justify the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as a ballad
Answers
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Coleridge, like many other romantic poets, turned to the Middle Ages for inspiration because he was dissatisfied by the excessive ‘reasoning’ in content and ‘rules’ in the form of poetry. The medieval oral ballads give a sense of reality to the supernatural and therefore Coleridge took up this form of poetry with great interest. The present ballad has all the elements that typical ballads should have: a vivid story, dramatic action, verbal music, a scenic setting, a unifying element of feeling, moral, and mystery. Like most folk ballads, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” contains a single incident that makes up an eventful and striking story which in itself is enough to hold the attention of the audience.
It ends with the lifelong punishment of its main character for the violation of the law binding human beings with the invisible beings of the nature. This ballad has the oral quality of typical folk ballads. It is a short narrative poem with dramatic elements like dialogue, quick and unexpected development of action, tension and a dramatic end. Another important feature of this ballad is the typical form. The poem is written in four line stanzas (quatrains) with the usual ballad rhyme scheme abcb. Each stanza is written in more or less the traditional ballad meter: the first and third lines are in iambic tetrameter, and the second and fourth lines are in iambic trimester. The language is simple and the narrative is straightforward. The order of events is chronological: the narrator tells what had happened in the order in which the events had taken place.
The first thing we notice in this poem is the simplicity of language. There are lines in the poem which make use of very simple and homely words and expressions. “The sun came up upon the left, out of the sea came he”. But like the old ballads, the poem has a serious aim and purpose of implicitly conveying a message. It is more than a mere poem of the supernatural, describing some adventurous and exciting events. The poem narrates certain horrible and unusual incidents that lead to the refining and purifying of our emotions and sentiments as well as conveying a lesson for practical life. It tells us, more or less directly, that the violation of the fundamental laws of the nature will result in terrible disasters in the well being of men, especially their mental health.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in some way illustrates the theory of love between the creatures, between human beings and the visible and invisible beings of the nature. The old (ancient) sailor (mariner) commits a crime against the divine law of love and as a result there is an upheaval both in the internal world of his mind and in the external world of nature. The bird that he kills on his voyage (the Albatross) is not a mere bird; but is a symbolic spirit as indicated by the very the manner of its arrival at the place form nowhere out of “fog and mist”. The mariners are also very happy and receive the bird warmly, thinking it a good soul which has come to help them “as if it had been a Christian soul.” But the leader mariner’s reckless act of killing the bird is a great crime, a violation of the sanctity of life. The other mariners also suffer because they unknowingly make themselves accomplices in his sin by justifying his act and saying that it was right to kill the bird which brought the fog and mist (though they sometimes say that it was wrong). Those other sailors who did not realize the sin died, but the main mariner who appreciated the dirty-looking snakes in the sea was atoned by the spirits that came to rush him to the shore. However, the mariner is obsessed by his consciousness of guilt, which he can alleviate only by telling the story of crime to someone who looks appropriate. The teaching of the story pacifies his soul from the burning guilt that he is made to carry along throughout life. The mariner’s regeneration began when he blessed the water snakes and his heart is in harmony with the universal law of love, and his life continues only if he confesses and teaches that inviolable law to others.
The theme of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” involves crime and a violation of the natural moral law, or the natural bond among different and with the invisible forces of the nature, and then the resultant remorse and suffering (penance), which then brings about relief, forgiveness and joy.
The poem is written in the style of a lyrical ballad. It is a narrative poem that tells a story. Like other ballads, this poem also relates a dramatic story. The ballads are also a kind of literary form which are suitable for singing or rhythmic chanting.
This poem has a very striking and dramatic beginning in which the Wedding Guest is forcibly detained by the Ancient Mariner and the dialogues between both of them are very impressive.
The language is simple and the use of archaic words by Coleridge adds authenticity to it. So, the poem has all the qualities of a ballad and it is very distinguished in all respects