Essay

The Rime of The Ancient Mariner has been interpreted in a variety of ways since its creation in 1797. Some argue that the poem is a story of our salvation of Christ whereas others dispute that it is a metaphor for original sin in the Garden of Eden. What can’t be argued is that religion lies at the heart of the poem focusing on the trials and tribulations, depicting a moving spiritual journey of sin, punishment, repentance, and eventually redemption. There are many different themes in the Rime of the Ancient mariner, such as the description on weather, the usage of colors, the comparison of figures to Christ, religion, and lastly nature. Throughout my paper I will show through examples the supernatural elements that took place in the poem, I will also try to make further meanings the functions of those elements.  
In Part I stanza 15, the ice near Antarctica makes loud cracking noises that sound “like noises in a swound.” The word “like” makes it clear that this is a simile. In Part II stanza 25, describes the good weather which last all of one stanza. The weather is enjoyed by the crew and features alliterative repetition of the “F” sound, as “furrow, follow, free.” Later on in Part II, when the wind dies and the ship can’t move the scene is compared using simile to a motionless painting. Also the crew becomes so thirsty that it’s as if their mouths were full of dry “soot,” or ashes.
If the albatross hadn’t come along, then sure, the whole crew probably would have died in that ice field. But the consequences of shooting the albatross seem almost worse than death. Maybe that’s because shooting is a completely senseless act. As a persecuted figure of salvation, the albatross resembles Christ in many ways, especially when you consider that a bird often symbolizes Christ. The crime arouses the wrath of the supernatural spirits who then pursue the ship “from the land of mist and snow,” the south winds had initially led then from the land of ice now sends the ship...