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For Thursday: The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Answer ONE of the following
questions for Thursday:
1. In Stanza III of Coleridge’s poem,
“Dejection: An Ode” (the poem is on pages 63-67), he writes,
My
genial spirits fail;
And
what can these avail
To lift the smothering weight from off my breast?
It
were a vain endeavour,
Though
I should gaze for ever
On that green light that lingers in the west:
I may not hope from outward forms to win
The passion and the life, whose fountains are
within.
How might the ideas/metaphors in this poem help us
understand the curse and the atonement of the Ancient Mariner? What could the “smothering weight” be? What might he stare at the “lingers in the
west”? What “fountains are within”?
2. Many critics in Coleridge’s time and our own
have taken exception to the moral that ends the poem:
He prayeth well, who
loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All
things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth
all.
Do you feel this is the true moral
of the poem, which helps explain the nature of the Mariner’s curse? Or is this an attempt to tack an easy moral
onto a nightmarish poem, to help tuck readers into bed at night (and perhaps,
to please Wordsworth, since this sounds an
awful lot like many of his poems)?
I feel that this is the moral of the story that the scholar who wrote the glosses would get out of the poem, but Coleridge is far too dense to end his tale with this as a simply put end. I think this is evidenced in the fact that the Wedding Guest goes away from the encounter as "A sadder and a wiser man" (23). If the moral listed above were really all there was to the story, I don't believe the Wedding Guest would have exhibited a total change in demeanor and attitude. The story of the Mariner deeply affected the Wedding Guest. Again, tying the story up with this pretty little bow seems like something the "stupid scholar" who wrote the glosses would try to pull over on the "imbecile commoners" who would read this poem.
ReplyDeleteCayla Odom
ReplyDelete2. I think that there is really too much occurring in the poem for it to be summarized by a simple moral. There are too many pagan like elements and overall strangeness for this entire poem to be one lesson about the golden rule or a biblical principle. However, I feel like Coleridge ended this poem this way, because it ends it in a way that would be satisfying during this time period. In a way, I feel like there really isn't any satisfying way to end this poem. After all, this entire poem is this long journey of trying to atone from this sin. Yet, there doesn't feel like there is any justice or true reason/sense for the happenings in this work. So, in a way it is almost as if this part of the poem is needed to in some way draw closure or make sense of the harsh and abnormal things that happen to this man.
2. I feel like this was too simple of an ending for everything that happened in this poem. Maybe Coleridge slapped this on the end to pacify outside parties. The poem had a lot of biblical and religious references. The Mariner was struggling with inner demons throughout the entire journey. (Hunger can be a demon) But I think Coleridge ended the poem like this to give readers a sense of resolve. I also think he might have been being a little sassy. He raised so many questions within this story; can they all be answered with a single Godly moral?
ReplyDelete2) I'd have to agree with all aspects of the answers given by these ladies, though they said it better than I can. I want to believe this was the "moral of the story," but the ending was extremely too dull in comparison to the poem itself. It just wouldn't make sense. In a sense, I found this to be a kind of "sugar coated" ending to a poem that had a lot of exciting things going on--- almost as if the easy way out was taken.
ReplyDelete2. I would definitely have to say that it was just tacked on at the end. It has almost nothing to do with the rest of the poem and even seems to be a different style. I feel like he just felt that there should be a moral after he was already about halfway through writing this poem, so he just decided to add on whatever he could think of as some type of moral. As much as I would like to think that this was a viable meaningful moral, I just can't convince myself.
ReplyDeleteAimee Elmore
ReplyDelete2. The moral of this story just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the story. Almost like he knew everyone would want a moral so he just threw that in there to make the readers happy.
What parts doesn't it seem to fit with? As I wrote below, I agree with this to some extent, but be more specific. Don't tell me something without finding a way to back it up with the text. This is important technique for your papers as well!
DeleteAshley Bean
ReplyDelete2. I have to agree with everyone and say it was tacked on, but I think it fits the Mariner's personality. It's probably part of his curse, to keep retelling and retelling a story with no point or moral, maybe he tried to make a moral at the end to seem less... crazy. It seems like he's trying to justify his actions in the story, if they were actually true cause I'm not sold on it being true, so he saves this moral until the very end. It probably wan't part of the original tale, but the Mariner added it for his satisfaction.
That's a nice way to see it: that it's more the Mariner's answer than Colreidge's. It does work and it does express how the Mariner understands the poem, while ignoring some of Coleridge's darker imagery and ideas.
Delete2. I think that it is just a two sweet ending to a not so sweet poem. It almost seems to me like he did it because that's what a scholar would try to pull out of a poem (like the glosses). There's no way that this poem should have one sweet stanza tacked on that pulls out the entire moral of such a long poem.
ReplyDeleteCora-lee Snow
Yes, it could be read like the glosses, a scholarly attempt to explain the entire poem away. But it does connect to some large, Romantic themes of the poem, too. Is there something specific in the poem you feel this moral ignores or changes?
Delete2. I think the moral is tacked on at the end to the poem to appease the nature of people at that time. It was mentioned that “Rime was the Ancient Mariner” might have been a combined effort of Wordsworth and Coleridge, so the last stanza could have been added by Wordsworth after the disastrous first draft. Because the rest of the poem does not have Christian connotation, it seems strange to end with this type of moral lesson.
ReplyDeleteRaegan Sampson
While Wordsworth never took credit for the ending, I think Coleridge attempted to write something he would agree with and that would fit nicely in the publication Lyrical Ballads. That said, it might also be too easy to dismiss it...the question is, what ideas does it seem to underline in the poem, and what does it seem to ignore? It's also interesting to note that many contemporary readers didn't like the moral and criticized him for it.
DeleteThis ending was disappointing to me. I definitely agree with everyone else in the sense that it just seems to easy of an ending. I feel its just a little too optimistic for this poem and I was expecting something darker. I feel like the mariner is saying but don't worry guest because God is with you. Then what was the point of telling the whole story if you're going to end it like this? I feel that maybe it was thrown in there to please a certain audience and give them a good feeling inside. All in all I just think it's way too optimistic.
ReplyDeleteI think the ending works, and it can be satisfying, but it seems surprisingly pat and moralistic in light of all the nightmarish imagery and dream-like stanzas that precede it. In other words, it seems like he could have made this point in much less time, though I wouldn't want to discount the moral, either.
DeleteRocky Moore
ReplyDeleteI really the metaphors that are the poems in this book especially this one in , "Dejection: An Ode". I think these metaphors give us insight at the kind of sadness the Mariner may feel, it doesn't seem like a sadness filled with deep regret and depression but still it definitely portrays some sadness that he may feel. I think the 'smothering weight' could be the guilt he feels for decisions made, like killing the Albatross when maybe he shouldn't have. That something that he may stare at, which is green in the west may be a metaphor for the light at the end of the tunnel, maybe something in the horizon like a better future is waiting for him and this could tie in with the metaphor of "fountains are within", where the hope he yearns for doesn't come from the outside world but must come within as he talks about the passion for life. It is solely up to him to conquer this feeling of dejection from the world and find peace with himself, which is pretty relevant in todays world as well, I think we all want to attain that kind of tranquility.
Good response--the Mariner is clearly restless and unsettled at the beginning of his voyage, and he brings the "sin" with him and inflicts it on his crew. He's one who sees everything as broken, and the albatross as monstrous as the sea creatures. To Coleridge, there is no evil region outside of the mind.
DeleteShelby Pletcher
ReplyDeletePersonally, I was fairly content with the ending. I suppose because I saw it from a mindset that this story is a part of a conversation and a longing that is never going to end. There is no proper way to tie this story with a neat little bow because it's still going on today. However, while I did think Coleridge attempted to leave it ambiguous and that there might be something to be said about his capabilities of writing a solid ending to a story, I think in the lines, "He prayeth well, who loveth well. Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all." are meant to bring attention to the overall moral of the story, rather than take away from it. If this story really is about finding glory and meaning of existence in creation and the Creator, and a healing from our depravity within these forces, then I think this ending comes together quite nicely. It's as if the mariner is saying, "If you look at your world as something to love and be in awe of, then you are defeating the hate and the darkness within yourself. And then you will be closer to God, and closer to passion."
Yes, the ending is satisfying, but is it too satisfying? That is, it works for the story and certainly picks up on some of the Romantic themes of man's relationship with Nature, but if that were the chief purpose of the tale, certain aspects of the tale seem out of place. In the end, it's a work that has a meaning, and a good one, but it also has other aspects that might not fit neatly into any reading! :)
ReplyDelete