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Biography
Lived from 1772-1834
Born in Devon, England
His father was a clergyman and Coleridge was expected to follow suit, so he received a thorough religious education
Friends with William Wordsworth
Suffered anxiety and depression - speculated to have been bipolar disorder
Addicted to opium
Summary
5 Stanzas

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
by S. T. Coleridge
Literary Life
he wrote prose, poetry, drama, and periodicals
used a natural style in his writing - called "conversation poems"
one of the most influential Shakespearian critics
wrote "Lyrical Ballads" with William Wordsworth
He holds him with his glittering eye -

The Wedding-Guest stood still,

And listens like a three years' child:

The Mariner hath his will.

Rhyme has been used historically to make written and spoken words more pleasant, and memorable, and the technique achieves these purposes in Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
RHYME
The work is a poem, not a story in prose. Poetry involves use of regular patterns of stressed and unstressed (accented and unaccented) syllables.

The poem mostly alternates between 8 and 6 syllable lines mostly in 4 or 6-line stanzas.

There are exceptions. Some stanzas are 5 or even 9 lines. Some lines have more syllables. But the poem is long, and the mariner is old.

The variety makes the poem more interesting.
Rhythm/Meter/Sound
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
This means repeating the same sounds in several words, especially the words' first letter. Alliteration is another technique to make lines memorable.

Alliteration of "f" and "l" "r" and "s" sounds:
Alliteration
The effect of the alliterations is heightened by use at the same time of end and internal rhymes (blew - flew; first - burst; free - sea).

Alliteration is heightened by use of repetition.
Themes
Repetition
The poet uses repetition for emphasis. Another form of repetition, called anaphora is used in the Rime to convey a sense of vastness or ongoing monotony.

The mariner's central act is killing an albatross. The mariner uses repetition in retelling this incident.
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean
Water, water, everywhere
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
ANAPHORA
Anaphora is repeating an expression at the start of two or more sentences, or lines, as in the stanza quoted above, as well as the following passage.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Anaphora is used to convey vastness of surroundings, in one of the poem's most famous lines:
More Literary Techniques
Repetition
Metaphor
Simile
Personification
Inversion
Irony
Contrast
Age Contrasted With Youth
Individuals Contrasted With Groups
Rising and Setting Sun
Cold and Heat
Sin and Forgiveness
Isolation and suffering
The supernatural and transformation
-The sin the mariner commits is killing the innocent Albatross and he refuses to repent because the sailors died so violently and the mariner is questioning God and if wrath.
-As the poem continues he eventually repents and finally escapes the Arctic with the help of Angels and the nicer more benevolent side of God is shown
-The Mariner is completely isolated, he travels alone telling people like the wedding guest his tale.
He suffers because few will listen to what he has to say, and when he is done telling them he leaves
-He suffers tremendously in his tale as well because he killed the Albatross. His punishment was to suffer dehydration, isolation, and the inablity to die.
-
-Many supernatural events occur during the Mariners tale. He is haunted by a spirit 9 fathoms below the ship and the dead bodies on the ship are reanimated with the spirits of angels to let the ship sail.
-The transformation that takes place is that the Mariner goes from a social person to a traveling hermit. He is also changed into a God fearing man who has experienced both God's wrath and mercy.
The poem begins with a group of
wedding guests
who are stopped by an old Mariner - only one of them stays.
The Mariner tells the man his story
The Mariner's ship had been in dangerous weather, but an
Albatross
(a symbol of good luck to the sailors) appeared and propelled the ship to calmer waters.
The Mariner looks pained as he tells the Wedding-Guest he killed the bird
At first the crew was furious, then it decided that the bird had actually brought the fog.
The calm ocean soon thickened, there was no water to drink, and the water looked as though it was rotting.
the sailors blamed the Mariner and forced him to wear the Albatross's corpse around his neck like a cross.
Over time, the sailors became parched and couldn't talk
The Mariner bit his arm to use the blood to moisten his lips, and called out that he saw a ship.
The ship was carrying Death and the Night-mare Life-in-Death (a woman)
She causes the sun to sink and the moon and stars to rise.
The crew members dropped dead - all except the Mariner - and cursed him before they all died.
The Mariner could do nothing but sit on the ship with the corpses for 7 days and nights.
He blessed the water snakes and the Albatross fell off his neck and he was able to pray again.
When he awoke the next day, the sailors' spirits were leaving their bodies and the ship was steering itself.
However, at noon, the ship lurched as though in a tug of war, and the Mariner hear two voices.
One asked if the Mariner was the one who killed the Albatross, and the other said he had done penance, but would continue to do more.
The moon overpowered the sea and moved the ship northward, toward the Mariner's home.
Seraphs (figures of light) appeared - among them a holy Hermit, a Pilot, and the Pilot's Son - and they brought the Mariner to shore.
The Mariner begged the Hermit to absolve him.
The Hermit asked him to tell his tale, which made the Mariner guilt free - but only temporarily.
In every new place, the Mariner must find a new man to tell - the Wedding-Guest was one of these men
The next morning the Wedding-Guest woke up, "a sadder and a wiser man"

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Coleridge - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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Biography Lived from 1772-1834Born in Devon, EnglandHis father was a clergyman and Coleridge was expected to follow suit, so he received a thorough religious educationFriends with William WordsworthSuffered anxiety and depression - speculated to have been bipolar disorderAddicted to opiumSummary 5 Stanzas The Rime of the Ancient Marinerby S. T.

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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Part 1. Poem. Lyrics.

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Presentation covering the Coleridge epic poem.