I chose to attempt a close reading of excerpts from Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. In this folk ballad-type poem the protagonist thoughtlessly kills an albatross and the spirit world intervenes in outrage. After the initial vengeance the mariner must wander the earth telling his tale to certain individuals, warning them of the consequences of sinning against nature. I feel that the overall theme of this work is transformation. It conveys the careful balance of mankind in nature and warns against disrupting this balance.
In the poem, the albatross is viewed as a good omen from God. Coleridge wrote, “It ate the food it ne’er had eat,/ And round and round it flew./ The ice did split with thunder-fit;/ The helmsman steered us through” (63-66). The ice splitting and the thunder give the feeling of God intervening by sending the albatross to save the sailors from their icy deaths. After the mariner shoots the albatross the sailors blame him for their bad luck (“They all averred, I had killed the bird/ That made the breeze to blow”). When circumstances improve they are quick to change their minds (“Then all averred, I had killed the bird/ that brought the fog and mist./ Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,/ That bring the fog and mist”). The parallel between these lines points out the crew’s hypocrisy. Just like the mariner they are ignorant to the balance between nature and man and in some ways are just as guilty as him. This guilt is made clear when the skeleton ship arrives and Death claims their souls.
A great transformation takes place in the protagonist throughout the poem. In the beginning he notes, “The very deep did rot: O Christ!/ That ever this should be!/ Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs/ Upon the shiny sea” (122-125). It is ironic that he cries out to God in disgust and fear of God’s creatures in the water. This irony shines light on his lack of respect and understanding of nature. After Life-in-Death claims the mariner’s soul, he suffers for seven days and nights, which seems to transform his outlook. He describes the water snakes in a much different way – “O happy living things! No tongue/ Their beauty might declare:/ A spring of love gushed from my heart,/ And blessed them unaware” (282-285).