The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a long poem written by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797-1798 and published in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads (1798). It is the longest significant poem that Coleridge wrote.

Written in language that imitates the Anglo-Scots border ballads, it relates the supernatural events experienced by a solitary mariner. Its most famous episode is the mariner's unexplained killing of an albatross.

There is no conventional plot, as the poem consists largely of descriptions of what the mariner sees. Interpreting the poem along moral or religious lines has proved difficult. There are suggestions that the mariner is punished for killing the albatross, but the relationship between this, the only real action of the poem, and what follows is unclear.

The poem may have been inspired by James Cook's second voyage of exploration (1772-1775) of the south seas and the Pacific Ocean; Coleridge's tutor William Wales was astronomer on the Resolution (Cook's flagship) and had a strong relationship with Cook. On his second voyage Cook plunged repeatedly below the Antarctic circle to determine whether the fabled great southern continent existed.

When Wordsworth and Coleridge planned the scheme for Lyrical Ballads, it was agreed that Wordsworth would contribute poems describing common life and Coleridge would contribute poems on supernatural themes. It is useful to keep this in mind when examining this poem.

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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is also the title of a song by Iron Maiden from their 1984 album Powerslave, a 14-minute heavy metal epic based on Coleridge's poem. As a literary adaptation it is probably not meant to be taken altogether seriously, although it can be taken as a short version of the story in the poem. Lyrics:

Hear the rime of the ancient mariner See his eye as he stops one of three Mesmerizes one of the wedding guests Stay here and listen the nightmares of the sea
And the music plays on, as the bride passes by Caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale
Driven south to the land of the snow and ice To a place where nobody's been Through the snow fog flies on the albatross Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings
And the ship sails on, back to the North Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on
The mariner kills the bird of good omen His shipmates cry against what he's done But when the fog clears they justify him And make themselves a part of the crime
Sailing on and on and North across the sea Sailing on and on and North 'til all is calm
The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun His shipmates blame bad luck on the mariner About his neck the dead bird is hung
And the curse goes on and on at sea And the curse goes on and on for them and me
"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."
(Quoted from poem)
There, calls the Mariner, there comes a ship over the line But how can she sail with no wind in her sails and no tide?
See... onward she comes, onward she nears, out of the sun See... she has no crew, she has no life, wait but there's two
Death and she Life in Death, they throw their dice for the crew She wins the mariner and he belongs to her now Then... crew one by one, they drop down dead, two hundred men She... She Life in Death, she lets him live, her chosen one
"One after one by the star dogged moon, too quick for groan or sigh Each turned his face with a ghastly pang, and cursed me with his eye Four times fifty living men, (and I heard nor sigh nor groan) with heavy thump, a lifeless lump, they dropped down one by one." (Quoted from poem)
The curse it lives on in their eyes The mariner he wished he'd die Along with the sea creatures But they lived on, so did he And by the light of the moon He prays for their beauty not doom With heart he blesses them, God's creatures all of them too
Then the spell starts to break The albatross falls from his neck Sinks down like lead into the Sea Then down in falls comes the rain
(9:15 – Solo: Adrian Smith) (9:41 – Solo: Dave Murray)
Hear the groans of the long dead seamen See them stir and they start to rise Bodies lifted by good spirits None of them speak and they're lifeless in their eyes
And revenge is still sought, penance starts again Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on
Now the curse is finally lifted And the Mariner sights his home Spirits go from the long dead bodies Form their own light and the Mariner's left alone
And then a boat came sailing toward him It was a joy he could not believe The Pilot's boat, his son and the hermit Penance of life will fall onto Him
And the ship it sinks like lead into the sea And the hermit shrieves the Mariner of his sins
The Mariner's bound to tell of his story To tell his tale wherever he goes To teach God's word by his own example That we must love all things that God made
And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man And the tale goes on and on and on...