Ancient Mariner

Three Messages from Ancient Mariner

Have you ever had an experience in your life where you screwed up so bad, you never thought you would be able to recover? Well, that is exactly what happened to Mariner. Mariner thought what he did was not a crime- until it started to alter all of the life and nature around him. His faith is tested in this story when he encounters nature and its power, and the amount of power it has when its angry. This story helps the concept of how nature controls everything, and man controls nothing. In the article I read, “Power of Nature: A Powerful Gateway Within” by Alisha Park, it helps me explain that nature has all of the power, and will continue to have all of the power all of the time. There is three messages

In this story, Mariner speaks to the natural world as though it is a character itself. He offended nature when he killed the albatross, so he was punished spiritually. Then he was punished physically. The wind died down, the sun got unbearably hot, and it was unable to rain. On page 826 lines 115-119, Coleridge says “Day after day, day after day, we stuck nor breath nor motion; as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.” This is a good way to explain that nothing went well for them, including the weather. The water was contaminated with slimy creatures, therefore making it impossible for them to drink that when it did not rain. But when Mariner showed love for nature, nature brought a storm. It wasn’t the ideal way to receive water, but it was something. In an article I read, “Common Ground with Nature,” by Rob Cowan, it describes how we often have encounters with nature when we are closer to death than we think. I believe that Mariner was a lot closer to death than he thought, based upon the actions he was

There is several times that the message of imprisonment occurs. They had their own personal “cell” at one point. Their ship was sept into a “No Man's Land”, where they were also surrounded by ice on all sides, being the “cell” reference. Also, when he shot the albatross, he entered his own “Hell” due to the fact that he pissed off nature. The last example was when him and his crew were stranded away from civilization without any food or water to have. On page 828 lines 157-160, the Mariner calls out, “With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, we could nor laugh nor wail; through utter drought all dumb we stood! I bit my arm, I sucked the blood.” This quote explains that since Mariner shot the albatross, they were all suffering in a different type of hell. He did the crime, so now he and everyone around him have to suffer the punishment. This imprisonment connects to an article I read, “Life In Prison” by Quora Contributor which goes on to explain the detailed lives of ones that are in