The Rime of the Ancient Mariner :: essays research papers

The Rime of the Ancient mariner               Coleridges poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is written about a Mariner telling his tale of sin and forgiveness to a small group of young men on their way to run into a wedding. The Mariner claims to be responsible for the deaths of everyone on board of a ship he once sailed because he killed a creature that was supposed to earn them the wind they needed to resume sailing after hitting a plateau in the ships movement.      Through the writing style in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge tries to convince the reader that the events told in the poem could possibly have been real, thus leaving the reader to partially believe the strange narrative and Coleridge is right to do so. The theme of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is Gods forgiveness. The Mariner believes that God has forgiven him for his sins and is telling his tale to the young men on t heir way to a wedding. The Mariner explains that he killed an albatross, and the entire crew dies because of it. The Mariner, however, survives and asks Gods to forgive him for his sins. When the Mariner prays for forgiveness, the curse preventing the souls of the crew from entering Heaven is broken, the Mariners life is spared and Angels from Heaven escort the souls of the dead crewman to the afterlife.     In closing, the whole point of the story becomes clear in the following lines.          "Farewell, farewell provided this I tell          To thee, thou Wedding Guest          He prayeth well, who loveth well          Both man and bird and beast.          "He prayeth best, who loveth best          All things both a bundant and small          For the dear God who loveth us,03          He made and loveth all."          The Mariner, whose eye is bright,