English Literature: October 2020

Saturday 10 October 2020

Consider “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a Poem of Crime and Punishment?

“The Rime of theAncient Mariner” is the greatest achievement of S.T Coleridge. The whole story of the poem is based on the theme of crime committed by a mariner and the punishment which he had to undergo after the act of crime. In fact, the poem is an allegory of guilt and regeneration.

 

"Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a Poem of Crime and Punishment:


As we go through the poem we find that the Ancient Mariner wantonly killed the Albatross, which was a bird of good omen, and which signifies the violation of the sanctified relations of the host ad guest. It is a symbolic representation of the essential frivolity of many crimes against humanity and the ordered system of the world.

 

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a Poem of Crime and Punishment


The Mariner’s two hundred shipmates partake his guilt because they approve of his misdeed by saying that the Mariner was right to kill the Albatross which brought fog and mist. Thus the whole crew including the Mariner was guilty to be punished.  So the ship is suddenly becalmed. The sun shone directly overhead. Their supply of drinking water was finished. There was water everywhere around them but they had no a drop to drink.