Concetti Chiave
- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a key work of Coleridge, contributing significantly to the Romantic movement with its supernatural and mysterious atmosphere.
- The Mariner, with a ghost-like appearance, casts a spell on a Wedding Guest, creating a sense of fear and intrigue.
- An Albatross appears and guides the ship through a storm, but its killing by the Mariner leads to dire consequences and supernatural punishments.
- The crew blames the Mariner for their misfortunes, symbolically hanging the dead Albatross around his neck as a mark of guilt.
- The central message emphasizes the necessity to love and respect all of God's creatures, transforming the Wedding Guest into a wiser, more experienced individual.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
This is the most important work of Coleridge because it mainly contributed to the Romantic movement, with its supernatural atmospheres of mystery and demonism.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a symbolic and spiritual ballad, divided in 7 parts. There are two levels of narration (immagine in allegato)
The Mariner
In the first part the Mariner is described: he has ‘glittering eye’, long grey beard, skinny hands. He casted a spell on the Wedding Guest who was frightened of him because his appearance. In fact he seemed a sort of ghost with supernatural qualities (similar to the poet in Kubla Khan).
The ship and the Albatross
The ship was driven to the south pole by a storm, a strong wind. The sailors couldn’t move because of the ice surrounding the ship, but an Albatross appeared and saved them. The Albatross was welcomed to the sailors and it with his apparition the ship reached the north again. The Mariner killed the Albatross: it will produce negative evidences.Then a sort of punishment happened: the ship stopped (‘stock ship’) and the wind dropped, slimy creatures appeared in the water and the sailors suffered of thirst because there was no water (drought), death-fires in the sea, the water burnt and seemed to be witch’s oils.
The crew
The crew accused the Mariner and hung the dead Albatross round his neck.Death a hooded character similar to a spirit/skeleton/ghost wearing a long black clothe… death and life are custing(??) dice to win mariner’s crew
The Mariner can’t pray, can’t cry (tearswater: life, purification…).
The slimy creatures were not welcomed from the Mariner at the beginning but then he blessed the sea-snakes and appreciated them. The moonlight high lined sea-snakes’ beauty. Then the Albatross fell down his neck, in the sea (symbol).
The spirit of the crew rose and hunted him.
The message
The message is to love and respect all God’s creatures, ever.After the story the Wedding Guest became wiser and sadder because he became more conscious of experience, also of negative things in life. The Wedding Guest changed from a state of innocence (similar to a child: ‘the most unsophisticated, uncontaminated natural man’ Blake) to a state of experience (adult).
The nature is described in both realistic and symbolic terms. It is realistic because there are lots of details: the storm, the ship moved… and it can make you see the scene like a portrait. The punishment, the reaction of nature to the killing of the Albatross is the symbolic term in which the nature is described.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è il contributo principale de "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" al movimento romantico?
- Come viene descritto il Mariner nella prima parte del poema?
- Qual è il significato simbolico dell'Albatross nel poema?
- Qual è il messaggio principale del poema?
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" di Coleridge ha contribuito principalmente al movimento romantico attraverso le sue atmosfere soprannaturali di mistero e demonismo.
Nella prima parte, il Mariner è descritto con un 'occhio scintillante', una lunga barba grigia e mani magre, apparendo come un fantasma con qualità soprannaturali.
L'Albatross simboleggia la salvezza e la connessione con la natura, ma la sua uccisione da parte del Mariner porta a conseguenze negative e punizioni simboliche.
Il messaggio principale è amare e rispettare tutte le creature di Dio, come dimostrato dal cambiamento del Wedding Guest che diventa più saggio e consapevole delle esperienze della vita.
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