Literature Reader Chapter 11 The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

(i) 'He' refers to the mariner in 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.'
(ii) The speaker is eager to tell his story to the wedding guest.
(​ii) The mariner is an old man so he had skinny hands.

Religions function on the basis of a man committing a crime or sin, repenting for it and then gaining subsequent pardon from a higher spiritual authority in lieu of his repentance. However, in the poem, there is no such eventual pardon in sight as the mariner is doomed to recount the story of his wrong deed for eternity to come. The poem explores the horror emanating from the unmindful destruction of nature and its creatures. It teaches us to respect all forms of life otherwise no matter how much one repents, a pardon cannot be expected as no higher spiritual authority will ever condone a wanton act of cruelty.

The calm sea turned ‘tyrannous’ and ‘wild’ after a storm. The story winds pushed the ship southwards leading them to the land of ice and snow.

4^th March, 2013
Wednesday
9:00 pm 

Dear Diary, 

Today, I went to attend the wedding reception of my cousin with my two besties. Though I enjoyed a lot, I had an unusual experience. While I was receiving guests, I came across a man who looked very strange. He entered the marriage hall escaping the security.

Despite our protests, he insisted on narrating to us his tale of resentment. He looked unnaturally old with skinny tanned limbs and glittering eyes and the tale he narrated to us seemed too surreal to be true. He said he used to be a mariner who shot an innocent albatross who was guiding their ship out of the perilous ice. This ungrateful act enraged a powerful spirit who used to love the albatross. His actions resulted in the death of his crewmates. He feels a great deal of agony which is relieved only when he narrates the tale to somebody. My encounter with him has taught me that we must never hurt the hand which helps.

The mariners were drifted southwards by a 'tyrannous and strong' storm. The storm 'chased' the ship off course and made them reach the land of ice and snow where it grew freezing cold. They were surrounded by large masts of ice and their ship could hardly move in the frozen sea.

The mariners were angry with the Ancient Mariner because he had killed the albatross, which was considered to be a good omen and had brought bad luck to the sailors.

The poem, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', deals a cruel mariner who did the ghastly act of killing the albatross. As a result, he landed himself in such a situation that all the sailors blamed him for the problem they faced during their voyage and hunh the albatross around his neck to remind him of his wicked act. Through the poem, Coleridge wants to say that we are paid back in the same coin. The mariner was being tormented and the only way to lesson this torment was by sahring the incident with someone and to do the same he stopped one of the the wedding guest and told him the story. After telling the story to the wedding guest, the wedding guest decided to take the mariner to the church so that he can come out of his guilt and live as he used to live earlier.