Rime of Ancient Mariner Notes for Part 4

Rime of Ancient Mariner Notes for Part 4. *Remember that you must read this as you review the notes otherwise it is confusing!! 

 The wedding guest speaks because he fears that the mariner is a ghost (died with shipmates)  Mariner tells him that he did not die & equate himself with “slimy things”  The bodies don’t rot—open dead eyes—emphasizes guilt  Spiritual depletion (cannot turn to God)  Line 250 Sea Shanty rhythm  Want to escape—Nature/ God  Path further away from God feeling restless  Contrast—peacefulness of nature/sky  Ocean is in agony–water snakes  Mariner feels punished—wants to die to escape  Line 277—imagery—the mariner appreciates the snakes’ beauty  IMPORTANT: Moon is God’s light- mariner has a change of heart because he appreciates God’s/nature’s beauty  Albatross falls into the water  Guilt is gone and he is forgiven

Part 5  Line 294--Allusion to Mary, mother of Jesus  Contrast—rain is wet contrasted with dryness of previous part  Upon his forgiveness the wind comes with rain  Lots of imagery  Dead men start groaning—come to life and start crewing the ship  Spirits who are making the ship move are angelic, not demons  Contrast—from silence to sound  Line 352—spirits exiting the mouths of the bodies  Line 365—suggests harmony with nature  A benign spirit moves the ship to the North—homeward  2 spirits relate to the mariner’s penance—the polar spirit goes back to the south pole  the mariner will pay further penance for killing the albatross

Part 6.  Line 416 Personification: Calm shining ocean looks up at moon—mariner is entranced  Penance is renewed by the spirit and then lifted when the dead bodies stand together on the deck  The wind returns to take the boat home, but the mariner is still apprehensive  Feel of spring and rebirth  And he returns to his homeland  The mood is eerie as he returns into the bay and the PILOT (who guides ships inland)helps the mariner.  Line 498—the sailors forgive the mariner and silence is “like music on my heart”  The mariner hears a hermit singing Part 7  The hermit is known to the mariner IRONY—the hermit likes to talk with mariners.  The angelic spirits begin to leave the dead bodies, and the pilot mistakes the lights that the spirits make for signals of help  The mariner’s boat is dead and lifeless in the water and then, in a whirlpool, it sinks. The mariner is saved by the pilot from drowning.  The ship is sucked down into the water  All of the spirits that inhabited the dead bodies leave through the mouths of the bodies and fly up to heaven  The pilot’s son reacts badly to the mariner because he thought that he was dead because he was floating in the water  The mariner asks the hermit to shrieve him (shrieve means to give him absolution of his sins) and the hermit lays the penance of life on him and he will have to go around and keep telling his tale.  Mariner tells his tale to men who are in danger of repeating the same sin as he himself did  The wedding guest learns from hearing the mariner’s tale and the mariner leaves

THEME OF THIS BALLAD IS: HARMONY OF NATURE AND HUMANITY IS NECESSARY Find some quotations that support this theme.

MORAL IS: GUILT OF THE ANCIENT MARINER LEADS TO A PROFOUND KNOWLEDGE, WHICH COMES ONLY WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF SUFFERING.

KEY SYMBOL: ALBATROSS = GUILT (this symbol has a long history with sailors— bird of bad omen and almost a kindred spirit)

ATMOSPHERE AND MOOD CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE POEM—note contrast.

Complete questions 1-7 on page 461