Many critics see the

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Many critics see the Rime of the Ancient
Mariner as an allegory of some kind of fall,
like
Milton Parallels? (Paradise Lost)
Shelleys Interpretation? (Frankenstein)
STRUCTURE Sin, Punishment, Redemption
Of Coleridge -
opium?
Of Lucifer -
Of Adam Eve -
witchs oils, / burnt green, and blue and white
forbidden fruit
cast into hell
Cain?
slimy things Slimy sea
I shot the albatross
Phantasmagoria! A shifting series or succession
of things seen or imagined, as in a dream.
and I had done a hellish thing
the very deep did rot
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Purely inspirational?

• Dark gothic?
• cursed me with his eye
• Life-in-death
• spectre bark

poetry gives most pleasure when only generally
and not perfectly understood" - Coleridge
Many critics maintain, as Christopher Lamb does,
that the Ancient Mariner is a work of complete
and pure imagination. As
No single interpretation seems to fit the entire
poem
In essence, it is a very imaginative and unusual
piece
Gustav Dorés Dark Etches
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Coleridge felt a deep sense of sin, for his opium
addiction.
The poem could be his way of fathoming his
feelings. The strange power of the Ancient
Mariner, as his difficult feelings. mingled
strangely with my fears I know that man must
hear me / To him my tale I teach
Hence, his sensitivity and saying that the poem
should not be analyzed? (poetry gives most
pleasure when only generally and not perfectly
understood)
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A Christian Parable About Respect?
Instead of the cross, the Albatross/ About my
neck was hung I had killed the bird / That made
the breeze to blow Hailed it in Gods
name Christian soul Crimson red like Gods own
head
Crew distanced from God
- Hid in mist
blessed them unawares
- dungeon-grate
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Science
Vs.
Spirituality
Some critics maintain that this ballad was an
exploration, by Coleridge, into the science vs.
spirituality debate
There are many mysterious fantastical images,
? the glittering eye with its strange
power
? the polar spirits and seraph band
He was at a point in his life where he was more
concerned with the rational than the empirical,
this poem was an exploration of the former.
The Latin preface says, Human cleverness has
always sought knowledge of these things, never
attained it.
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