Concetti Chiave
- The poem is a ballad form, reflecting a medieval tradition with musical elements like alliterations and rhymes to enhance its storytelling.
- Coleridge uses an exotic setting as a means to escape industrial reality, drawing inspiration from travel books and medieval myths.
- The poem blends supernatural elements with real-world references, providing readers anchors to navigate the fantastical narrative.
- Medieval legends significantly influence the poem, including the wandering Jew, who symbolizes eternal wandering and storytelling.
- The piece also references the Dance Macabre and the Flying Dutchman, integrating themes of inevitability and eternal punishment.
The rime of the ancient mariner
There are many
legends about the origin of this
poem: one says it came from a
Coleridge friend’s
dream. It’s a
ballad, different from
Coleridge that writes other kinds of
poems. The choice of the
ballad is due to a resumption of the
Middle Ages, in fact it was a typical
medieval form, and originally it was just
oral, starred and accompanied with
music. Here lots of ballad’s elements are found, such as
alliterations,
rimes,
half rimes,
repetitions, everything to give
musicality to the composition. He uses it also because he wants a very popular verse. The difference is that now it’s no more oral, but written and it has because of this fact a more
codified language. The poem is an exotic setting, which is a
Coleridge idea (important to underline this fact, because lots of elements for the poem weren’t directly from
Coleridge, but arrived from
Wordsworth and his friend’s ideas). The time isn’t defined, it’s a long time ago. All these ideas for the
exotic arrived to him through
travel books. The
exotic is a way to escape from
reality, from the
new industrial country, it’s a better world because far away in time and space. In the poem there are lots of references to
myths and
legends, usually from
medieval tradition, such as the
Macabre Dance, very popular in the
Middle Ages. The poem isn’t only made of
supernatural elements, because if it was, the reader wouldn’t have been able to join this world and got lost in it, but by the introduction of
real and
concrete elements, he gives the reader some elements to hold on in order not to get lost in that
supernatural world. He gives an idea of a real world under the supernatural one. These elements are the keys to join this
poetic world. Despite this great use of the
supernatural, there aren’t rational interpretation, but lot’s of
allegorical one.
For the composition of for
The rime of the ancient mariner Coleridge use
medieval legends. He draws upon
legends and
folklore in three main situations:
- the legend of the
wandering Jew: it’s a legend. He was a
Jew who joked and insult
Jesus Christ while he was going to be
crucified and for this reason he was convict to wander about for the eternal without being able to stop and breast. The
mariner is the representation of the
wandering Jew, because he has to go from land to land without stopping until he finds one who is fit to listen his
story (“Since then, at an uncertain hour, That agony returns; And till my ghastly tale is told, This heart within me burns. I pass, like night, from land to land; I have strange power of speech; That moment that his face I see, I know the man that must hear me: To him my tale I teach.”).
-
Dance macabre: it’s a well known
medieval allegory, very used in
literature, but mostly in
visual art, where it’s represented as
macabre dance of
triumph of death. It’s a dance where the
death, under the form of a
skeleton, invite people from all ages and social classes to join the
dance. It means that everyone will die. It’s also
ironical because also the powerful people such as kings take part to this
dance, they have to die too, as anyone else.
-
flying Dutchman: he was a sea
captain who challenged
God and for his folly all his crew dies. But with the name “
Flying Dutchman” we don’t mean the
captain, but the
ghost ship, which is, following the legend, forced to
sail the oceans for the
eternal. It’s a 17th century legend. The
captain, in a tempestuous night, challenged
God to sink his ship and
God in return, because of his
blasphemy, transformed him and all his crew in
ghosts, forcing him to sail on his ship for the
eternity.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è l'origine della poesia "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?
La poesia ha origine da un sogno di un amico di Coleridge ed è una ballata che riprende elementi medievali, come allitterazioni e rime, per dare musicalità alla composizione.
- Qual è l'ambientazione della poesia e perché è significativa?
L'ambientazione è esotica, scelta da Coleridge per evadere dalla realtà industriale, ispirata da libri di viaggio e leggende medievali.
- Quali leggende medievali influenzano la poesia?
La poesia è influenzata da leggende come quella dell'Ebreo Errante, la Danza Macabra e l'Olandese Volante, che aggiungono elementi soprannaturali e allegorici.
- Come Coleridge bilancia elementi soprannaturali e reali nella poesia?
Coleridge introduce elementi concreti per evitare che il lettore si perda nel mondo soprannaturale, creando un equilibrio tra realtà e fantasia.
- Qual è il significato della leggenda dell'Ebreo Errante nella poesia?
L'Ebreo Errante è rappresentato dal marinaio, condannato a vagare eternamente raccontando la sua storia, simboleggiando la penitenza e la ricerca di redenzione.