Symbols In The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Loud Symbols Sometimes symbols speak louder than words. Symbols are universal and filled with emotion. By examining T.S. Elliot’s and Coleridge’s use of symbols in both “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” shows the characters’ feeling of love, regret, and despair, which proves that life can bring about hard trials. First, love is shown everywhere in everything, and in these two works there are many symbols for it. In “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” the yellow fog, in order to feel warm, “[rubbed] its back upon the window-panes.” This yellow fog is a symbol for the driving force of love. J. Alfred Prufrock feels this force and longs for this warmness, as does everyone else. In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” there is a totally different type of love shown. The albatross is a symbol of God’s love and forgiveness. When the two voices found the mariner, the first one stated, “He loved the bird that loved the man Who shot him with his bow.” The mariner loved God, and God loved him even though the mariner had turned his back on God. Love has many symbols because everyone has felt love or has loved at some point in their lives, just

J. Alfred Prufrock regrets that he let love slip by. He thinks about it quite often and is reminded of it when he sees the women talking of michelangelo. Alfred is going up stairs and then declares, “Time to turn back and descend the stairs.” The stairs are a symbol of his life and how instead of moving forward towards strangers and the unknown, he wants to go back. The Mariner also has many regrets. The albatross is a symbol of God and a reminder of the Mariner’s sins. He sees this and feels that regret so he shoots the bird. Though the Mariner regrets that too and says, “ I [have] done a hellish thing.” Regret and guilt can make you do foolish things. These symbols help you see the effects of