can any one give me summary of the rime of the ancient mariner?
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The poem begins by introducing the Ancient Mariner, who, with his “glittering eye,” stops a Wedding Guest from attending a nearby wedding celebration. The Mariner stops the young man to tell him the story of a ship, providing no introduction but simply beginning his tale. Despite the Wedding Guest’s efforts to leave, the Mariner continues to speak.
The Mariner’s story begins with the ship leaving harbor and sailing southward. A tremendous storm then blows the ship even further to the South Pole, where the crew are awed as they encounter mist, snow, cold, and giant glaciers. An Albatross breaks the pristine lifelessness of the Antarctic. The sailors greet it as a good omen, and a new wind rises up, propelling the ship. Day after day the albatross appears, appearing in the morning when the sailors call for it, and soaring behind the ship. But then as the other sailor’s cry out in dismay, the Mariner, for reasons unexplained, shoots and kills the albatross with his crossbow.
At first, the other Sailors are furious with the Mariner for killing the bird which they believed a god omen and responsible for making the breezes blow. But after the bird has been killed the fog clears and the fair breeze continues, blowing the ship north into the Pacific, and the crew comes to believe the bird was the source of the god and mist and that the killing is justified. It is then that the wind ceases, and the ship becomes trapped on a vast, calm sea. The Sailors and the Mariner become increasingly thirsty, and some sailors dream that an angered Spirit has followed them from the pole. The crew then hangs the albatross around the Mariner’s neck.
In this terrible calm, trapped completely by the watery ocean that they cannot drink, the men on the ship grow so thirsty that they cannot even speak. When the Mariner sees what he believes is a ship approaching, he must bite his arm and drink his own blood so that he is able to alert the crew, who all grin out of joy. But the joy fades as the ghostly ship, which sails without wind, approaches. On its deck, Death and Life-in-Death gamble with dice for the lives of the Sailors and the Mariner. After Life-in-Death wins the soul of the Mariner, the Sailors begin to die of thirst, falling to the deck one by one, each staring at the Mariner in reproach.
Surrounded by the dead Sailors and cursed continuously by their gaze, the Mariner tries to turn his eyes to heaven to pray, but fails. It is only in the Moonlight, after enduring the horror of being the only one alive among the dead crew that the Mariner notices beautiful Water Snakes swimming beside the ship. At this moment he becomes inspired, and has a spiritual realization that all of God’s creatures are beautiful and must be treated with respect and reverence. With this realization, he is finally able to pray, and the albatross fell from his neck and sunk into the sea.
The Mariner falls into a kind of stupor, and then wakes to find the dead Sailors’ bodies reanimated by angels and at work on the ship. Powered by the Spirit from the South Pole, the ship races homeward, where the Mariner sees a choir of angels leave the bodies of the deceased Sailors. After this angels’ chorus, the Mariner perceives a small boat on which a Pilot, the Pilot’s Boy, and a Hermit approach. As they get closer, the Mariner’s ship suddenly sinks, but he wakes to find himself in the Pilot’s boat. When the Mariner speaks, the Pilot and Hermit are stunned, by fear. The Hermit prays. The Mariner, in turn, saves his own saviors, and rows them to land, where he begs the Hermit to grant him absolution for his sins. The Hermit crosses himself, and asks the Mariner “what manner of man art thou?” The Mariner then feels compelled to tell his story.
The Mariner concludes his tale by explaining that as he travels from land to land he is always plagued by that same compulsion to tell his tale, that he experiences a peculiar agony if he doesn’t give in to his urge to share the story, and that he can tell just from looking at their faces which men must hear his tale. He ends with the explicit lesson that prayer is the greatest joy in life, and the best prayers come from love and reverence of all of God’s creation. Thus he moves onward to find the next person who must hear his story, leaving the Wedding Guest “a sadder and a wiser man.”
The Mariner’s story begins with the ship leaving harbor and sailing southward. A tremendous storm then blows the ship even further to the South Pole, where the crew are awed as they encounter mist, snow, cold, and giant glaciers. An Albatross breaks the pristine lifelessness of the Antarctic. The sailors greet it as a good omen, and a new wind rises up, propelling the ship. Day after day the albatross appears, appearing in the morning when the sailors call for it, and soaring behind the ship. But then as the other sailor’s cry out in dismay, the Mariner, for reasons unexplained, shoots and kills the albatross with his crossbow.
At first, the other Sailors are furious with the Mariner for killing the bird which they believed a god omen and responsible for making the breezes blow. But after the bird has been killed the fog clears and the fair breeze continues, blowing the ship north into the Pacific, and the crew comes to believe the bird was the source of the god and mist and that the killing is justified. It is then that the wind ceases, and the ship becomes trapped on a vast, calm sea. The Sailors and the Mariner become increasingly thirsty, and some sailors dream that an angered Spirit has followed them from the pole. The crew then hangs the albatross around the Mariner’s neck.
In this terrible calm, trapped completely by the watery ocean that they cannot drink, the men on the ship grow so thirsty that they cannot even speak. When the Mariner sees what he believes is a ship approaching, he must bite his arm and drink his own blood so that he is able to alert the crew, who all grin out of joy. But the joy fades as the ghostly ship, which sails without wind, approaches. On its deck, Death and Life-in-Death gamble with dice for the lives of the Sailors and the Mariner. After Life-in-Death wins the soul of the Mariner, the Sailors begin to die of thirst, falling to the deck one by one, each staring at the Mariner in reproach.
Surrounded by the dead Sailors and cursed continuously by their gaze, the Mariner tries to turn his eyes to heaven to pray, but fails. It is only in the Moonlight, after enduring the horror of being the only one alive among the dead crew that the Mariner notices beautiful Water Snakes swimming beside the ship. At this moment he becomes inspired, and has a spiritual realization that all of God’s creatures are beautiful and must be treated with respect and reverence. With this realization, he is finally able to pray, and the albatross fell from his neck and sunk into the sea.
The Mariner falls into a kind of stupor, and then wakes to find the dead Sailors’ bodies reanimated by angels and at work on the ship. Powered by the Spirit from the South Pole, the ship races homeward, where the Mariner sees a choir of angels leave the bodies of the deceased Sailors. After this angels’ chorus, the Mariner perceives a small boat on which a Pilot, the Pilot’s Boy, and a Hermit approach. As they get closer, the Mariner’s ship suddenly sinks, but he wakes to find himself in the Pilot’s boat. When the Mariner speaks, the Pilot and Hermit are stunned, by fear. The Hermit prays. The Mariner, in turn, saves his own saviors, and rows them to land, where he begs the Hermit to grant him absolution for his sins. The Hermit crosses himself, and asks the Mariner “what manner of man art thou?” The Mariner then feels compelled to tell his story.
The Mariner concludes his tale by explaining that as he travels from land to land he is always plagued by that same compulsion to tell his tale, that he experiences a peculiar agony if he doesn’t give in to his urge to share the story, and that he can tell just from looking at their faces which men must hear his tale. He ends with the explicit lesson that prayer is the greatest joy in life, and the best prayers come from love and reverence of all of God’s creation. Thus he moves onward to find the next person who must hear his story, leaving the Wedding Guest “a sadder and a wiser man.”
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The ancient Mariner stops one of the wedding-guests.
He wants to narrate his tale to him and unburden his grief.
The Wedding-Guest is in a hurry as he has to attend the wedding party.
The bright-eyed Mariner made the wedding-guest helpless.
He had no option but listen to his tale.
The old Mariner began narrating his story.
Their ship was cheered off the harbour happily.
There came a severe storm and it drove them southwards.
Then it became very cold with both mist and snow.
The ship was surrounded by huge icebergs as high as the mast.
Then came the albatross from the fog.
The sailors cheered it as a ‘Christian Soul’.
The albatross’s arrival was auspicious as it brought a favourable south wind.
The sailors gave it food and it flew over the ship.
In a senseless fit, the ancient Mariner killed the albatross with his cross-bow.
The fellow mariners cursed the old Mariner for killing an innocent and auspicious bird.
The weather worsened. The Mariners changed their opinion.
Now they justified the killing of the albatross as it had brought mist and snow.
Sadness prevailed all around.
The sun started blazing and the ocean seemed to rot.
The wind stopped blowing and the sails were dropped down.
The ship stuck at one point and didn’t move ahead.
It looked like a painted ship on a painted ocean.
Water was all around but the sailors didn’t have even a drop of water to drink.
The sailors saw in their dreams a spirit that was plaguing them.
Summary
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is quite different from the works of other romantic poets. It is based on a dream of Coleridge’s friend and was published in 1798. It is written in the style of a folk ballad and is divided into seven parts. The poem has a scattering of references to outdated beliefs and practices. It is surely not only the mariner, who is ancient, but even his rhyme is old. There are multiple and contradictory time elements and the poem itself hides its origins. Nevertheless the extravagant use of archaic words make it appear old.
Coleridge’s deliberately archaic language, ominous tones and ‘loony’ narrator are a stunning contrast to the lighter, pastoral works of Wordsworth and others. Mariner’s unkempt yet charismatic appearance suggests subtly to the reader, through the repeated focus on his ‘glittering eye’ and his ‘long beard’, that he has become a spokesman of nature. The mariner’s timelessness, in direct contrast to the death of all crew members, suggests the eternity of nature of which he has become symbolic. Ultimately the mariner repents for his sins and this has the echoes of the Christian message, though his killing of the albatross is a crime against nature. The poem focusses on the power and nemesis of the natural world. However, the poem hinges around the line, “I killed an albatross.” Nevertheless after repentance, the didactic content of the poem can be seen in its message, “He prayeth best, who loveth best
He wants to narrate his tale to him and unburden his grief.
The Wedding-Guest is in a hurry as he has to attend the wedding party.
The bright-eyed Mariner made the wedding-guest helpless.
He had no option but listen to his tale.
The old Mariner began narrating his story.
Their ship was cheered off the harbour happily.
There came a severe storm and it drove them southwards.
Then it became very cold with both mist and snow.
The ship was surrounded by huge icebergs as high as the mast.
Then came the albatross from the fog.
The sailors cheered it as a ‘Christian Soul’.
The albatross’s arrival was auspicious as it brought a favourable south wind.
The sailors gave it food and it flew over the ship.
In a senseless fit, the ancient Mariner killed the albatross with his cross-bow.
The fellow mariners cursed the old Mariner for killing an innocent and auspicious bird.
The weather worsened. The Mariners changed their opinion.
Now they justified the killing of the albatross as it had brought mist and snow.
Sadness prevailed all around.
The sun started blazing and the ocean seemed to rot.
The wind stopped blowing and the sails were dropped down.
The ship stuck at one point and didn’t move ahead.
It looked like a painted ship on a painted ocean.
Water was all around but the sailors didn’t have even a drop of water to drink.
The sailors saw in their dreams a spirit that was plaguing them.
Summary
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is quite different from the works of other romantic poets. It is based on a dream of Coleridge’s friend and was published in 1798. It is written in the style of a folk ballad and is divided into seven parts. The poem has a scattering of references to outdated beliefs and practices. It is surely not only the mariner, who is ancient, but even his rhyme is old. There are multiple and contradictory time elements and the poem itself hides its origins. Nevertheless the extravagant use of archaic words make it appear old.
Coleridge’s deliberately archaic language, ominous tones and ‘loony’ narrator are a stunning contrast to the lighter, pastoral works of Wordsworth and others. Mariner’s unkempt yet charismatic appearance suggests subtly to the reader, through the repeated focus on his ‘glittering eye’ and his ‘long beard’, that he has become a spokesman of nature. The mariner’s timelessness, in direct contrast to the death of all crew members, suggests the eternity of nature of which he has become symbolic. Ultimately the mariner repents for his sins and this has the echoes of the Christian message, though his killing of the albatross is a crime against nature. The poem focusses on the power and nemesis of the natural world. However, the poem hinges around the line, “I killed an albatross.” Nevertheless after repentance, the didactic content of the poem can be seen in its message, “He prayeth best, who loveth best
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