Chapter - 10

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
- S.T. Coleridge

Question- How is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' a romantic poem?

Answer -

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) was one of the most well-known poets of the First Generation Romantic Age. He is well known for his collaboration with William Wordsworth on their work Lyrical Ballads' which led to Romantic movement. He was very much imaginative since childhood and developed his own theories on imagination in his famous essay 'Biographia Literaria'. The most important aspect of his treatment was the supernatural elements which has a significant role in his poems.

He experimented his poems with supernatural elements. The supernatural elements help in granting human qualities with the use of secondary imagination. The Rime of The Ancient Mariner' perfectly shows the handling of supernatural elements where the entities of 'Albatross', 'Death and Life-in-Death', water-snakes, 'Pilot' and 'Hermia shows human features. These entities show the important human feature of duality of human selves where man shows certain traits of dual selves including the inner self and outer self. The self shows man's anthropocentric and always holds its highest authority over nature but coleridge professes that these entities possess human traits and has the potential to olominate over man, punish them and make them realize their mistakes and guilt. The Mariner killed the 'Albatross' and eventually some misfortune followed them and coleridge tries to show the allegorial representation of the bird having a divine potential of donimance over mankind and hence the mariness became increasingly thirsty. The misfortune that happened to the Mariners allegorielly represents the evilness that exist in a man or the inner self which remains hidden from the world. Hence, the supernatural elements institute the evilness of human beings or the human characteristic in the poem.

In addition to this, the poem exhibits mysticism as another important characteristics. Mysticism is the spiritual or divine experiences in nature. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' shows mysticism when the Mariners realize that they have been followed by the angry spirit in the South Pole and is taunting them in the present for their sins. The implication of this element is to evoke the road of redemption and a full control of nature over man.

Coleridge brings forth the element of organic oneness where man and nature are one and diminishing the one can result in devastation. The poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' shows that the Albatross bird was killed by the Mariner, it brought about curses and Mariners died and the only alive Mariner was cursed to live a life to share his own personal experience to others which was for more deadly than being death in this world.

However, Coleridge uses a creative symbols in the poem, "The Albatross' is a symbol of organic unity between man or nature or the representation of Jesus Christ. The blood that the Mariner drank symbolises the blood of Jesus which is to represent the purification of their sins. The 'water' symbolizes life and 'moonlight' symbolises death. The water 'snakes' arrival is a clear symbol of spiritual realization and the falling of 'Albatross' from Mariner's neck shows the repentance and allegorically prayer becomes the symbol of a bridge between divine and man.

Lastly, Coleridge imbue romantic imagination in the poem. The Biblical themes can be taken into account as a source for primary imagination which is altered by the secondary imagination. The images of the 'Albatross' bird shows Biblical morality to treat nature with kindness and the unkind treatment can result in hurting oneself. The entities that Coleridge had drawn in the poem suggest the interrelationship between man and nature where man and nature are one. Nature can be as much powerful and dominion like the man on the universe.

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