. The ship soon enters the silent and still sea. It becomes close and the ship stands still. Dark sadness supervenes. The sun looks like the moon turning the day into virtual night. There is no sign of life anywhere. Death stalks the whole atmosphere. The ship and the ocean appear as ‘painted’, bereft of all life. There is extreme heat. The irony of their situation is that there is water all around but they cannot take even a drop to quench their thirst. They are stupefied by acute thirst and paralyzed by terror. Their tongues are ‘withered’ at the roots and their throats ‘choked’. The words ‘withered’ and ‘choked’ show the intensity of their thirst.
Corruption is rampant everywhere. Things are rotting in the stagnant sea. Abominable slimy creatures are crawling upon the sea presenting a horrible sight. The Albatross at this stage begins to be avenged. A tormenting spirit dogs them to avenge the killing of the bird. The shipmates cast an accusing look at him and hold him responsible for their miserable condition. They hang the dead albatross around his neck in place of the cross thus making him a damned sinner.
The nominal groups, animate and inanimate, abound in this part of the poem. The animate nominal groups refer to the Mariner and his companions. The inanimate nominal groups like ‘sea’, ‘mist’, ‘wind’, ‘breeze’, ‘fog’, ‘copper sky’, ‘noon’, ‘moon’, ‘night’, relate to the objects of Nature. ‘Death fires’, ‘a witch’s oil’, ‘dream’, ‘the spirit’, ‘the nine fathom deep’ are objects showing the supernatural in a manner that everything is received with credibility. The expressions like ‘silent sea’, ‘copper sky’, ‘bloody sun’, ‘slimy things’, ‘slimy sea’, strike terror in the mind of the reader. The repetition of the nominal water shows the desperate situation of the mariners. The nominal ‘sun’ is repeated three times. Coleridge uses the rising and setting of the sun not only to indicate the time and the direction of the ship but to show the change of direction in the Mariner’s mind also.
In a dazed state afflicted with extreme thirst and heat, time hangs heavy on the shipmates. Suddenly the Mariner spies something moving towards them. A ship of a sort is approaching them. Thirst and heat has rendered them speechless. The Mariner bits his arm and sucks blood to quench his thirst and is thus able to speak. He regains his power of speech and informs his companion about the approaching ship. At first they are glad to see the ship coming, but soon they are disillusioned and consequently feel horrified on seeing the mysterious movements of the ship without wind or tide. The ribs of the ship appear as bars against the rays of the setting sun. The horrible inmates of the ship were Nightmare, Life-in-Death and Death. The Life-in-Death struck terror in their mind with her ‘red lips’, golden yellow looks and ‘white skin’. Life-in-Death and Death diced for the ship’s crew and the former wins the Mariner. In the meantime the sun sets and it becomes dark.
In Part III of the poem, the human nominal groups again provide cohesion as they relate to the Mariner and his companions, round whom the poem revolves. Though this part is full of supernatural beings and incidents, yet the setting remains natural. ‘A speck’, ‘a mist’, ‘a shape’, ‘Life-in-Death’, ‘a spectre bark’ are the objects showing the supernatural. The air of reality is imparted by the natural setting. The supernatural appears in human form with his strength and weakness. The expressions like ‘horned Moon’ and ‘the star dogged Moon’ deepen the supernatural atmosphere. Nature acts in such a way as to advance the action of the story. ‘The spectre bark’ appears on the scene to seal the fate of the mariners. The nominal ‘weary’ occurs five times and the impending collapse and death. The broad and burning face of the setting sun forebodes terrible happenings. The nominal ‘Moon’ is repeated twice. The appearance of the ‘Star-dogged Moon’ is the precursor of mass death of the mariners. The moon, as it were, exercises both good and evil effect. It is the star between its horns that represents the demonic vengeance upon the mariners. As the Life-in-Death begins her work, the two hundred ship-mates drop down dead, one by one. Their souls pass by the Mariner making ‘whizz’ sound similar to that made by his crossbow when he killed the Albatross. So the ‘whizz’ sound reminded him of his heinous crime.
The use of most of the verbs like ‘parched’, ‘glazed’, ‘unslaked’, ‘baked’ bring out the extreme thirst and the utter desolation under which the mariners are smarting. Extreme thirst and fright has benumbed them. The sight of the skeleton ship makes the heart of the Mariner ‘beat fast’ and ‘thicked’ his blood with fear. Pitch darkness increases their fear. Darkness seems to ‘sip’ the Mariner’s blood. The ship-mates are so overwhelmed with horror that they can neither ‘groan’ nor ‘sigh’ and in their utter despair abandoned themselves to their fate.
In Part IV of the poem, the Mariner goes through the anguish of remorse and repentance. His whole being is transformed. He, who had earlier expressed revulsion at the sight of the slimy water snakes, is now filled with love for them. His whole gestalt, the total perspective to life, has undergone a radical change. Earlier encased in his little ego, he viewed the snakes as something separate from himself. He even regretted that human beings were lying dead and rotting while the ugly snakes were alive. Now blessed by the divine grace he has come to realize that outward beauty is skin deep and underneath every form surges the same spirit in all creatures. There is nothing high or low, ugly and beautiful. All the contraries disappear at the spiritual attitude. On the realization of this truth, he is redeemed of his sin. The dead albatross fell off his neck and sank into the sea to symbolically mark his redemption.
At the stage of the narration of the story, the wedding guest is overwhelmed with fear when he hears that all the mariners had dropped down dead. The Mariner’s ‘skinny hand’ and ‘glittering eye’ fan his fears that the Mariner is none other than a ghost talking to him.
The nominal group ‘alone’ occurs four times in two lines. It expresses the Mariner’s utter loneliness and his frustrated craving for human companionship. The heinous crime of killing the albatross weighs heavily on his soul and torments him. The utter isolation is symbolized by the ribbed sea bed. The Mariner stands forlorn amidst the rotting corpses of his ship-mates on the deck surrounded by the rotting sea infested with abominable water snakes. The extreme physical and spiritual loneliness bring our genuine remorse and repentance in the Mariner. Being forsaken by man and God, and he finds himself in the boundary situation whereby he dies to his old egoistic self and is reborn.
The nominal ‘weary eye’ shows the Mariner in a desperate situation. The Mariner is utterly fed up with his hellish life and expresses his wish to die.
The nominals ‘slimy thing’, ‘rotting sea’, ‘rotting deck’ relate to all pervading corruption and evil.
The ‘white’ moonlight is a contrast to the ominous red shadow of the ship. The yearning for a movement of the moon replaces the sense of revulsion for the rotting stagnation felt by the Mariner. The movement of the moon symbolizes life that can put an end to the rot which has set in the static universe. The work of retribution takes place under the light of the sun while redemption occurs under the light of the moon.
The ‘spring’ is an image of divine grace and benediction. It is noteworthy that the internal and the external images blend in the poem. The spring of love that gushed from the Mariner’s heart is followed by the longed for shower of rain.
The use of verbs like ‘lie’, ‘die’, and ‘closed’ creates a death-like atmosphere. The repetition of the word ‘fear’ engenders fear in the heart of the readers also.
The ‘albatross’ and ‘the water snakes’ stand for one life. The Mariner’s realization of the truth of one life ushers in his redemption.
In part V of the poem, with the redemption of his sin, the Mariner feels relieved and a great weight of guilt is off his mind. He feels light and falls into pleasant sleep. Earlier he could not sleep for seven nights because of the curse that afflicted him and the nagging conscience that tormented him day and night. When he awakes from his sweet sleep, he finds that it is raining. There is drought no more. Rain is the symbol of divine grace with which the Mariner is now blessed. Now he finds himself at one with all nature. The dead bodies are manned by the spirits and they rise up to do their assigned jobs on the ship. The ship moves on. The mariner’s nephew is at his work beside him, but there is no communication between them. Though physically quite near, they are far apart spiritually. It is intolerable and painful to the Mariner. At this stage of the narration of the story, the wedding guest interrupts the Mariner and gives vent to his fears. But the Mariner at once silences him and allays his fear saying the dead had not come to life. Only their bodies moved because they were possessed by the spirits.
The Mariner comes out of his shell of egoism and enjoys the company of birds and the heavenly bodies. The spirit from the South Pole carries the ship as far as the Equator. At this stage, the Polar Spirit leaves the ship. The ship moves on silently. The penance of the Mariner falls down on the deck and passes into a trance. When he comes out of the trance, he is a completely changed man.
On coming out of his trance, the Mariner hears the Polar Spirit’s fellow demons engaged in conversation. One demon tells the other that the Mariner is the very guilty person who has committed the heinous crime of killing the friendly and innocent guest bird. The other demon remarks that the man has already undergone penance enough and shall do more penance.
This part is changed with supernatural atmosphere. The ‘sleep’ which the Mariner has experienced, is’ in fact, the vision he has had of the ideal universe which is interrelated and interdependent.
The ‘dream’ state which is invoked here is, in fact, the visionary state into which the Mariner falls and experiences supernatural things. He has the vision in which he hears the two voices of the Polar Spirit’s fellow demons.
The nominal ‘rain’ stands for divine grace and heralds the removal of the curse and the drought with which the place is afflicted. It rescues the Mariner from the jaws of death. The vision of ‘a hundred fire flags’ awakens in him the awareness of the ideal universe. The Sun is shown as the source of both light and sound which are the manifestations of the single identity.
The dead bodies of the mariners working on the ship present a ghastly and horrible scene. It strikes terror in the heart of the wedding guest as well as readers.
The use of verbs like ‘shook’, ‘burst’, ‘hurried’, ‘danced’, ‘roared’ mark the advent of movement of life in a death-like situation. When the curse is removed, the Mariner’s loneliness is broken. The ship begins to move. Even the dead mariners seem to rise to life. The helmsman ‘steered’ as the mariners ‘worked at the ropes. They ‘raised’ their limbs. The Ancient Mariner himself pulled at a rope.
The rescue of the Mariner from damnation and death by the divine grace is celebrated by Nature and Super nature. The birds sing sweet songs to mark the occasion.
In part VI, the conversation between the two demon spirits continues. When questioned by the first spirit, the second replies that the course of the ship is being directed by the benign Moon. The ship is moving at a supernatural speed so as to reach its destination before the Mariner comes out of his trance because the physical frame of the Mariner will not be able to stand the strain and stress of the fantastic speed of the ship. Coleridge makes use of the scientific principle of Venturi effect when he makes the Second Demon explain to the First Demon that the extraordinary speed is achieved by decreasing the air pressure in front of the ship and increasing it from behind. When the Mariner comes out of his trance at night, the ship resumes its normal speed. The atmosphere is calm and the mind of the Mariner is at ease.
The dead man still stands s on the deck staring at him with cursing look. The Mariner dares not look back to the past unpleasant events. He looks to the hopeful future. The welcome gentle breeze blows over him and showers benediction on him. He is overwhelmed with joy when he spies the familiar landmarks like the lighthouse, the hill, the church appearing in reverse order. He recognizes that he is in his own native country. Purged of all dross of guilt, he can now pray.
As the angelic spirit leaves the dead bodies, the bodies drop down once again, lifeless and flat. Before leaving the deck, the spirits signal to the shore for rescue. The Mariner sees a boat carrying the Pilot, the Pilot’s boy and the Hermit, coming toward the ship. He is glad to think that the Hermit will redeem his soul of sin.
The nominals, ‘the ocean’, ‘the moon’, ‘wave’, ‘wind’, and ‘breeze’ describe Nature in its tranquil moments. Peace pervades the whole Nature, so does it in the mind of the Mariner. The pleasant and soothing whiteness of the Moon has replaced the burning red Sun. The benign Moon acts as the guiding and presiding power. The redemption of the Mariner starts under the silent, moving Moon. The Hermit acts as priest of both Nature and God and unites the Mariner with Man and God.
The phrase ‘tell me’ is repeated twice to show the impatience and curiosity on the part of the First Spirit to know what makes the ship move at that supernatural speed. Silence and calm has replaced the noise and agitation. The divine grace works through the seraph band that man the dead bodies to make them work on the deck and finally signal to shore to secure help for the Mariner. The verbs ‘shrieve’ and ‘wash away’ are used to stand for the removal of the stain of sin from the soul of the Mariner.
The part VII, the concluding part of the poem, finds the Mariner in his own native country. The boat, carrying the Pilot, the Pilot’s boy and the Hermit, approaches the ship. They are amazed to find the ship dilapidated, desolate and diabolical. The Pilot hesitates to take the boat further to the ship, but the Hermit urges him to ‘push on.’ The Mariner is so stupefied that he can neither speak nor stir. As soon as the boat comes close beneath the ship, the ship goes down ‘like lead’ and sinks. The sky and ocean resound with the loud and dreadful sound the ship makes while sinking. The Mariner is ‘stunned’ and ‘floated’ on the ocean like a drowned man. The crew of the boat takes him to be dead and retrieves his body. When the Mariner opens his mouth to speak, the Pilot is so terrified that he falls down senseless. The Hermit too is afraid and prays to ward off his fear. When the Mariner begins to row, the Pilot’s boy goes mad with fear.
When they land on the shore, the Mariner entreats the Hermit to redeem him of the sin, but the stain of sin cannot be washed away so easily. He finds himself condemned permanently, tied to the wheel of penance. From time to time, throughout his future life, he is doomed to travel from place to place and unburden the agony of his soul by narrating his ghastly tale to a suitable listener.
When the vesper bell rings he informs the wedding guest that he must go to Church to pray. He teaches the wedding guest that the best prayer is love and reverence for all creatures, as the same spirit pervades all phenomenal manifestations. The Mariner’s words have profound effect on the wedding guest and lead him to realize the truth of oneness of life. The wedding guest is now a totally changed man. He renounces the pleasure of wedding rejoicings and turns to pray.
Most of the nominals like ‘wood’, ‘sea’, ‘moss’, ‘old oak stump’, ‘leaves’, ‘brook’, ‘snow’, ‘hill’ relate to Nature and objects of Nature. ‘Church’ stands for religious life while ‘wedding’ for worldly pleasures. The Mariner chooses religious life and spurns the worldly life of social relation. Social relations are a hindrance to spiritual growth and progress. So the wedding guest also turns away from the ‘bridegroom’s door’ and is left ‘sadder and wiser’. The word ‘sadder’ here means more steadfast, grave and serious rather than simply cheerless.
The poet emphasizes the point that human love is meaningful only when it is understood in the context of universal love.
Most of the verbal and nominal groups relate to the central action of the poem. They also form the subject matter of the poem. The spirit, with which the whole poem is charged with, is summed up in the following lines:
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small
The telling words of the Mariner bring about unobtrusive change in the being of not only the wedding guest but of the reader too, who is led to realize intimate kinship of man with all things.
Category: Literature & Language