'The Ancient Mariner' as a Literary Ballad

The Ancient Mariner by S.T. Coleridge is a literary ballad. Ballad is one of the earliest forms of literature. Following this age old tradition Coleridge created a marvellous ballad poem. Here goes a discussion on what have made The Ancient Mariner a perfect ballad.

Use of Refrains

The refrain of words, lines and sometimes stanza is a special feature of folk ballads. Coleridge makes use of refrain in a subtle way. He makes use of refrain for emphasis or for reminding us of the essence of a thing. In the following lines refrain is clearly meant for emphasis. In he following lines repetition is clearly meant for emphasis:

Water, water everywhere

Nor any drop to drink.”

Musical arrangement of words

Coleridge has shown great skill in arranging the words of his verses in a melodious manner. For the sake of musical arrangement of words he has frequently employed alliteration, assonance, and various rhythms. In the following passage he has employed the hissing sounds of “s” to convey the idea of movement in a musical manner.

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,

Yet she sailed softly too

Sweetly sweetly blew the breeze

On me alone it blew.

Supernatural Machinery and Mysticism:-

Supernatural element is an essential element of ballads of all description. Coleridge in this poem has built in a large supernatural machinery to draw and effective and purposeful contrast between things natural and things human. The supernatural world or life has logic of its own and comes into action to impose the due punishment. It even controls, influences, and takes advantages of natural elements like the wind, the stars, the rain, the fog and the mist. The Ancient Mariner is also packed with mystery of an awful nature. The Mariner’s ship is becalmed. The ocean begins to rot. Then the ship begins to sail without a tide. The Mariner tells nothing of who he is and little of what he does. In the poem we find him as a helpless soul passing through strange experiences.

Short ballad stanzas

The poem is written in short ballad stanzas. Many of them are four-line stanzas. But some are also five line, or six line stanzas. The verses are iambic tetrameters followed by iambic trimeters. The rhythms are various. The stanza is the same that occurs in Thoma’s Pery’s ballads. But Coleridge’s stanza is more polished and finished than Percy’s.

Modernity

The Ancient Mariner has touches of modernity. The psychological effect in which the poem abounds is something modern and original. In old ballads entire emphasis is laid upon external events. In Ancient Mariner the poet describes not only the external events but also what happens in the mind of the ancient Mariner. Thus we are told that The Ancient Mariner felt extremely fear stricken when the ghost-ship disappeared all of a sudden on the sea.

Fear at my heart at a cup

My life blood seemed to sip.

In the light of the above discussion, I may be concluded that The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is obviously a ballad in its form. The poem has everything- a vivid story, dramatic action, verbal music, a scenic setting, and mystery. It is a beautiful ballad possessing all the characteristics of a ballad in a more polished and finished form.

Use Imagery in 'The Ancient Mariner'

The poem The Ancient Mariner shows Coleridge’s pictorial power and range. In most cases an image has been drawn by the use of a few words only. The poem abounds in Nature-pictures drawn from with a striking economy of words. Many of these nature pictures are richly colored. Here is an exquisite picture of mist, snow and ice-bergs.

And now there came both mist and snow,

And it grew wondrous cold

The picture of ice bergs is repeated for the shake of emphasis. We have some sound pictures also in the following stanza.

The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around :

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,

Like noises in a swound !

Coleridge portrays the sufferings of the mariner and his shipmates using the imageries of hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell. He also personifies the nature and natural forces. Coleridge uses very vivid imageries in order to intensify the sufferings.

The imagery through which the isolation of the mariners is shown is an audio-visual imagery “the silent sea”. Coleridge gives the picture of a lonely silent sea. The ship has been suddenly becalmed.

'Twas sad as sad could be ;

And we did speak only to break

The silence of the sea !

We know that the act of crime makes a being completely isolated, lonely. Adam and Eve became lonely inhabitants of the world after their crime. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth became same lonely when they committed a crime. Once we see how lonely the mariners have become after the crime.

We notice a contrast between the two conditions of nature before and after the killing of the bird. Before the sun was “bright” but now it has become “the bloody sun.” in a “hot and copper sky”.

All in a hot and copper sky,

The bloody Sun, at noon,

Right up above the mast did stand,

No bigger than the Moon.

The nature continues punishing the mariners. The wind refuses to blow, and the sun’s relentless heat chars the men.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breathe nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean

This hot sun makes the mariners thirsty but they have no drinkable water.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

The mariner lives like Tantalus. They need water badly and it is all around them but it is entirely undrinkable. The throats became “unslaked” and “lips baked” under the hot sun.

We could not speak, no more than if

We had been choked with soot.

The shipmates, in their sore distress, throw the whole guilt on the ancient Mariner and in sign they hang the dead sea-bird round his neck.

‘Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung.’

The time is weary and long. They have nothing to do but suffer only.

A weary time ! a weary time !

How glazed each weary eye,

When looking westward, I beheld

A something in the sky.

A mysterious ship arrives. When the ship is sighted in the distance, the sailors feel happy to think that the will now get water to quench their burning thirst.

‘I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,

And cried, A sail ! a sail !’

But in a few moments they discover the reality of the ship. The crew consists of Death and Life- in- death.

The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,

Who thicks man's blood with cold.

Coleridge beautifully depicts the mental suffering of the Mariner under this condition through imagery:-

“Fear at my heart, as at a cup

My life blood seemed to sip.”

The suffering becomes even more painful when all his fellow men dropped down one by one. And the soul of each passes by him with the sound like that of his arrow that killed the Albatross.

“They dropped down one by one.”

For seven days and nights the mariner remained alone on the ship.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,

Alone on a wide wide sea !

The dead sailors, who miraculously did not rot, continued to curse him with their open eyes which intensified his inner guilt.

Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,

And yet I could not die.

His surroundings- the ship, the ocean, and the creatures within it are “rotting’ in the heat and sun, but he is the one who is rotten on the inside.

During his lonely days he spent his times by watching the little creatures on the ice. The mariner spontaneously recognizes the beauty of the sea snakes, his heart fills with love for them and he can bless them “unaware”

“A spring of love gushed from my heart,

And I blessed them unaware”

Only when the mariner is able to appreciate the beauty of the natural world, he is granted the ability to pray. The moment he begins to view the natural world benevolently, his spiritual thirst is quenched. As a sign, the albatross- the burden of sin falls from his neck.

‘The Albatross fell off, and sank

Like lead into the sea.’

It finally rains and his thrust is quenched.

‘My lips were wet, my throat was cold,

My garments all were dank”

The ship suddenly began to move towards the native land of the old sailor. Ultimately the ship reached near the harbor. It sank suddenly and the old sailor was rescued from the disaster.

Thus we have in this poem a large variety of imagery which are simply and viidly drawn. Almost every phase of sea-scape, land-scape, and cloud-scape is touched upon in this poem. The masterly use of imagery is an important characteristic of the poem.

Coleridge's Dramatization of the Sufferings of the Ancient Mariner in 'The Ancient Mariner'

Ancient mariner, the central character of 'The Rime of Ancient Mariner', in his youth when he was at the sea killed a friendly albatross, a friendly member of God’s world. And the consequence of this single unthinkable act was fatal for the mariner as well as for his shipmates. But it’s the mariner who suffers more. Like other mariners, he suffers physically but unlike them he also suffers from his inward guilt.

The ancient mariner inhospitably kills the innocent albatross. It is significantly an utterly unjustified act. The act is explicitly called “hellish”. By this act he becomes a universal sinner. He is Adam and Eve, he is Judas, he is Cain and he is Macbeth. Like Adam ad Eve, the mariner fails to respect God’s rule. The sin is committed at the end of part 1. The shipmates judge things according to the principle of utility. At first the Mariner's fellow seamen curse him but as the fog clears they decide that the bird was trying to lead them into misery. They then praise the mariner and so become part of the crime themselves.

Physical Pain

The killing of the Albatross is, first of all a murder in the physical world. So, the consequences of the murder first spring from the physical world. The ship is brought to the Pacific Ocean, near the Equator. Then it is becalmed, suddenly. Coleridge gives the picture of a lonely, silent sea.

'Twas sad as sad could be ;

And we did speak only to break

The silence of the sea !

We know that the act of crime makes a being completely isolated, lonely. Adam and Eve became lonely inhabitants of the world after their crime. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth became same lonely when they committed a crime. Once again we see how lonely the mariners have become after the crime.

Before the killing of the bird the sun was “bright” but now it has become “the bloody sun” in “a hot and copper sky”.

All in a hot and copper sky,

The bloody Sun, at noon,

Right up above the mast did stand,

No bigger than the Moon.

The nature continues punishing the mariners. The wind refuses to blow, and the sun’s relentless heat chars the men.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breathe nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean

This hot sun makes the mariners thirsty but they have no drinkable water.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

The mariner lives like Tantalus. They need water badly and it is all around them but it is entirely undrinkable. The throats became “unslaked” and “lips baked” under the hot sun.

“We could not speak, no more than if

We had been choked with soot.”

The crewmen change their attitudes again as their drinking water runs out and they find that the ship is becalmed. They blame the Mariner for shooting the Albatross and hang it around his neck.

‘Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung.’

Mental Suffering

The Mariner also suffers spiritually for his sin. He is disgusted to see slimy things crawl with legs upon the slimy sea. At night he notices death fires dancing around his ship. His shipmates have a dream in which they are told of the Polar Spirit that is avenging the killing of the Albatross upon all of them. At morning they stare at him with cursing looks. And he feels remorse for his sin for the first time. This happens by the part of part 2.

In part 3 a mysterious ship arrives. When the ship is sighted in the distance, the sailors feel happy to think that the will now get water to quench their burning thirst.

‘I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,

And cried, A sail ! a sail !’

But in a few moments they discover the reality of the ship. The crew consists of Death and Life- in- death.

The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,

Who thicks man's blood with cold.

Coleridge beautifully depicts the mental suffering of the Mariner under this condition:-

“Fear at my heart, as at a cup

My life blood seemed to sip.”

The suffering becomes even more painful when all his fellow men dropped down one by one. And the soul of each passes by him with the sound like that of his arrow that killed the Albatross.

“They dropped down one by one.”

For seven days and nights the mariner remained alone on the ship.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,

Alone on a wide wide sea !”

The dead sailors, who miraculously did not rot, continued to curse him with their open eyes which intensified his inner guilt.

“Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,

And yet I could not die.”

His surroundings- the ship, the ocean, and the creatures within it are “rotting’ in the heat and sun, but he is the one who is rotten on the inside.

This central experience comes almost at the middle of the poem. It is the nadir of depression to which the earlier stanzas sink, and the rest of the poem describes. The mariner has broken the bond between him and the life of nature, and in consequence suffers physically and spiritually.

Use of Supernatural Elements in Coleridge's 'The Ancient Mariner'

The greatness of S. T. Coleridge’s The Ancient Mariner lies chiefly in the technique by which the supernatural has been made believable and convincing. There are a number of impossible, incredible, and fantastic situations in the poem. The fascinating power in Mariner’s gaze, the sudden appearance of the mysterious skeleton ship, the spectre- woman and her mate, the coming back of life to the dead crew, the sudden sinking of the ship, the polar spirits talking to each other- all these and other supernatural incidents are scattered in the poem. With these supernatural elements the poet has artistically interwoven convincing pictures of Nature like the sun shining brightly at the outset, the mist and snow surrounding the ship, the freezing cold of the Artic region, slimy creatures creeping upon the sea, the moon going up the sky with a star or two beside it, the water snakes moving in the water in a variety of colors. The natural and supernatural, the real and fantastic, the possible ad the impossible have been so skillfully and artistically mingled that the whole strikes us as quite convincing and credible.

The setting of the poem is natural, known to all. With a view to giving his story an air of plausibility, Coleridge gives accurate description of his nature. In the AM every phase of landscape, seascape and cloudscape is touched upon. The bright sun, the “Kirk” or church, the hill, the lighthouse, the cheerful onlookers at the harbor, the wedding guest, the marriage ceremony, the storm blast in the sea, the mist and snow of the Arctic region and many other natural elements are there in the setting of the story. All these natural phenomena have been made very convincing.

In this natural setting are set the supernatural incidents. A terrible storm hit and forced the ship southwards. The “storm blast” was “tyrannous and strong’ and struck the ship with”overtaking wings”. Then the sailors reached a calm patch of sea that was “wondrous cold” full of snow and glistering green icebergs” as tall as the ship’s mast.

And now there came both mist and snow,

And it grew wondrous cold

The sailors were the only living things in this frightening, enclosed world where the ice made terrible groaning sounds that echoed all around.

The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around :

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,

Like noises in a swound !

In his Ancient Mariner, Coleridge often blends the real and unreal in order to create a supernatural world. Here we see the story at first is given a known, familiar setting but soon it passes into an unreal world. The reader is not disturbed by this smooth transition from the real to the unreal world but indulges himself in the “willing suspension of disbelief”.

However, finally an albatross emerged from the mist, and the sailors received it as a sign of good luck, as though it were a “Christian soul” sent by God to save them. No sooner than the sailors fed the albatross did the ice break apart, allowing the captain to steer out of the freezing world. The wind picked up again and continued for nine days. All the while the bird followed the ship, ate the food the sailors gave it and played with them. But at this favorable moment the mariner did a hellish thing. He shot the bird with his cross bow.

From the moment the mariner kills the bird retribution comes in the form of natural phenomena. The wind dies, the sun intensifies and it will not rain. The ocean becomes “revolting”, “rotting” and “thrashing” with “slimy” creatures and sizzling with strange fires.

Coleridge depicts tactfully how nature punishes supernaturally for killing its innocent member. Before the sun was “bright” but now it has become “the bloody sun.” in a “hot and copper sky”.

All in a hot and copper sky,

The bloody Sun, at noon,

Right up above the mast did stand,

No bigger than the Moon.

The nature continues punishing the mariners. The wind refuses to blow, and the sun’s relentless heat chars the men.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breathe nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean


This hot sun makes the mariners thirsty but they have no drinkable water.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

The mariner lives like Tantalus. They need water badly and it is all around them but it is entirely undrinkable. The throats became “unslaked” and “lips baked” under the hot sun.

We could not speak, no more than if

We had been choked with soot.

The shipmates, in their sore distress, throw the whole guilt on the ancient Mariner and in sign they hang the dead sea-bird round his neck.

‘Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung.’

The time is weary and long. They have nothing to do but suffer only.

A weary time ! a weary time !

How glazed each weary eye,

When looking westward, I beheld

A something in the sky.


A mysterious ship arrives. When the ship is sighted in the distance, the sailors feel happy to think that the will now get water to quench their burning thirst.

‘I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,

And cried, A sail ! a sail !’


But in a few moments they discover the reality of the ship. The crew consists of Death and Life- in- death.

The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,

Who thicks man's blood with cold.


Coleridge beautifully depicts the mental suffering of the Mariner under this condition:-

“Fear at my heart, as at a cup
My life blood seemed to sip.”

The suffering becomes even more painful when all his fellow men dropped down one by one. And the soul of each passes by him with the sound like that of his arrow that killed the Albatross.

“They dropped down one by one.”

For seven days and nights the mariner remained alone on the ship.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,

Alone on a wide wide sea !


The dead sailors, who miraculously did not rot, continued to curse him with their open eyes which intensified his inner guilt.

Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,

And yet I could not die.

His surroundings- the ship, the ocean, and the creatures within it are “rotting’ in the heat and sun, but he is the one who is rotten on the inside.

Coleridge beautifully portrays how he suffer from acute mental distress when he tried to pray but could not do so, how he felt the horror of the curse in the dead men’s eyes, how the sky and the sea lay like a heavy load on his weary eyes, and how finally he felt relief. This is exactly what any man would suffer under similar circumstances. By portraying mariner’s mental states, Coleridge produces the realistic effect.

During his lonely days he spent his times by watching the little creatures on the ice. The mariner spontaneously recognizes the beauty of the sea snakes, his heart fills with love for them and he can bless them “unaware”


“A spring of love gushed from my heart,

And I blessed them unaware”


Only when the mariner is able to appreciate the beauty of the natural world, he is granted the ability to pray. The moment he begins to view the natural world benevolently, his spiritual thirst is quenched. As a sign, the albatross- the burden of sin falls from his neck.

‘The Albatross fell off, and sank

Like lead into the sea.’


It finally rains and his thrust is quenched.

‘My lips were wet, my throat was cold,

My garments all were dank”

The ship suddenly began to move towards the native land of the old sailor. Ultimately the ship reached near the harbor. It sank suddenly and the old sailor was rescued from the disaster.

Thus from the above discussion it is quite clear that, the triumph of “The rime of the ancient Mariner” confines in presenting a series of incredible events in a convincing and credible way by the use of natural setting, logic of cause and effect, melody and psychological truth.

During his lonely days he spent his times by watching the little creatures on the ice. The mariner spontaneously recognizes the beauty of the sea snakes, his heart fills with love for them and he can bless them “unaware” Only when the mariner is able to appreciate the beauty of the natural world, he is granted the ability to pray. The moment he begins to view the natural world benevolently, his spiritual thirst is quenched. As a sign, the albatross- the burden of sin falls from his neck. It finally rains and his thrust is quenched. The ship suddenly began to move towards the native land of the old sailor. Ultimately the ship reached near the harbor. It sank suddenly and the old sailor was rescued from the disaster.

Thus from the above discussion it is quite clear that, the triumph of “The rime of the ancient Mariner” confines in presenting a series of incredible events in a convincing and credible way by the use of natural setting, logic of cause and effect, melody and psychological truth.