What Happens in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner? Plot Overview for Students
Samuel Taylor Coleridge started the Romantic movement in English poetry along with William Wordsworth. He laid great importance on memory and the power of imagination in understanding the world around us. His best-known poems are ‘Frost Midnight’ and ‘Kubla Khan’.
Theme
This poem is one of the most well-known poems. It is in the form of a ballad. The poem is a story of sin, punishment and redemption of an old sailor. The poem conveys a message to the readers that one can never escape punishment from God after committing a crime. The poem starts with an old mariner approaching one of the wedding guests and stopping him from attending the wedding by telling him tales about his life.
Summary
The beginning of the poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, is about an ancient mariner who stops a wedding guest. The wedding guest was the groom’s best man. The mariner started telling him a strange tale. At this point in the poem, the wedding was about to begin. A group of guests from the wedding was on their way to the feast. One of them, who was the groom’s best man, stopped. He was running late. He was hurrying to the wedding hall. He could hear the music from the hall; he knew that the bride had entered. He was not interested in listening to the sailor but the mariner held his hand and forced him to sit and listen to him.
The mariner started saying that when the ship left the harbor, everything was very joyful and cheerful. They sailed leaving behind the church, the hill and the lighthouse. The sun shone very brightly and they were sailing very happily. But their happiness did not last for long because they were hit by a tyrannous storm and the wind changed the course of the ship towards the south direction. Nevertheless, the ship kept on advancing. In the meanwhile, the guest could hear the ritual of the wedding had started but he could not leave the sailor.
The old sailor continued saying that, as they kept moving ahead in the storm, they met with huge icebergs all around. The ship got stuck in those icebergs and they were making loud noises when cracking. Then they saw an albatross come from nowhere and perched on the ship. The bird was considered to be a messenger of God. They thought that there could be land nearby. The albatross hovered on the icebergs that blocked their journey. The huge mass of ice broke into two, making way for the ship.
The sailors on board thought that the bird was a good omen because they were able to commence their voyage once again. After escaping the storm, the ship had to face severe cold and mist. Visibility became very poor and it was getting difficult to navigate. The bird accompanied the ship and they could surpass the mist. The crew members were happy because they thought that the bird brought favorable conditions and fed the bird. The sailors played with the bird. The bird stuck around for nine days with the ship. One day, the old mariner in the spur of the moment shot the bird with a bow and an arrow.
The other sailors became very angry with the mariner and cursed him for his deeds. After the death of the bird, the sunshine returned and the weather became better. All the sailors felt that it was the right decision to kill the bird because it brought the storm and the mist. They thought that the bird was obstructing their voyage. For some days the ship sailed very smoothly towards the north direction. After a few days of the comfortable voyage, the wind stopped blowing and the ship came to a halt. The sun was getting hotter and hotter. They could not find a single drop of drinking water. Only they could see seawater all around.
The sea became very quiet and seemed like it was burning in flames. Soon, the sailors realized that killing the bird caused misery to them. They got very angry with the old mariner and cursed him for what he did. They replaced the cross from his neck with the dead bird. The old sailor then started feeling guilty for killing it, so he shared his tale with the strangers.
What is the Message of This Story?
The character of the old mariner is very relatable to many of us who feel that we are held back by our mistakes and can not move forward from the guilt we get from such mistakes. The old mariner tries to move from the mistake he committed by telling his feelings and his story to every random person he meets. Similarly, he stops the man attending the wedding and persuades him to listen to his story.
The story tells us that no matter what, we need to move forward and find our ways to come out of the guilt and forgive ourselves. It is much needed to have self-love and be gentle with our feelings. The story also reminds us to enjoy little things in life and also to appreciate everything that God has created. This can be done to take a minute from rushing to achieve things, we can do this by realizing that human beings are not the only creation of God but one among many creations.
We should learn to live in harmony with them but not exploit them for our own needs and selfish reasons. The old mariner feels guilty for killing the bird and he also feels that he was the reason for all his friend’s death which was triggered by the bird’s death. Later, he starts telling his story to everyone he finds. Similarly, he tells his story to a person who was about to attend a wedding. After listening to the old mariner’s story, the wedding guest gets sad and keeps thinking about what the mariner said.
FAQs on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: Summary, Themes & Analysis
1. What is a brief summary of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem is about a sailor, the Mariner, who stops a guest at a wedding to tell him a harrowing story. His tale begins with his ship being driven south by a storm into a land of ice and mist. An Albatross appears and is seen as a good omen, leading them out of the ice. In a senseless act, the Mariner shoots the Albatross. This crime invites a curse; the ship is becalmed under a hot sun, and the crew dies of thirst, leaving the Mariner alone and tormented by his guilt. His redemption begins only when he spontaneously blesses the beauty of sea creatures. He is eventually rescued but is destined to roam the earth, telling his story as a form of penance.
2. What are the major themes in 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'?
The poem explores several profound themes central to the Romantic movement and human experience. Key themes include:
Sin and Redemption: The Mariner's crime of killing the Albatross is a sin against nature and God, leading to immense suffering. His long journey and penance represent the path to redemption and forgiveness.
The Power of Nature: Nature is depicted as a powerful, living force that is intertwined with the spiritual world. Respecting nature is shown as a sacred duty, and violating it brings severe consequences.
Isolation and Suffering: As punishment, the Mariner experiences extreme physical and psychological isolation, being the sole survivor on a ship of dead men, which serves as a potent form of suffering.
The Supernatural: The poem is filled with supernatural elements like spectral ships, spirits, and the dead crew rising to sail the ship. These elements highlight the mysterious forces governing the universe beyond human understanding.
3. What is the importance of the Albatross in the poem?
The Albatross is a central symbol with multiple layers of meaning. Initially, it is a symbol of hope and good fortune, hailed by the sailors as a 'Christian soul' that guided their ship out of the treacherous ice. However, after the Mariner kills it, the bird transforms into a powerful symbol of his sin and guilt. The crew hangs the dead Albatross around his neck, making it a physical manifestation of his burden, similar to the cross of Christ, which he must bear until he can achieve atonement.
4. How is the appearance of the Ancient Mariner described?
The Ancient Mariner has a striking and unsettling appearance that compels the Wedding-Guest to listen. He is described as having a long grey beard, skinny, weathered hands, and most importantly, a 'glittering eye'. This eye has a hypnotic or mesmerizing quality that holds the Wedding-Guest captive, preventing him from leaving. His appearance reflects his long suffering and the otherworldly nature of his experience.
5. What is the central moral or message of the poem?
The explicit moral of the poem is stated near the end by the Mariner himself: the importance of loving all of God's creations. The famous lines, 'He prayeth best, who loveth best / All things both great and small; / For the dear God who loveth us, / He made and loveth all,' summarise this core message. The poem teaches that all life is sacred and interconnected, and that true prayer and spirituality lie in respecting and loving every part of the natural world, not just in formal worship.
6. How does Coleridge use supernatural elements to drive the narrative?
Coleridge uses the supernatural not just for dramatic effect but to illustrate the moral and spiritual dimensions of the Mariner's journey. Events like the appearance of the skeletal ghost ship with Death and Life-in-Death, the reanimation of the dead crew by spirits, and the strange, unearthly weather are manifestations of a spiritual world reacting to the Mariner's crime. These elements externalise his internal psychological torment and demonstrate that his actions have violated a cosmic, not just a physical, law. The supernatural world enforces the punishment and ultimately guides his path to penance.
7. Why is the story told to a Wedding-Guest specifically?
The choice of a Wedding-Guest as the listener is highly symbolic. A wedding is a celebration of life, community, and earthly joys. By pulling the guest away from this celebration, the Mariner forces him—and the reader—to confront the darker, more profound realities of life, such as sin, death, and spiritual accountability. The Wedding-Guest represents ordinary humanity, often distracted by worldly pleasures. The Mariner's tale serves as a necessary interruption, imparting a wisdom that is deeper than mere celebration. The guest leaves the wedding a 'sadder and a wiser man', his perspective on life permanently altered.
8. What is the significance of the sailors' changing opinions about the Albatross's death?
The sailors' fickle reactions highlight their moral weakness and complicity in the Mariner's crime. Initially, when the fog and mist clear after the Albatross is killed, they approve of the Mariner's act, saying he was right to kill a bird that 'brought the fog and mist.' However, when the ship is becalmed and the sun becomes punishing, they change their minds and blame him for killing the bird that 'made the breeze to blow.' Their shifting blame shows they judge the act not by its intrinsic morality but by its immediate, selfish consequences. This makes them accomplices in the crime, for which they ultimately share the punishment and die.
