In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner

                 In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner there is a lot of symbolism I think it is interesting how Coleridge makes inner struggles and emotions into characters in the poem.it seems that everything one would be feeling or thinking gets turned into a character that the mariner has to interact with. For instance the “albatross” I interpreted as hope when they were crossing through the arctic or wherever they were. You could see how as soon as the albatross came the trip became easier, the wind seemed stronger, and health seemed in abundance then at some point he starts to lose hope or even kills his hope by shooting the albatross. This is representing the mariner becoming pessimistic and negative. It seems that once the mariner became negative, the drought started to happen, and the wind stopped blowing in which the other sailors blamed the mariner. The mariner had been put in a position of being responsible for morale in which he did not want. That is why the crew blamed his negativity for the stint of bad luck. After that the maiden appeared which symbolizes death. He was so enthusiastic to see her because at that point they wanted to die because they were all suffering from dehydration. That’s when the maiden declared that she had “won” and the sailors all died except for the mariner. Then when the crew died he blamed himself which is why he thought he was cursed. This is where he had the dream about his dead crew mates, again this is guilt manifesting inside him yet he was being assured that he had paid “penance and would pay more” for their deaths but it was ok and in fact they were “blessed” probably because they didn’t have to suffer anymore.  Then finally he made it home to see his people and country. The interaction with the hermit is the mariner’s manifestation of his conscience because he was still wondering whether he was responsible for the crews’ death or not. That is why the hermit asks him whether he is a good man or not; that is just the mariner wondering whether he was a good man or not. Feeling really bad about what had happen, he finally tells his story and the hermit lets him be free.  This represents him forgiving himself by taking responsibility and confessing what he had done to the “pilot” bringing him back to land. All of these characters are representations of different aspects of the mariners trip from the albatross being his hope, the maiden being death, the spirits being guilt and forgiveness and the hermit being his conscience. 

                The hardships of the mariner were troubling and hard but and it is what I am sure is a reality for scores of men who have went into the open sea. The best part is his perseverance by what seems to be divine luck. From beating death to overcoming his hopelessness to forgiving himself for what he considered the killing of his own crew and the albatross. I also love how the story is being told to the groom from what seems to be a broken down old man, but then turns into the realization that the old man is strong and wise. It also reminds me of the older men I have met in my life that through their stories of the hardships offer me wisdom and strength, which reminds that the concept of older generations passing wisdom down through story is a timeless tradition.  But Coleridge is doubly cool due to his uses of symbolism to really emphasize the struggle of his character. He flawlessly transforms the hardships of the mariner (which are mostly emotional) into tangible characters who serve as markers of the next part of the story. Even without the “parts” you could easily tell one part from the next by the new symbolic character that the mariner runs into.

                The Power of the active imagination is awesome. I find myself making stories about the things I am doing and my experiences to make my life more interesting. In doing that I am also able to analyze more clearly the things I experience in my life. It is interesting to see someone do that in their story and it is incredible to see it at the level that a master like Coleridge does it. If you blink for a second you forget that these characters are symbols and start interpreting literally. It also puts into perspective things like Christian and Greek mythology that use the same kind of symbolism.