The Romantic Quest for Salvation: Romanticism in Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Summary: A literary critique of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Guilt, metaphysics, nature, and supernatural events are the dominant tones that communicate the Romanticist paradigm in the "Mariner." In Parts One through Seven, one of the tones mentioned above can be sensed by the reader, enhancing the Romantic qualities of the poem.
Remy Robertson
The Romantic Quest for Salvation:
A Romantic Critique on Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner portrays mans intense strive for salvation through the sins he has committed during his journey. Guilt, metaphysics, nature, and supernatural events are the dominant tones that communicate the Romanticist paradigm. Guilt occurs in Parts Four and Six; metaphysics is dealt with in Parts One, and Five; nature is described in Part Two; the supernatural can be found in Parts Three and Seven. These Romantic descriptions help the reader grasp the theme of salvation and the dominant tones of the Rime.
Part the First communicates metaphysics through the character of the Albatross. Coleridge relates the Albatross to Christianity, stating “As if it had been a Christian soul / We hailed it in God’s name.” These lines connect a direct parallel between Christianity, a metaphysical aspect of the world, to the Albatross. The use of the Albatross as a sign of hope from religion develops the Romantic tone of the Rime because it engages normal objects as symbolic representations of other ideas. The Albatross was just a bird, but to the crew it was a very spiritual, very mysterious and deep symbol, thus signifying Coleridge’s implementation of Romanticism. Eventually the Albatross will be the significant character that leads the Mariner to his road of salvation, the theme of the Rime.
The Second Part consists mostly of nature as the agent of Romanticism. Coleridge speaks natural objects like the sun, fog, mist, breeze, root, and “slimy things with legs.” This Part is very short, and describes the situation once the Mariner has killed the Albatross. Coleridge’s repetitive descriptions of celestial objects and the sea are overwhelming to the reader, communicating a very vivid idea of the situation. The precise descriptions reflect Romanticism because they describe the Mariner’s awe in the natural world after he has slain the bird, suggesting an overload of emotion with the wonders of the universe. This is the Mariner’s first step before he strives on his path towards salvation, and the consequences of the dead bird allow him to realize his fault.
The events that occur within Part the Third utilize the supernatural as the medium for Romanticism. The mysterious, morbid ship that confronts the Mariner’s crew is spoken in diction that reflects a mortal versus an immortal confrontation; “The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she / Who thicks mans blood with cold.” This conflict embraces Romanticism in the idea of the spirit, for the avengement of the Mariner’s sins occur with the reaping of his crew through the coming of Death’s ship. Death’s ship shows the Mariner the result of his fault, and the Mariner feels the pain that will lead him to his salvation.
Part the Fourth tells of the Mariner’s guilt when death takes away his crew’s life, leaving him in their permanent gaze from their plastered faces. The Mariner expounds on this guilt, stating “But oh! More horrible than that / Is a curse in a dead man’s eye! / And yet I could not die.” The skeleton crew haunts the Mariner, watching his every move. The focal point of salvation occurs in Part the Fourth, where the Mariner “blesses” the world with his new vision of their significance, proclaiming “A spring of love gushed from my heart.” Guilt also climaxes in the Fourth Part through the torments of pain the Mariner feels, which lead to his blessing and salvation. Coleridge still displays the Romanticist paradigm in his use the Mariner’s self-enlightenment to transfer him from a state of guilt to becoming saved from the horrors of Death.
The Fifth part elaborates on the Mariner’s passage of salvation, but Coleridge’s syntax infers a metaphysical technique. “The wan stars danced between” and “Beneath the lightning and the Moon / The dead men gave a groan” utilize celestial objects as parallels to human functions. Coleridge mentions the Moon as “as its side” and “at its edge” to display the storm the Mariner’s crew encountered. The Sun also plays a role, used as a reference to the placement of the ship’s mast. The celestial objects’ relations with the ship infer a metaphysical tone, because they replace the natural objects with astrological meaning. This, just like the Albatross, describes Romanticism because Coleridge describes how the Mariner looks past the normal activities of life with the planetary objects and replaces their positions with specific meaning to the ship’s direction.
The dialogues between the two voices in the Sixth Part depict the diminishing of guilt and the rise of salvation in the Mariner’s travels. “And I with sobs did pray-- / O let me be awake, my God!” summarizes the Mariner’s turn from guilt into salvation, and the two voices resonate this transformation over the time intervals of the wind. The First Voice searches for an empirical explanation as to why the breezes blew or the seas shuddered with waves that transported the trapped Mariner. The Second Voice, however, explains that in all the events, the deepening mysteriousness of the Mariner’s travels back home reflect the Romantic attitude towards the curiosity of what was not known, rather than logically sustaining reason as to why his voyage ended so beautifully. This adds to Coleridge’s theme of salvation in the event that the Mariner finds salvation by finding his “countree” much like Odysseus found Ithaca.
The final Part the Seventh essentially describes a supernatural event in the way Coleridge describes the Mariner’s curse:
“Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns;
And till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.”
Coleridge’s explanation of the agony the Mariner finds with the omittance of his storytelling shows the supernatural hold that the voyage has on the Mariner’s life. Because he survived his journey and became saved, the Mariner is cursed to tell his story to those of normal lives. This final restraint on the Mariner depicts a supernatural technique because it limits his life to what the voyage, the Albatross, or Death demands of his life; complete freedom would not require such torment. This reflects Romanticism because it places a non-normal means of living in which the general public would not understand. Salvation has its one price: to tell the world of it’s price.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Romantic expressions are found in his The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by the analysis with guilt, metaphysical, natural, and supernatural events. Celestial objects, the Albatross, and specific syntax show how each Romantic technique refer to Romanticism, while the summary of each part describe its relevance to the overall theme of salvation. The Rime exhibits salvation through the implementation of guilt and the passage of redemption with the supernatural.
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Last edited by Robert Robertson on Nov 20, 2007 11:43 pm US/Central.