Thursday, January 6, 2011

Transformation, Faith, and Devotion

Reading "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" with different aspects opens the mind to different interpretations with themes Coleridge trys to convey to the audience. Although there are several themes that are acknowledge throughout the poem, a few of the most significant are transformation, faith, and devotion.
The mariner and the wedding guest go through major transformations that change their lives with the event they live through, either physically or imaginatively.
Faith, not something the mariner first realizes he possess of is outputted as he lives through a horrific event after being so delighted and happy. Not caring, he shoots and kills an albatross which will later be his curse. "For all averred I had killed the bird That made the breeze blow." While everyone else in the ship dies, he is left to suffer life-in-death. That is where faith comes back to him because he wishes he went not on with this situation. "Ah wel-a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead the cross the albatross About my neck was hung." The albatross he killed with no regret now filled the empty space he had on his chest. Like many who are devoted into a religious surrounding and carry a symbol of faith, this too did the mariner wish to do. "I looked to heaven and tried to pray But or ever a prayer had gushed, A wisked whisper came and made My heart as dry as dust" indicates his seeking in other ways to show faith.
Devotion is put in perspective along with faith to show the transformation the mariner goes through in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

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