Significance of the Albatross

While roaming across the web for pictures including “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” the majority of the pictures found showed an albatross. Could this be a sign to show how much the albatross meant to the story, or was it all just accidental? From what I have read in the poem for the first time, the random albatross at sea definitely caught my eye. When I started to get engaged into the story, I had so many questions for Samuel Coleridge, but after reading the entire poem I finally realized the significance of the albatross. From how I see it, the albatross is supposed to be the focal point to show readers what’s right from wrong. In the picture the albatross is flying above what seems like people and materials. When things start to get rattled up and the Mariner kills the albatross, the bird can no longer fly. When the albatross is alive and healthy everything is going well with no problems at all. When the Mariner spontaneously decides to kill the albatross, that’s when things started to go downhill. People started dying, rain was pouring down and the wind was blowing furiously. Without the albatross in the story, there would be no significance. The bird shows the importance of life. When you take something’s life, the favor will be returned. Just like the quote that states “an eye for an eye.” In the poem Coleridge says “He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast.” I think that he’s trying to say when you do well for others, good things will happen to you. Lastly, I believe that the albatross show’s a person’s pride. When the bird was active and flying, it was smooth sailing for the Mariner and his crew. But when things turned around for the albatross, so did things for the Mariner. The picture above shows how beautiful an albatross can really be and how much a simple little bird can truly mean and affect one’s life.

All about "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

After learning about romanticism, it is pretty obvious that the poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is written by the one and only Samuel Coleridge. Usually people only take the time to learn only the obvious, the authors name and title of the poem. But just like everything else, there’s always more to learn. Before the poem was even published, the original title of the poem was intended to be “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere.” This poem is by far the longest poem that Samuel Coleridge has ever written in his life. Rime of the Ancient Mariner was written between the years of 1797–1798, finally being published in the year of 1798. After the poem was written and published, it was in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Supposedly Samuel Coleridge was working together with famous romantic poet William Wordsworth to narrate such a great poem like this. Coleridge was motivated to write the poem by a man named James Cook’s voyage of exploration. Some critics believe that the poem was inspired after Thomas James’ voyage. While some believe it was moved by John Newton, and a bunch of other sailors. Overall, no one will know where his inspiration to write the poem came from. Not only is the poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” a popular poem to see in an English class, but also in various television shows, books and also movies. Who would have ever known that we would have learned something about romanticism in Looney Tunes? Not only will you be able to find “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” references in movies, books and TV shows, but you’ll always be able to find it in songs as well. Just like in any other romantic’s poet’s poems, love and nature are what the poets are striving for. In Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” he strived to write about nature. After reading this post, I hope that you learned more about the poem than just the title and who it’s written by.

A Horror Story with a Happy Ending?

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” can be told as a horrendous story with a pleasant ending. About to indulge into a beautiful ceremony where some may cry and feel happiness, no one would ever want to start it off hearing a tale of awfulness. Before the ceremony even begins, the mariner pulls aside a random wedding guest and begins to tell his story of being on the ship. Although that may seem strange, the wedding guest couldn’t help but to throw himself into the story as well. When Coleridge says in the poem, “listens like a three years’ child,” he’s referring to the wedding guest who is fully engaged in his story. Throughout the tale, there are quite a few of themes that stood out. The theme that stood out the most was sin. From a majority of people’s perspective when you commit a sin, also known as doing something wrong, God will punish you. When a person has a strong faith in god and commits a crime, the only solution that he can turn to is to pray to God and hope for his forgiveness and to take extra precautions. In the poem when the Mariner kills the albatross and hangs it around his neck, that’s when everything starts to go wrong. Everyone on the ship but the Mariner ends up dying, with their eyes open looking directly at him. When the Mariner began to pray because he had no one to turn to, no words would come out of his mouth. Until he started to feel sympathetic for what he had done wrong, that’s when he was able to pray again. When you do something wrong, God can only look down and hope that you’ll make the right decision next time something is done wrong. During the time that the Mariner was telling his story, the wedding guest had chills and was starting to get scared. As you can tell, the Mariner’s story was just like any other story. It had problems, fright and dilemmas in the beginning, but finished with a happy ending.