I'm not real sure that the majority of my class is understanding the texts in their full context. I'm seeing a constant desire to only look at the surface level of the things we are reading. Application to self is one of the driving forces (if not the driving force) of poetry. I've got to find a way to help them apply - then we can move deeper.
For instance, the Mariner is a picture of man - we all make mistakes that have to be "paid for" in one way or another. Some people are ok with having others pay for their mistakes. What does the mariner feel, knowing that he is the direct catalyst for these deaths? His penance is that he now has to tell this story forever . . . a story in which he is the guilty. Every person he tells knows this by the time he is done. Not only does he have to repeat it, he has to relive it. He can never . . . never . . . get past this . . . He's not allowed . . . Consequences do have a rippling effect . . . as Donne says, "No man is an island".
So what good can come out of tempting God or fate or nature? Ask the mariner.
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Of course the mariner feels guilty, and that guilt wanes by the time he's done with his tale. However, it always returns, which is why he's forced to keep telling his tale, reliving what it was that he caused. Every action has consequences. Some minute, some dire, and whatever those consequences may be, you have to pay them. No good can come out of tempting fate. It's wiser to just let it be. He took away the savior of the sailor (the albatross), due to reasons even unknown to him, and like fate, that one small ripple of action caused a forever of torment for him.
ReplyDeleteI know for sure that I have trouble understanding all of the "underlying meanings" of the poems. I can't tell when I read which nouns in the poems are figurative and symbolic and which ones are literal. About the Mariner, it must be terrible to relive such a tragic and torturous event for all eternity, but you can't forget that for whatever unknown reason to us, the Mariner did infact kill "the hope" for his crewmates. I don't understand exactly where Coleridge gets his information for his stories and situations in them, but when Mr. Ward made a point of saying today that he did have a tendency to use opiates while he wrote, it makes more sense. I see the desperation of the Mariner's circumstances, but I still do not understand what Coleridge meant for the reader to come away with at the end of the story unless it is simply, don't do stupid things for no reason.
ReplyDeleteI first heard about this story when my mother mentioned that I should read it, back when I was about 12. I didn't know what in GOD'S name I was suppose to get out of this poem. It didn't make any sense to me. Thinking back on that now, and with several things that have happened to me recently, I'm able to identify with the Ancient Mariner, and what these poets were trying to express in the Romantic Period.
ReplyDeleteThe Mariner is condemned to tell his story to others, so that they may learn from HIS mistakes, and thus, not make them themselves (this is one of the main themes of the Romantic Period). Each person he tells his story to, provides only temporary relief from the eternal pain he is forced to feel as a 'life-in-death'. There is so much symbolism in this story, and putting the Opium aside, what Coleridge is putting across is to have an appreciation and a little bit of common sense about yourself.
There are several links in this 'Rime' to Christianity, but also to the 'Supernatural' side of life as well. It's difficult for me to put into words the idea/meaning of The Ancient Mariner. Coleridge was hectic, we know this.
All I can say is that having read this poem again just recently has put so many things in perspective for me, and made me give more thought to my actions before doing anything. This poem, to me, teaches one to have a larger appreciation for all things great and small, to appreciate those around us, and think before we act. In saying this, the religious aspect of the story would indicate that any sin committed can and will have a negative effect on your relationship with Jesus/God, causing it to be that much harder for one to obtain an Afterlife and make it to heaven.
For me, I take this poem and the reasoning to my mother insisting I read it until I understood it, in that, I should learn from my mistakes, and can redeem myself to a degree by passing my experiences on to someone else. And in recent, I've been able to help others with my past experiences and "times of messing up with a negative effect on those around me".
Thanks Mum.....
Erin