Nicholas

Professor Steen
Literary Heritage II EN1023-2

Christian Elements Portrayed in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

In this report I will go over the core story of the poem by Coleridge, as well as look at the

key parts of the story that I believe support my argument that there are definitely signs of

Christianity in this poem. There will also be some space allocated to talking about the author of

this poem, as his position on his faith directly ties into the Christian undertones in his poems.

Coleridge’s poems Christian undertone can be directly tied to his childhood, his father

was in fact a well respected reverend, as well as a headmaster at a grammar school and so

Coleridge was brought up having extended knowledge of the church and proper grammar.

Coleridge was never a kid to play outside with the other neighborhood kids, but rather he

loved to remain inside reading and escaping into a world of supernaturalism all by himself. One

of his favorite reads was in fact the Arabian Nights series, were he would revel in the specters

and ghoulish characters his excitement moving him from page to page.

The evidence of the effects of the days spent reading about the supernatural can be seen

when looking at his other writings. One of such supernatural works was in fact The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner in which Coleridge outlines a story of joy, sorrow, death, and rebirth. This

poem is one of the best examples of how his love for the supernatural and his Christian

upbringing helped him create a supernatural world from which we can dive right into.
 The poem begins with an old strange man trying to get people to listen to his tale of

caution and sorrow, he ends up finding a young wedding party member to lend his ear and I

believe this might be Coleridge giving a nod to another story in the Arabian Night series, which

involves an old man speaking to a younger man about his travels.

The old man describes the beginning of his journey to the captivated wedding guest and

explains in great detail the nature around the trip. I feel as though the beginning of this story is

meant to symbolize the beginning of our life’s journey. Just as the sailor was excited for the

journey and the good weather as they are leaving the harbor, we as young adults are excited to

begin life’s journey in becoming our adult selves and all that entails.

Soon though the ancient mariner experiences a storm which rocks the boat and threatens

to throw the crew into the sea. Again the symbolism in this scene relates to life as a young

Christian adult; the walk with Christ begins with everything looking great but then we are put

through a trial to test that faith and we experience the storm life likes to send our way.

The ancient mariner describes the storm as being “He was tyrannous and strong: He

struck with his o’ertaking wings, and chased us south along.” (line 41-44). Coleridge uses this

description almost as if the storm is in fact a malevolent being that wants to sink the boat and

destroyer the boats crew. The malevolent being could be seen as the devil being allowed to test

their faith and the storm is the situation that might pop up in our lives that would test our faith.

The crew scramble to escape the storm being pushed farther and farther south in their attempt to
escape, just as in life as we sometimes struggle to reach our goals we are pushed farther away as

a test of faith.

The story continues describing an icy barren land where are around them all they see is

ice and snow, which could be related to how we feel when we have been pushed off course, such

as lost and afraid. Through all the barren wasteland which seems to be without life, the sailors

spot an Albatross which they find a great joy and see as good fortune. During the same stanza

that the Albatross is introduced they even reference God saying “At length did cross an

Albatross, Thorough the fog it came; As if it had a Christian soul, We hail’d it in God’s name.”

(line 63-66). In this text we see the sailors relate the Albatross to a Christian soul and they

praised it in the lord’s name; which leads me to believe that the Albatross may be a

representation of Jesus Christ when he came to earth to lead the way and show us the path to

eternal life.

The sailors give an offering of food to the Albatross and by some supernatural feat the ice

which was all around them breaks, leaving a path for them to follow all the while the Albatross

follows the sailors journey.

After they continue their journey with the Albatross in pursuit, the ancient mariner reacts

strangely by having a queer look on his face as he raises his crossbow and kills the Albatross.

The poem describes this act by saying “God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends, that

plague thee thus! Why look’st thou so? With my crossbow I shot the Albatross”. (line 79-82).

The act of killing the Albatross is seen as being evil and unnecessary, the crew cries out saying
that he is plagued by fiends which could be a reference to demons or demonic influence. I

believe that the Albatross is not just simply a bird but an incarnation of Christ; thusly the ancient

mariner killing the Albatross/Christ is because he believes that they can make the journey on

their own without the Albatross/Christs guidance, just as we ourselves believe we can do

somethings on our own and don’t need Christs guidance.

After the Ancient Mariner kills the Albatross nothing seems to happen for a while and it

seems like their worry of bad luck is for nothing; much like when we as Christian refuse Christs

help and we see that we can do things on our own it feeds the thought that we don’t need God in

all things.

Not long after their sigh of relief and the thought that they were wrong and there would

be no bad luck following the death of the Albatross, the sails on the ship go slack and the sea

becomes silent except for the lapping of the water against the boat. They stay like this for days,

the sun beating down on them mercilessly and they soon run out of water to drink and it’s all the

harder because all around them they see water, but they cannot drink the ocean water less they be

sick.

The sailors begin to see evil things crawl across the seas bed and they seem to be

experiencing an almost hell for their actions. This is proven when they describe the water as

being “About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witch’s

oils, Burnt green, and blue, and white.” (127-130). Between the evil creatures roaming the sea

bed and the description of the fire it almost seems to be relaying the message that without God’s

guidance we will fail and fall victim to evil creatures and suffer in the lake of fire.
 Throughout this poem we see time and time again Christian symbolism like when the

crew places all the blame of their misfortune on the Ancient Mariner saying “What evil looks

Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.” (line

139-142). Here they directly compare the Albatross with the Holy Cross giving the bird an

almost saint like appearance, the cross being a Christian symbol for the sacrifice that God made

for us and to remind us that we killed him for no other reason then to kill him.

The crew dies later in the story and the Ancient Mariner describes this as that Death and

Life-in-Death played dice to determine their fate; the Ancient Mariner was spared because Life-

in-Death won.

The Ancient mariner is now all alone his crew of 50 men dead and he cries out in despair

even willing to pray saying “I look’d to heaven, and tried to pray; But or ever a prayer had

gusht, a wicked whisper came, and made My heart as dry as dust.” (line 245-248). This can be

related to how we as Christian wait until it seems like everything around is crumbling before we

cry out to God and ask for help; and sometimes after we pray we find ourselves under attack

from doubts and from demonic presence which wishes to destroy us.

The Ancient Mariner journeys through this spirit world which feels like a lifetime to him,

but then just as suddenly he’s thrust back into the real world and all it’s beauty. He finds rescue

in the help of a pilot and a boy as well as a Hermit, they rescue the Ancient Mariner from his

vessel filled with death and give him shelter on land.

somehow lessen the horror and guilt that he is feeling. Yet, even though he unburdens himself he

is still besieged with the duty to travel land to land telling his tale as a warning to others. “Since

then, at an uncertain hour, that agony returns; and till my ghastly tale is told, this heart within

me burns”. (line 583-586). This stanza is saying that the Ancient Mariner has no choice but to

tell his tale because it burns within him till he unburdens the tale onto someone, that he

experiences physical pain and the only reprieve is telling his tale.

In conclusion, the comparisons between this poem and Christianity as well as our

Christian walk can be very easily seen through the many examples that I’ve pulled from the

poem throughout this report. We sometimes mess up in our walk just as the Ancient Mariner

messed up by shooting the Albatross, and God is there to pick us back up and set us back on the

right path for us to follow.

References:
"Samuel Taylor Coleridge." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Mar. 2017. Web. 03 Apr.

2017.

COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR. RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. COLLECTORS

LIBRARY, 2017. Print.

Buchan, A. M. The Sad Wisdom of the Mariner. Print.

Bostetter, Edward. The Nightmare World of the Ancient Mariner. NJ: Prentice Hall, 1967. Print.