1. The rime of the ancient mariner
The rime of the ancient mariner is a ballad divided into 7 part.
Every part is introduced by an 'argument', thatis a summaryof the content of the
section and each section contains a poetic partand captions.
The poet want make his narrativemorecredible and acceptable
โThe Killing of the Albatross' starts with the ancient mariner who stop a wedding-
guest(ospite di nozze) during a wedding fest and obliges him to listen to him.
The ancient mariner has something of magic, he look like a specter and the wedding-
guest is so enchanted that he canโtgo away.
The Ancient Mariner starts his tale from when the ship leaves the harbor.
There are artificialthings created by man as the harbor itself, the church and the
lighthouse. Their presence contrastswith the description of natural elements as the
storm, the ice, the snow and the mist which have symbolic meaning.
In line 41 the stormi is strong. Itis represented as a hugebird chasing (insegue) the
ship with its largewings. The storm is personified through the use of personal
pronouns, adjectives and verbs.
Netx the ice surrounds(circonda) theship and stop it. the sensation we have is
impotence and paralysis;
the ice is personified through the use of verbs as 'growling, roaring and howling'
which aregenerally attributed to wild, fierce animals.
The mist and snow increase the atmosphereof mystery and uncertainty.
Comes the Albatross that representsthe benign spirit of nature.
For no reasonsat all, the ancient mariner shoots it with his cross-bow.
Notice the referencesto the Christian religion and Jesus Christ in line 65 'as if it had
been a Christian soul' and line 81 'With my cross-bow...'
Line 81, in particular, remindsusof Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
The religious interpretation of 'The Rime' says that it is a process of self-knowledge
through sin (peccato) and expiation. The mariner'spunishmentfor his sin against
God's creation is that where He to teach at the person to love all of God'screatures.
There is also interpretation of 'The Rime' which focuses on the mariner as the
emblem of the poet's isolation and alienation from society.
